World Beverage Innovation Awards 2022: What are the judges looking for? (Part Two)

The World Beverage Innovation Awards 2022, sponsored by Ecolean and in association with drinktec, is a celebration of innovation and excellence across the global beverage industry. We asked the second half of our judging panel what they are hoping to see from this year’s entrants.

There are 23 trophies to be won in total, and being shortlisted provides a hallmark of success that will prevail long after the awards draw to a close.

These judges’ criteria points will hopefully offer inspiration and help in crafting the winning entry.

The deadline for entries is Friday 22 July.

Rohan Carvalho

Founding Partner, Bar Square – India

Innovation is the nucleus of the F&B industry and is essential for its profitability & survival. As companies & brands spend countless hours and resources developing products to meet the ever-evolving expectations of the consumers, recognising and awarding such brilliant entities is significantly important for the growth of the industry.

It’s an honour to be on the jury panel for the World Beverage Innovation Awards 2022 & this is what I would be largely looking at:

Brand Concept & Story: It’s vital today for a brand to connect with their customers, especially if it’s a new entrant. A great concept and descriptive brand story builds connection & trust with their customers.
Solution: Addressing existing gaps or concerns in the market and converting it into an experience-based product provides companies with the opportunities to succeed.
Functional: Satisfying the five senses is good, functionality like health benefits; is better.
Use of Local Ingredients: Using locally sourced ingredients doesn’t just benefit one’s health and the farmers in the community. It also has a host of positive economic, social, and environmental effects. A great way of giving back to the community.
Disruptive Innovation: The increase in the number of start-ups in the recent years has created myriads of brands competing for market share. Standing out from the crowd by bringing new, radical or disruptive ideas to life, helps brands to have an edge over the rest.

Jessica Munro

Beverage Innovation Manager, UK&I MONIN

I’m honoured to be joining the judging panel for the World Beverage Innovation Awards 2022. The beverage industry has undergone a humongous transformation over the last few years, changing the way we approach innovation entirely, and being a part of this industry whilst seeing this change take place day too day is fascinating. I’m excited to be bringing my experience from MONIN as Beverage Innovation Manager to the panlook forward to seeing some incredible products. Here are some of the criteria I’ll be watching out for;

Functional Ingredients: This year, I’ll be on the look out for entries that provide an extra functional benefit, whether that’s an ingredient that contributes to gut health, mental wellbeing or immunity. Wellness has become more than just a trend over the last few years and consumers are now welcoming it as part of day-today life, adapting what they are buying according to their own needs.
Sustainable Brands: The F&B industry is one of the leaders in sustainable practices and I’ll be looking for a brand that takes leadership with a forward-thinking ethical profile. Brands that are actively reducing packaging waste/water waste, cutting pollution and emissions, minimising their impact on the environment will be ticking all the right boxes for me.
Trending Flavours: There’s been a fascinating change of trending flavours within the beverage industry recently, and it would be great to see brands applying these in innovative formats. A few great examples of flavours I’ll be watching out for include the use of citrus, indulgent flavours or nostalgic flavours.
Story Telling: Consumers are becoming more purchase savvy with the products that they’re buying and require more than just a great tasting product to commit to staying loyal to brands. Storytelling for me is important, as it creates an emotional connection with your audience that they feel involved with and part of. It’s the difference between a potential one-time purchase and a loyal customer for life.
Wow Factor: In an extremely saturated market, having a USP that really makes your brand/ product stand out is key to survive. I’ll be looking for that one ‘wow’ factor that draws you in and intrigues you enough to want to take the chance to try something new.

Petra Westphal

Director, drinktec

I am excited to be one of the judges of the World Beverage Innovation Awards, as I am the Exhibition Director of drinktec, the world leading trade fair for the Beverage and Liquid Food Industry.

drinktec’s purpose is to bring together the who’s who of the global Beverage and Liquid Food Industry and to specifically shape the future for our industries. Thus, an incomparable offer of innovations, solutions and world premieres is depicted by our 1,200 exhibitors from more than 70 countries.

The main attributes I will be looking for are:

Climate neutral production: In general, I will be looking at everything that contributes to a climate-neutral production as these are the eager goals of the Beverage and Liquid Food Industry. That means:
Sustainable Processing & Packaging: Products that are in terms of processing energy efficient, reduce consumables and avoid product losses. Products with optimised packaging materials due to a higher recycled content or less packaging in total.
Digital Solutions & Transformation: Anything that contributes to the stabilisation of the process, product safety and transparency. In the end it is about optimised use of resources, flexible handling of changing consumer demands and a transparent communication.
Water & Water Treatment: What does the beverage producer do to reduce the water consumption? Either in terms of how much water is used for the production of one litre of beverage or what the producer does to reduce or re-use process water.
Consumer World & Product Design: What does the beverage contribute to health issues and convenient handling of the packaging.

Nicolas Gomez Gonzalez

Marketing and Sales Manager, AB-InBev

It’s an honour to be part of the judging panel for the 2022 World Beverage Innovation Awards.

Consumer behaviours have changed considerably over the last few years, driven by macro consumer trends and boosted by the pandemic. This has found us to adopt new consumption patterns. I’m keen to see this year’s innovations that could disrupt and bring excitement to the beverage industry.

As a leader in the industry, I would expect to see a brand and a product that follow the following criteria:

Fit your product in one of the consumer’s macro trends: Premiumisation, convenient indulgence, better-for-you, and socialisation. It’s important that you address one of the biggest macro trends to address major consumer problems.
Be a real and relevant solution: Bring a solution to a real consumer problem. You have to identify a real tension for the consumer and develop a quality innovation. Bringing to life more similar products won’t make you different.
Address a problem by developing an outstanding and tasty product (don’t forget, taste is key). Keep it relevant for the consumer and be clear in your packaging communication. You could turn something good into outstanding if you are relevant and appealing.
Be sustainable: You must be recyclable and have eco-friendly packaging. Single-use plastic is not acceptable anymore and is our responsibility as brand owners to drive this agenda to take care of our planet.
Health and Wellness: Ingredients should be natural and in this case “less is more”. Consumers are looking for clean labels with natural ingredients and from natural and responsible sources. You have the chance to build a brand story from here, so make the most of it.

Rafael Rozenson

Founder & CEO at Vieve Protein Water

Here is what I will be looking for:

Consumer insight: How much does your innovation reflect true consumer and marketplace understanding.
Differentiation: Is your product truly unique and brings something new to the category.
Packaging: How well does your product stand out on the shelf.
Sustainability: Core to any NPD launch.
Creativity: What is the WOW factory behind the innovation and the creative insight.

Are you a beverage industry innovator worthy of our judges attention?