The latest news, trends, analysis, interviews and podcasts from the global food and beverage industry
Dragon Brand Consultants recently held seminars in London for those involved in both manufacturing and retail on how to incrementally add value to a business. Strategy, design, innovation and communication all formed part of their advice.
beverage innovation Editor Claire Phoenix reflects on the workshops’ merits and finds out how to enhance brand appeal.
When it comes to safeguarding business growth, it is vital to engage consumers early on and to gain stronger support they need to believe in the end result. To be "safe" as a company you need to be incrementally adding value and by planning ahead you will never have your ideas pipeline in a drought situation.
Client side initiatives include having “curiosity champions” or “customer insight” managers. You can’t afford to fail on either insight or foresight fronts. The next step is to make your insight actionable in a positive way. It is worth noting that regarding strategy, design, innovation and communication, 65% of global expertise in this area is in Hamburg, Warsaw, Paris, London and New York. However, insight has to have foundation i.e through specialisms not just specialists. And above all belief in your product is essential.
The ‘experience’ factor
Over the past ten years company innovation departments have become smaller – with younger employees not always aware of opportunities. These are often best spotted by senior team members who are aware of commercial habits and longevity.
UK launches in 2005 * Dairy 150+ * Snacks 180+ * Household 150 * Drinks 300+ * Bakery 250+ * Confectionery 120+ Of these, 85% were pack and product tweaks - only 15% were true innovation.
Emotionally engaging
First up - are you liked, trusted, inspiring, impartial as a company? Sometimes a simple idea such as making cheese resealable can add value and make a product more trusted. Relevant focus is critical – how important is your brand to people? Factors such as confidence and out of home convenience are also important. To be inspiring a product has to have something beyond your normal expectations. You can also work to make values such as trust (i.e what’s in it – what’s working) stronger and more robust. Problem solving
Currently opportunities exist in areas ranging from children’s lunchboxes and food and drinks for older people, to food for the busy executive on the go. Pleasure, health and taste will all be taken into consideration when making a choice. And be aware, apparently the average American opens the fridge 36 times a day – does your product leap out?
We all know though that new products take time to bed in and gain consumer trust.
Light products are dominant in recent product surveys with Müeller Light and Danone Bio Activia yogurts all well accepted, along with ranges such as Tesco’s Serves One and the M&S Gastro Pub range – all designed to make life easier.
These products are problem solving by being specific about what they are doing and being convenient as they save time and money. It is also noticeable that coffee shops and bars are encouraging a fun sense of indulgence by allowing consumers to add their own extras such as marshmallows and chocolate flakes.
Valentine value
Getting more out of life is high on many people’s agenda and the idea of Valentine ice cream with two spoons to share is indicative of creative thinking in this sector. However, it is critical not to cannibalise the core brand itself.
Key moments can be identified such as home time, break time, weekday lunches when we all need to drink but are often left with a sensation of something lacking – current products that hydrate do not always feed the body and today’s beverages are often asked to do more by being dual function and delivering nutrition as well as by being thirst quenching.
Kids – the involved consumers
No longer content with cheap and cheerful, kids are becoming more involved in making responsible choices. The key product benefits have to sing out loud and clear, with quick to open formats and visible effects involving an active element encouraging purchase.
Kids appreciate no nonsense efficiency and will soon become frustrated with a package that is difficult to open and has to be handed back to mum or dad to deal with.
What they react well to is fun and interactive packaging with superlatives and extremes used to create fun names and concepts. Kids need frequent energy top ups to keep going at the rate they do, but nutritionists would be quick to say that slow release energy foods are vital to stop the peaks and troughs of sweet snacking.
Innovate it Innovation is generally about attitude – talking, challenging, and go getting with a sense of commitment and engagement.
In dairy innovation last year we saw massive growth in prebiotics and probiotics, as well as increases in spreadable butter and dips.
For many consumers today life can seem dull and predictable and needs spicing up by new offerings in foods and drinks. The ethnic experience has been part of the growth in supermarket foods over the last few years but now calorie counting adults want to take into consideration not just immediate pleasure but longer term effects.
During one of the seminars, each member of the group was asked to name a product that we had seen developed over the last year, which meets a need and has a good chance of success. I quoted dairy innovation magazine as a classic case of innovation meeting a consumer need as previously there was no global dairy magazine covering this sector.
As a publisher we already had experience in covering developments in bottled water and soft drinks. We have four glossy established business journals known for their analytical insight and knew our readers would be looking for pictorial evidence of new launches. Therefore we had confidence in the brand due to our good reputation in reporting on beverages and bottled water.
Insight mapping
Insight mapping will give your innovation plans structure. Innovation is a philosophy and to take people with you, first you need to get closer to those you need to understand. Be brave though – it is worth taking different types of decisions to those you viewed in the past as innovation. But you need to have conviction – if you don’t believe in it – don’t launch it. “I know I am going to like it” has to be the consumers’ first reaction in store. Healthier living
Nutritionists view fibre as more useful than GI when judging foods for a balanced diet. High fibre or “second wind” as it has been known to be termed, is now deemed to give more balance to a diet and so promote long term good health. The promotional speak is “all day and every day energy” which can only be provided by fibre and not sugar.
Super convenience
Making convenient foods more delicious and more convenient to use are two mega trends. From a preparational point of view and at point of purchase, juice and smoothie bars and drinks such as Hero’s Fruit2day meet this criteria with full marks.
Under trial currently are products tailored to individual metabolism with index ratings to indicate which products are suited to different users at various stages in their lives.
Big health themes
Gut health, heart health, weight control – the “adopt a benefit” slogan is working well for new products launching onto the market right now. There is a continuing opportunity for the wonder ingredients that cut fat or sugar intake while preserving taste. Weight control or diet products have become the norm for everyday eating.
When it comes to areas such as gut health people don’t seek a high level of understanding about the mechanics. Will this level of trust extend to other organs such as the liver or kidneys?
The heart is high on many people’s agenda both from the cholesterol lowering benefits of some products to the feeling of general well being elicited by whole grains. This may broaden to a whole family as concerns grow over children’s health. The reduced risk of disease is of huge interest to consumers who value functional products such as those with added calcium for helping with the prevention of osteo arthritis.
By boosting your immune system you will have a higher chance of reducing the risk of cancer. New areas seem to be the development of cognitive function – i.e concentration and bone and joint health, while relaxing drinks to promote sleep are also on the increase.
Consumer Concerns
Ethical concerns are also now high on the consumer agenda with sustainability meeting the needs of mind, body and spirit a new goal.
Animal health and welfare are of greater concern with the results of pesticide residue registering and so the move towards organic produce increasing. Fair Trade products are being seen as trustworthy, ethical and better tasting as they are made with more care. Whether that is actually the case could be debated but the mental, emotional and physical interbuild is powerful. The M&S message – “We look after you and your planet” is timely.
So, the new societal trends include a move towards less processed food or at least food which looks very fresh and real. There is an empathy towards self improvement and self actualisation. Honesty and transparency over production and harvesting is becoming evident in areas such as coffee, fruit and vegetables - this will transmute to other areas.
The bigger picture
In the Western world we are becoming more aware of the bigger picture. We want flourishing communities and a sustainable countryside with animal welfare high on the agenda and fairness of opportunity on a global basis.
Being environmentally responsible has a halo effect. It is future oriented and aimed at consumers and manufacturers who want to be seen as trustworthy and responsible.
We want to be safe and take less risks with food production. There is likely to be a move towards lower air miles with less motorised travel and a more favourable view of travel by bicycle and electric vans.
The provenance in general is “less processed more natural. As an example, in the US, the currently popular Heavenly Brownies and Heavenly Blondies packaged chocolate slab cakes are made using white chocolate and wheatgrass – a combination of indulgence and a superfood.
Cereals are more likely to appear in little bottles, and drinks aimed at women will be categorised into areas such as active sports, beauty and stress free or energy boosting drinks, such as Sveltesse Optimise and green tea based drinks.
The backlash
The result will be a diet with a debit credit mentality. We will desire chocolate cake made with real cream and real butter, but also wish it to delivered without involving unnecessary food miles.
5 a day and grazing
There will be a massive promotion of 5 a day fruit and vegetables with the development of more healthy evening snacks to meet demand. The old version of 3 main meals will die away.
Liquid foods will be respositioned into the mainstream, particularly as smoothies and shakes. In Japan the new vending machines at stations hold fresh, bitesize snacks of sushi and vegetables for a snack on the go that is healthy and aimed at both adults and children rushing from school to sports clubs and piano lessons – providing a break in their hot housed lives.
Plant power
There is an infinite willingness by consumers to try all things natural – though they may not necessarily like the taste. They believe botanical benefits to include the ability to lower stress and increase energy levels. We need to join up the dots for consumers to make it healthier to indulge.
Natural is best
innocent smoothies are an ideal example of a brand that has taken advantage of consumers’ desire for “natural” products. Their message is that they are “seriously healthy” and the term health overwhelms that of taste in pack communication.
Online food doctors - publishing advice and answering questions on food and nutrition - are also becoming increasingly popular.
New Age chocolate
Chocolate is now being gifted new attributes such as being “soothing and relaxing”, although for a long time it has been associated more with fat, calories and points.
Many functional drinks are benefiting from our ageing and fattening population who “look to find a reason to believe”. These are often aimed at age related problems for those who don’t see themselves as old.
Energisers – or products which offer sustained energy, satiety, or concentration such as those containing Omega 3 are currently of great interest to consumers.
Whereas organic foods were 10 years ago viewed with scepticism and only eaten by hippies and weirdos, are today being consumed by “normalists” who have come to accept them and are finding them more accessible.
Nutritional labelling
What do consumers need and want? The basic rule is “keep it simple” – they like the “nothing artificial” tag. A confusing nutritional panel can be anathema to sales of a product.
Benefits in this area seem to be: * corporate level commitment – works well with consumers (easier for smaller companies than large). * Symbols, particularly ticks, are easy to understand. Food wheels and food pyramids can also be successful. * Useful calorie information – consumers appreciate this. * Nutritional panels can often be too complex and small. * Tone of voice is important – positive not negative is the message. * Cereals have always had an immense health message. * Keeping messages simple, those such as "added calcium" work.
We need multimedia programmes to build the health credentials of a product. Brand concepts can be corporate specific such as the M&S eat well approach which is multi-faceted and holistic.