In the eight years that Susan Neely has worked for the American Beverage Association (ABA), the president and chief executive officer of the Washington, D.C.-based association has seen manufacturers truly embrace the concept of innovation. “The array of new beverage choices and portion sizes that have been developed and are now offered out there just in the eight years that I’ve been around is amazing,” she says. “It’s why we can say we’ve got 23 percent fewer calories per serving in the beverage marketplace; it’s why we can say 45 percent of what’s sold out there is zero-calorie.
“The innovation is responding to consumer demands, but it’s also an important part of our leadership,” Neely continues. “As an industry, we can point to all of these choices, and they’re all good choices, so I think innovation is key to giving consumers what they want, but it’s also key to our leadership position in the fight against obesity and an important part of our message when we are aggressively fighting discriminatory taxes and bans. We can point to all the options that are out there for the people who want them.”