tropextrakt’s Trend Cross Check 2018 – PART II
The international research institute Mintel recently published a trend report and stated five trends that will gain further importance in 2018. We look closer at the first three of them and see which brands adapted or even shaped these trends.
1. And the winner is… TRANSPARENCY
Consumers are increasingly interested in the origin of products to be able to judge their trustability. As a consequence, a significant rise of information on product labels could be observed in the last years, that refer to
1) naturalness and
2) sustainability and ethical aspects.
Additional communication channels like advertisement, PR and social media are used to get further information across: How “pure” and clean is this product? Where do the ingredients come from? Does this product make a difference regarding protection of environment and sustainability. One of Edeka’s recent campaigns may serve as an example.
OUR FORECAST: The sheer expansion of information will lead to a need for definition.
How “natural” is a product measured by which criteria? “Cleaning the label” and getting rid of synthetic additives is a current development, but others will follow. Apps like “code check” already support the buying decisions of customers on the basis of his or her preference (e.g. “vegan”) or help to identify microplastic in cosmetic products. Traceability will become commodity first – Mintel names the takeover of whole food by Amazon as an indicator – than it will cause a need for evaluation and clarification.
OUR RECOMMENDATION: Be a step ahead and start with being clear in addition to being clean!
2. Caring for oneself: A product as flexible and well-balanced as the consumer himself
Dealing with time pressure and the need to be flexible increases the expectation on food and beverages to be as flexible and well-balanced as the modern consumer him- or herself. The diversification of individual health and nutrition plans create a universe of possibilities for the development of food and beverages through different health concepts, formulas and package sizes. But (with reference to part 1 of our report) – remember, it will remain a high competitive market).
OUR FORECAST: Food and beverages will remain a high prioritized way to care for and comfort oneself and others. Consumers will keep experimenting on different ways of lifestyle, but one preferred solution will be to keep it as simple as possible.
An advertisement example for the trend to care for oneself by a well-balanced, in the end simple lifestyle.
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OUR RECOMMENDATION: Natural, pure products will make a difference. Once again, and also in this context. Speak about the quality of your ingredients. Put emphasis either here and/or be (really) different with a view to a defined way of nutrition such as “vegan”, “kosher”, “ayurvedic”, etc.
3. Texture – be an experience that is worth to be shared
This aspect is especially true for the so called iGeneration, the group of consumers that will be between 10 and 27 years old in 2018. “Texture” means the visual nature of a product and the question whether it is worth to be documented amongst others via social media. Being able to creating pictures and memories becomes a value of products on its own. The latest Hohes C advertisement might be worth to be mentioned. Remember Hohes C being under the 5 strongest beverage brands in Germany and having in mind that Hohes C was known a long term for putting emphasis on values like caring and family. The aim to address a younger target group might be causal for this additional communication approach:
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OUR FORECAST: Like it or not – people like sharing information on food and beverage experiences via social media, and ways to do so will increase significantly in the future.
OUR RECOMMENDATION: Be curious, keep on experimenting with different kind of ingredients, textures, nutrition experiences. Find ways to visualize taste and functional effects that agree with the communication via social media.
And for a good ending – Watch here one of the finalists of the latest drink starter award. And let’s see which exciting new developments 2018 will bring!
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