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Constellation Brands Inc., Chicago, announced that internationally-renowned soccer players Clint Dempsey and Miguel Layún will serve as brand ambassadors for Modelo Especial, a pilsner-style lager brewed for 90 years in Mexico. The brand, which recently became the second most imported beer in the United States, has partnered with Dempsey and Layún as part of its summer marketing campaign, which began this month and centers around the sport of soccer.

Sixty-six wine professionals from around the world judged the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition and later visited award-winning Finger Lakes wineries and attended a lunch at Waterloo Container in Waterloo, N.Y. The lunch-and-learn event featured three of the top beverage packaging manufacturers in the U.S. introducing new packaging innovations. These are innovations that can be expected on the shelves next to wines – or maybe holding wines – in the very near future.

King Juice Company, Inc., Milwaukee, Wisc., proud producer of Calypso-flavored Lemonades, Limeades and Teamonades, has announced a partnership with Lemons of Love (LOL), Des Plaines, Ill., a charity organization that delivers Chemo Care Packages to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment. LOL was founded by Jill Swanson, a cancer survivor who underwent chemotherapy treatment in 2014. Lemons of Love’s care bags are hand made by volunteer stitchers and contain special products that were essential in Swanson’s healing during her own cancer treatments, the company says.

The Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta, unveiled the world’s first PET plastic bottle made entirely from plant materials at the World Expo - Milan. PlantBottle packaging pushes the boundaries on sustainable innovation by using groundbreaking technology to create a fully recyclable plastic bottle made from renewable plant materials, the company says. 

Three of the top five fastest-growing spirits brands are vodkas, but whiskey is the category with the most momentum, according to the 2015 SpiritsTAB Report from Chicago-based Technomic Inc.

Heineken Light, a brand of Heineken USA, New York, N.Y., announced that this summer, the brand’s Best Tasting Light 360 degree program will inspire LDA+ shoppers to set a new standard for their summer gatherings by choosing Heineken Light as their go-to light beer, the company says. National TV, digital and web activations, social support and retail and on-premise activation will help shift the light beer conversation back where it belongs – taste – to drive trial and incremental sales of superior tasting, higher margin Heineken Light, it says.  

In its 30th year of honoring the nation's best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, a brand of Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo Inc., in collaboration with USA TODAY High School Sports, today announced Luken Baker, of Oak Ridge High School in Conroe, Texas, as its 2014-15 Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year. Baker was surprised with the news at school by former three-time MLB All-Star Roy Oswalt.

Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc., Canton, Mass., The J.M. Smucker Company, Orrville, Ohio, and Keurig Green Mountain, Inc., Waterbury, Vt., announced that Dunkin' K-Cup pods are now available for sale at thousands of retailers nationwide for the first time, the companies say. As part of an agreement between the three companies first announced in February, Smucker will distribute and market Dunkin' K-Cup pods exclusively to grocery chains, mass merchandisers, club stores, drug stores, dollar stores and home improvement stores. Keurig will distribute and market Dunkin' K-Cup pods exclusively to specialty stores such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl's and Macy's, as well as office supply retailers such as Staples and Office Depot beginning this summer.

Many of America's largest food and beverage (F&B) companies are in trouble, Rabobank, New York, says in its new report, "Dude, where's my consumer?" Iconic brands are increasingly out of favor with U.S. consumers, whose preferences and priorities have evolved, Rabobank says. Rabobank analysts predict that unless large F&B brands take bold action, they run the risk of following baby boomers (once their core consumer) into retirement.

Lake Wales, Fl.-based Florida’s Natural Growers recently launched two new ready-to-drink lemonades, a traditional Lemonade and a Lemonade with Strawberry, that hit shelves in early May. The drinks are premium, not from concentrate lemonades, made with real sugar, and they accomplish a philanthropic mission, too. All of the profits from the sale of the items will go to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to finding cures for all kids with cancer.