The latest trends in GM rally together at Marketplace

Drug Store News, August 3, 1998 by Allene Symons

Panasonic showed its new graphics, including a hologram for its alkaline high capacity battery, Alkaline Plus. The packaging also shows drainage applications using icons, and has added an expiration date.

Rayovac's new merchandiser for its line of medical batteries, besides its pastel color to evoke a doctor's office, helps the consumer pick the right battery for a glucose monitor, blood pressure unit or thermometer. Also new from Rayovac is its line of phone batteries with the EZ Find system on the package showing which phones the battery fits and the amount of talk time and standby time the batteries provide.

Duracell offered new displays for its Ultra battery, which was introduced in May. This is a line designed especially for use in new high tech devices, which is a growing part of battery usage--estimated at around 17 percent of battery use today, but heading for 40 percent within two or three years, according to Duracell.

* Focus on baby boomers. Lumatec's Nite Out magnifier offers 2x magnification and a see-at-night flashlight feature. To help people on the go with aging eyes, Accessory Group featured collapsible reading glasses. Magnivision (which also offers folding reading glasses) showed new styles, softer colors and new merchandising vehicles for its reading glasses.

* That's entertainment. Disney's next big Disney Video Premiere, or big direct-to-video title, will be "Lion King II: Simba's Pride." Disney also featured other big fall titles, including the re-release of "Lady and the Tramp" and "Black Cauldron," which hits in time for the Halloween season.

* Seasonal picks. Ronson featured its windproof lighter Windii and its Varaflame igniter for outdoor cooking. K-Tel offered "Tales from Beyond" stories and "Halloween Songs" (including oldies such as "Monster Mash") as some of its Halloween tieins, just part of K-Tel's range of prerecorded audio products. American Rug added new shapes to its seasonal-themed synthetic coco mat rugs (Christmas designs are especially popular). JanSport introduced its Wolf Creek line of backpacks for back-to-school--a reminder that this category has become so much a way of life for kids that you could almost call the upcoming season backpack-to-school time.

* License to make money. Landoll reports that its Blues Clues license (from the Nickelodeon television show) in coloring and activity books is outselling even its Rugrats line. Among the other licensed products were Mead's Hot Wheels and Reebok school products, while Stuart Hall's new scratch design adds another Looney Tunes dimension to Bugs, Daffy, Taz and Tweety.

* Playing for profits. Learning Horizons, which aims to make learning fun, offered a new shelf pack that can go on a counter, shelf or end-cap and holds language, math and science books. Its new supertray displays have different headers (one is for back-to-school) and includes different combinations of products, from puzzles and write-on dinner mats to giftable science kits and stocking stuffers. Hoyle offered its new Peanuts playing cards for kids, while Mattel Media offered its software for girls, including Barbie Cool Looks Fashion Designer software that enables girls to make a pattern on fabric-like paper.