These are words from this month’s Focus Feature — DF’s annual round-up of the industry’s brand leaders, category by category.

And Sargento’s new product offering is a perfect example of this.

The company recently introduced a new all-natural cheese product featuring a licensed property — Scooby-Doo™ Mini String Snacks. The new Sargento cheese snack is the first co-branded natural cheese snack product available at retailers nationwide.

Sargento says the introduction of the all-natural, low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella string cheese snacks are well timed with the recent publicity surrounding kids’ eating habits. The cheese snacks feature high levels of calcium and protein and support healthy eating. “With string cheese and cheese shapes being such strong kidoriented products, we’re confident that these new co-branded products will do very well,” says Chip Schuman, Sargento Foods senior director of marketing. “With the ongoing concerns about kids’ eating habits, our Sargento all-natural cheese products are excellent snack alternatives for kids and families.”

Scooby-Doo has also proven to be a strong food license, particularly for snack products such as fruit snacks. “We know that the combination of cheese snacks and the great lover of snacks, Scooby-Doo, will make a terrific duo,” says Dave Hedrick, senior vice president of global promotions and branded foods for Warner Bros. Consumer Products.

The Scooby-Doo Mini String Snacks include approximately 40 cheese pieces in each 10-ounce package, with a suggested retail price of $3.99. Sargento will crosspromote the product with newly released Scooby-Doo DVDs from Warner Home Video.

Hey, did I mention that cobranding is another way to stay ahead of the pack?