The event, held at the [Madinat Jumeirah] (http://www.jumeirah.com/en/Hotels-and-Resorts/Destinations/Dubai/Madinat-Jumeirah/) resort, was well-attended by regional industry leaders and senior management, as well as marketing and technical professionals, industry suppliers and analysts. It was sponsored by leading suppliers Chr Hansen and Wild.
The two-day programme included a conference with a focus on ‘Meeting the cost and innovation challenge’, market briefings and a visit to Del Monte’s state-of-the-art Dubai production site.
Opened in 2007 following a $24.7m investment, the 30,000 square metre factory has several production lines, including a 12 million litres per year juice line, cold storage and a ripening facility with the capacity to ripen 4,500 tonnes of fruit per year.
Introducing the Congress, Zenith International chairman, Richard Hall, said: “Tightening economic conditions and cost pressures led us to seek practical responses on these issues for our 2009 Congress. Understanding consumer motivation and developing excellence in innovation accordingly become all the more important. The conference will deliver ideas and insights to help regional producers meet these challenges to better effect than their competitors.”
Following the Del Monte plant visit, the Congress began with an afternoon of market briefings. Sam Shammas, AMEA regional manager for Zenith International, looked at the emerging growth market opportunities worldwide and in the Middle East; Chr Hansen beverage business development manager, Bertrand Martzel, gave a briefing entitled ‘Brighten your future: natural colours for sustainable competitive advantage’, and Zenith International director Duncan Finlayson – reflecting the theme of the Congress – talked about managing costs and ensuring efficiencies.
The second day began with a market and industry overview. Thomas Edelmann, vice president strategic business development, Middle East & Levant for MasterCard Worldwide, gave a presentation entitled: ‘World economy and consumer confidence’.
Zenith International chairman, Richard Hall, then took delegates through Global and Middle East beverage trends, and Zenith International chief operating officer, Charles Phillips, looked at beverage industry consolidation and changing company structures.
In the second session, ‘Meeting the challenge’, the keynote address entitled ‘Best practice in cost management’ was given by Massimo Casella of Nestlé Waters.
Fadi Fadl Saadeddine, chief operating officer of Lebanon-based Coca-Cola bottler National Beverage Company, discussed how to maintain growth in a demanding climate, before Martin Fejk, marketing director of Tetra Pak Arabia, gave a detailed presentation on innovation in packaging.
The afternoon began with three presentations on insights for product innovation. First was ‘Ultra fresh juice – eat healthy, live healthy’, from Mohammed Abbas, general manager of Del Monte Foods UAE (Fze). This was followed by Red Bull country manager, UAE Karim El Khazen, who discussed how Red Bull was ‘Giving wiiings to UAE consumers’. Zenith International’s Sam Shammas then rounded off the session with a presentation on the opportunity for dairy drinks.
The last session, on consumers and marketing, featured three presentations. The first was a study on consumer perspectives in the Middle East given by Anjan Lahiri, senior group account director – custom research for TNS Worldpanel. The second, by Starcom MediaVest director Karine Barakat, focused on youth marketing and how to capture the generation’s imagination. Finally, Karine Barakat, director of Starcom MediaVest Group, Egypt, looked at creative consumer connections.
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