Organised by Zenith International in association with the Italian mineral water trade association Mineracqua and sponsored by Krones for the second year, the event was attended by over 60 producers, suppliers, customers and other industry partners.
The first day began with an impressive plant tour to leading producer Aqua Minerale San Benedetto at Scorzè, a one hour drive from Venice.
Following the tour, the conference opened with two panel sessions. The first ‘leadership’ panel reviewed the latest market and industry developments and addressed key issues such as health, the environment, new product launches, advertising and future innovation. The panel featured Enrico Zoppas, president of Acqua Minerale San Benedetto SpA, Stefano Agostini, president and CEO of Sanpellegrino SpA, Giuseppe Cerbone, managing director of Ferrafelle SpA and Ettore Fortuna, president of Mineracqua.
The session was moderated by Armando Garosci, journalist for Largo Consumo, and covered the challenges the industry faces over the coming years. The panel focused on the opportunities the Italian bottled water sector has to develop healthy growth in the current economic climate. We were told this requires constant evaluation of products, a requirement to keep costs down for consumers and a need to exploit available new technologies.
The second ‘retail insights’ session reviewed consumer and retail trends, market changes and pressures, developments in branding and promotions, best practice standards and future requirements. It was chaired by Paolo Borgio, managing director of Beverage and Grocery and featured Vincenzo Tassinari, president of Coop Italia, Giuseppe Zuliani, marketing director of Conad and Andrea Rovesti, business insights manager for SymphonyIRI Italia. The discussion covered changes in consumer purchase habits, overall product price rises and the high number of offers and discounts currently found on Italian bottled water. These price cuts have had an impact on product value, but are inevitable in the current economic climate.
Healthy growth
The second day began with a review of both the economic outlook and consumer confidence by Ferruccio Bresolin, professor of international economic policy for the economics faculty at Universita Ca Foscari di Venezia. Professor Bresolin talked about the root causes of the economic downturn and the financial strategies the bottled water industry should adopt for the future to sustain growth.
This was followed a presentation from Vincenzo Tundo, Marketing Director of Acqua Minerale San Benedetto SpA who looked at the challenges that face sustainable growth in the industry today.
Mineracqua president Ettore Fortuna closed the first morning session with his views on Industry policy, communicating both challenges and successes. We were also told that there is a need to challenge some of the criticisms levied at the bottled water industry, such as the perceived environmental impact of transportation. Bottled water is often singled-out as a significant user of road transport for example, but in reality many other products are just as accountable.
The second session of the morning was opened by Roberto Donati, market analyst for Zenith International Ltd who reviewed the Italian market in 2011 and looked forward to themes for 2012.
Federico Sarzi Braga, Italian business unit director for Sanpellegrino SpA followed with his thoughts on ensuring market sustainability for the long term, and the morning sessions were closed by Franco Tomba, CEO of Krones Srl who delivered a fascinating insight on some of the organisation’s new concepts and technologies for the future.
After lunch, the conference moved on to a series of presentations addressing marketing insights. These were opened by Alessandro Invernizzi, CEO of Lurisia who took a fresh look at various industry market opportunities. Michele Foglio, CEO of Gruppo Maniva SpA addressed the new ways required to connect with today’s consumers and Giuseppe Cuzziol, president of Italgrob looked specifically at consumer trends in bars and restaurants.
The last set of presentations of the day came under the banner ‘looking 10 years ahead’. They opened with Alfredo Tabacco, export director for Ferrarelle SpA with a presentation entitled ‘export development’ . Francessco Zanchi, CEO of GSI Plastics followed with the subject of ‘PET outlook: costs, alternatives and recycling’.
The conference was closed by Zenith International Ltd chairman Richard Hall whose presentation included a 15 year view of the global bottled water market, an overview of forty new products to monitor, and a look at the various themes that have been associated with bottled water marketing over the last four decades and some of those that will apply in the future.
Source: Zenith International
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