It’s well-known that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but with increasingly hectic schedules — not to mention the hard-to-resist snooze button — time-crunched consumers often find themselves skipping the meal.
A comical line in the digital animation film “The Lorax” quips that if you put something in a plastic bottle, people will buy it. Although the joke is meant as a mockery of selling bottled air, many beverage categories have emerged in bottles in the last couple of years.
Technology advancements have given us 3-D TVs, virtual tradeshows and smartphones with electronic personal assistants, but it’s a shame that this magazine does not have an interactive smell component this month.
Gordon Wade, chief executive officer of the Category Management Association (CMA), Wimberley, Texas, mentioned during an interview for this month’s Channel Strategies article an interesting observation about the industry’s explosive growth.
Packaging can be an important, yet difficult decision for beverage-makers. In this month’s category focus article about kids drinks, Sarah Theodore, global drinks analyst for Mintel Food & Drink, Chicago, notes that the kids market has been a little bit slow to embrace packaging innovation, but is starting to pick up steam. However, resealable pouch packages, the benefits of which include on-the-go convenience, have begun to catch on in the category, she says.
Similar to the drops, twists and turns of popular amusement park rides, product fads can leave beverage-makers gasping for breath — and redirecting budgets. Take for example, pomegranate, formerly the most super of the superfruits, which has plausibly suffered the most due to consumers’ frequently fickle preferences.
Staying on top of what is new in the beverage industry can sometimes make you forget about its history. When watching the Ken Burns three-part PBS special “Prohibition,” I was surprised to learn that some of the founding fathers of the United States enjoyed fermented cider.
With consumer perceptions of the economy about as bleak as a winter weather forecast in the Midwest, it’s no wonder marketers are embracing any and all methods to reach consumers.
As more beverage companies pop up on the radar, it can be fun and interesting to see where they are located. Having emerging and established companies in your backyard can allow for a sense of pride and connection with those brands.
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