Situated in the Messe München West Entrance, where most of the 60,000 visitors arrive at the once-every-four-year event, the Innovation Flow Lounge is a networking forum for marketing professionals who want to take a look beyond their own area and engage in discussion with experts from other fields. Each day there will be a different theme, covered in short presentations and discussion sessions. But the Innovation Flow Lounge is also a place simply to relax away from the stress of the show and try out new and innovative drinks at the bar – many of these will be entries, finalists and winners from the Beverage Innovation Awards.
Monday’s Innovation Flow Lounge sessions, hosted by Krones, will focus on technical innovations which can create greater flexibility in beer marketing. Tuesday’s focus is on point of sale and is hosted by Rastal, and on Wednesday, KHS will promote ‘packaging intelligence’.
FoodBev Media is running the Thursday session with the theme: ‘Beverage Innovation – creating a successful product’.
The first session, on ‘Identifying opportunities in beverages – giving the customer what the customer wants’ – will be presented by FoodBev Media managing editor magazines Claire Phoenix. A seasoned industry trend spotter, Claire will look at key trends of the past years, from convenience packaging to health, seasonality and on-trend flavours. She will then predict some trends for the future.
The second session on packaging, entitled: ‘Developing the right packaging – customers don’t just judge books by their covers’ will be with Rexam Group marketing director Ollie Graham.
“These days, a good product with boring packaging just doesn’t get customers excited,” Ollie said. “They want things that look good and feel good – the perfect symbiosis of convenience and ergonomics. Together, a good design and tangible functionality fulfill their purpose, which is to appeal to the consumer. And a clear message about environmental protection scores extra points.”
Markus Lotsch, managing director, Wild Flavors, will look at how to select the correct ingredients, in a session called: ‘Selecting the correct ingredients – the right flavour to fit the customers taste’.
“When more and more consumers discover the taste of melon-strawberry-apple beer, it might be worthwhile for a manufacturer to meet that demand with its own product,” Markus said. “Or maybe it uses a product of that kind to fill a niche, and then it becomes a trend. The important thing is to recognise your target group and satisfy needs when it comes to aroma and ingredients – and to have a believable advertising claim.”
The fourth session, entitled ‘Designing the beverage brands of the future – how to sell your product successfully’ – will be with Darren Foley, managing director of independent design and branding agency Pearlfisher in London.
“Whether you’re a start-up fledging or an established icon in the highly competitive beverage market, design has the power to bring to life the personality of your brand, defining what sets you apart from the competition and creating a unique consumer experience.”
Using recent examples, Darren will share the secrets behind designing successful beverage brands for the future and ways to give consumers the engaging retail experiences they now expect and desire.
To close the session, a table discussion will be hosted by FoodBev Media and Zenith International chairman Richard Hall. The sessions start at 11:00 on 19 September.
And, talking about 19 September at Drinktec – in the evening, at 17:15, make your way to the Drinktec Forum in Hall A2 for the Beverage Innovation Awards @ drinktec presentation where finalists and winners will be announced.
The awards, sponsored by Rexam Beverage Can, have passed the 2009 entry mark, with over 370 entries from 40 countries and are guaranteed to be a highlight of Drinktec this year.
Every entry will be shown on screens in the Innovation Flow Lounge and on the FoodBev Media stand in the New Beverage Concepts arena in Hall B1 throughout Drinktec. A Showcase magazine, featuring every entry will also be available at the awards ceremony.
Associate sponsors for the awards are Aptar, Sensient Flavors, OwensIllinois and Smartseal. Category sponsors include Beneo, Owens-Illinois, PTI and Smartseal.
We’ll be doing audio and video interviews throughout the event at the FoodBev Media stand, so if you’d like to make an appointment to come and see us, please get in touch.
See you there!
Updated 2 September 2013, with the addition of Claire Phoenix and more details of each speaker’s sessions.
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