With the theme ‘Healthy industry for a healthy society’, the Summit, organised by UK-based Zenith International in cooperation with the American Beverages Association, included retail tours, a conference, insight workshop and the 2011 Beverage Innovation functionaldrinks Awards Gala Dinner.
The event’s Gold Sponsor was Tata Global Beverages, while other sponsors included Beneo, Bericap, Closure Systems International and Rabobank.
See image gallery for the Summit here.
The first day opened with a sightseeing tour of Washington DC’s major landmarks, and was followed by a series of US beverage retail store checks covering selected retail outlets in the health & wellness, immediate consumption and grocery retail channels in the suburban Washington DC area. The first day closed with a welcome reception at the Four Seasons Hotel.
The main conference on Wednesday 30 March was entitled ‘Health industry for a healthy society’ and began with a session on North American market development, featuring three speakers:
The next session was entitled ‘Addressing the challenge of obesity’ and opened with the keynote address, ‘The Obama Administration’s approach to ending obesity in a generation’, given by Dora L Hughes, MD, MPH, FACP, counsellor for science & public health in the office of the secretary at US Government Department of Health and Human Services.
This was followed by a panel discussion entitled ‘How can public policy help reduce childhood obesity?’. The panel discussed the impact of obesity in the US and how government, the public health community and industry should tackle it. The panel included:
The session closed with a review of ‘the European approach’, presented by Alain Beaumont, secretary general of Unesda, the Union of European Beverage Associations.
The afternoon began with a session on ‘Key industry opportunities’ and was opened by Beverage Innovation managing editor and FoodBev Media director Claire Phoenix, who looked at ‘Latest innovation themes’.
The keynote address, ‘A new perspective from a new beverage player’, was given by Peter Unsworth, CEO of Tata Global Beverages. This was followed by Alistair Gosling, founder and CEO of Extreme Drinks Ltd, who talked about ‘A new angle on energy’.
The afternoon closed with a session on ‘International growth prospects’, beginning with a look at ‘Global beverage market trends and growth outlook’, with Richard Hall, chairman of Zenith International.
This was followed by ‘Central Europe: International themes with local flavour’, by Jaroslav Bartak, CEO of Kofola, ‘Japan: Staying ahead in a sophisticated and saturated market’ by Steve Galloway, consulting director at Beverage Japan, and ‘Portugal: Maximising portfolio choice and reach’ by José Jordão, board member and chief marketing officer of Sumol+Compal.
In the evening, delegates travelled to The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center for a Gala Dinner and the presentation of the 2011 Beverage Innovation functionaldrinks Awards.
The final day began with a session on ‘Environmental and ethical innovation’ and was opened by Eric Ostern, Americas corporate responsibility for Unilever, talking about ‘Sustainable growth: profits, people and the planet’.
Sabrina Vigilante, director of sustainable value chains – Americas and Asia Pacific for Rainforest Alliance, then discussed ‘Strengthening partnerships’. Scott Vitters, general manager – PlantBottle packaging platform for The Coca-Cola Company, made a presentation entitled ‘Message in a PlantBottle’.
The session closed with Tony Smith, global vice president of marketing for Closures Systems International, talking about ‘Closure solutions for a healthy society’.
The second session of the morning looked at ‘Latest in product innovation’ and featured:
The afternoon began with a session on ‘Investing in health beverages’ and opened with a panel discussion featuring:
The conference closed with two ‘Insight workshops’. The first, by Josh Feldmeth, MD of Interbrand, was called ‘International brand expansion’, while the second was called ‘Flavoured and functional beverage market trends worldwide’, presented by Ross Colbert, MD – Americas for Zenith International.
His presentation featured global market, regional breakdown, key countries, market dynamics, main trends, flavours, functions, innovation, leading companies and brands, volumes to 2010, and an outlook to 2015.
Bill Bruce is group editorial director of FoodBev Media. You can contact him here
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