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NEWS PAGE
This month's articles
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March 2010 – Food and drink companies who put the power of antioxidants at the heart of their marketing strategies are among the biggest losers in the latest wave of Article 13.1 health claims opinions. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has dismissed the validity of tests such as ORAC, which measure the antioxidant potency of a product. |
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 March 2010 – The EU’s health claims system has deterred most companies from making weight loss claims, but not a big UK retailer, whose new line of own-label ready meals makes an explicit “Feel fuller for longer” message. Marks & Spencer believes its high-protein, “balanced carb” meals will enable it to fill a gap in the weight management market. By Richard Clarke.
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 March 2010 – Japan’s sixth-biggest functional food brand, with annual retail sales of $180 million (€132.9 million), has been withdrawn amid a food safety controversy that has raised questions about the future of Japan’s health claim regulation system. By Sachiko Kakisaka and Julian Mellentin.
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 March 2010 – After decades of scientific study, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is crossing the hurdles of regulatory approval and starting to appear in foods and beverages with a weight management benefit. Safflower Power is the first CLA-fortified dairy product to appear on the US market, using a prominent claim to reduce body fat and a “natural and free-from” message. By Julian Mellentin.
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March 2010 – The US government’s new dietary recommendations for Americans, due next fall, seem likely to take a “whole diet” approach, de-emphasising any focus on single, “magic bullet” foods. Experts are still deliberating over their approach to dairy, the amount of protein in the diet (likely to be increased), and whether or not glycemic load affects health. |
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March 2010 – Innovation is something that most companies say is an important part of strategy, but in practice few achieve it, focusing instead on incremental changes. An innovation is not something incremental, it is something that changes the status quo in the market. The story of Green Coco Europe (see Case Study on page 13) tells you everything you need to know about how to innovate and change the status quo. |
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 March 2010 – Recent investments by PepsiCo and Coca-Cola in coconut water businesses in the US and Brazil have grabbed the headlines, but it’s in Europe where one of the most exciting developments in the new coconut water category is emerging. A German company, with its own controlled supply of coconuts and a patented production process that gives it cost and quality advantages, has been quietly building its brand presence there. |
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 March 2010 – Getting his healthy breakfast smoothie into morning commuters’ hands by sharing a newspaper stall in central London train stations was the masterstroke that has seen Moma grow from a home kitchen start-up to a healthy business that’s gaining listings in supermarkets as well as continuing to keep city workers satisfied. By Richard Clarke. |
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March 2010 – In America, the bottled water market has seen sales suffer over the last two years, with all but one of the biggest brands recording double-digit declines in sales. And if the situation in regular water is bad, in functional water it’s worse, with the segment declining by as much as 9% in 2009.
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 March 2010 – It struggled despite a relaunch with a new pack design and recipe, its sales in “double digit decline” over the past year. Now, German dairy group Müller’s probiotic yoghurt Healthy Balance Corner has a completely new identity as Bio Corner. But will the move do anything to increase the gap between Müller Corner, for some years the UK’s number one yoghurt, and Danone’s Activia, which is fast gaining on it? By Richard Clarke. |
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 March 2010 – The US government is to tighten front-of-pack labeling guidelines, a move that will remove some food and drink companies’ competitive advantage, but also offer new opportunities as competition comes down to what ingredients are actually in a product. The food industry is taking an active interest in the changes, with companies either reformulating to make sure their products comply with the new rules, or even, like Mars, promoting their own front-of-pack labeling systems. By Dale Buss. |
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Last month's articles
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February 2010 – It’s tough to gain a health claim approval in Europe – and as a result many companies have simply given up hope. So to make our readers’ lives easier, at New Nutrition Business we have drawn up a list of the 10 factors which can influence whether a claim gets the go-ahead. |
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February 2010 – Readers of NNB count on us to have strong opinions and to make bold predictions. With that in mind, in looking at the strategy and the problems of the Innocent smoothie brand, we won’t disappoint. |
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February 2010 – Few in the food and drink industry have felt compelled to speak up in favour of the widely-loathed EU Nutrition & Health Claims Regulation. But it does have at least one highly influential supporter in the form of French dairy giant Danone. The company’s recent message to an industry conference is clear: the health claims regulation is a positive force for change, however hard it is proving for the industry to cope with. By Richard Clarke. |
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 February 2010 – The rapid growth of the coconut water market underscores the consumer appeal of an “all-natural” health benefit. In the case of this increasingly popular sports drink nature delivers a more powerful punch than formulated products. Unsurprisingly, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and one of Europe’s biggest brewing families are all investing heavily in growing the category. By Dale Buss.
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 February 2010 – Pom Wonderful gave birth to the pomegranate superfruit phenomenon in the West. Now the company is aiming to take pomegranate in new directions and is applying some of the key lessons from other categories to give consumers a highly concentrated daily dose of pomegranate-derived antioxidants and deliver it in more convenient formats. By Dale Buss. |
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 February 2010 – Once it seemed to be the cleverest and most health-oriented beverage company in Europe. But sales have plunged by 34% over the last two years and Innocent – a company which has made the five-a-day message and the health benefits of fruits and vegetables the central plank of its strategy – is hoping that a focus on new products, the kids’ nutrition market and better-communicating its health credentials will turn round its fortunes. By Richard Clarke. |
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 February 2010 – New snack brand Bear hopes to make a place for its fruit and cereal snacks in the crowded snacking aisle with its mix of good taste, relatively affordable price and “no added nonsense”. By Richard Clarke. |
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 February 2010 – The desire of many energy drink brands to capitalize on the surge in sales of energy shots by launching brand extensions into the shot market may be back-firing, with new products cannibalizing existing ones and failing to attract new users. Energy shots might turn out to be a brand extension too far for most energy drink brands. By Dale Buss and Julian Mellentin. |
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 February 2010 – One of Europe’s most innovative and skilful dairy companies has found just how difficult it can be to bring the “energy” message into the dairy category. By Kati Weiss and Julian Mellentin.
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 February 2010 – Brands that offer specific health benefits have thrived in many categories, ranging from fruit drinks to dairy, and consumers have embraced a wealth of products, such as almonds and oats, that promote themselves as “naturally healthy”. Vegetables, however, have yet to make any such headway in marketing themselves for their intrinsic health benefits. As yet, the health benefits of vegetables seem to have only niche appeal, as General Mills has learnt with its Health Blends brand. By Dale Buss. |
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10 Key Trends in Food, Nutrition and Health 2010
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Each year since 1995, industry expert Julian Mellentin has forecast and analysed the key trends in the business of food, nutrition and health. Independent and opinionated, each of his ten trends includes a short bullet-point summary of the trend and a summary of the key factors that contribute to enduring success. The trends, based on 350-plus interviews with industry executives and illustrated with supermarket sales data, show how brands around the world are already profiting from them ...more |
| Innocent Drinks: seven strategy lessons from the setbacks of Europe’s biggest smoothie maker |
Innocent Drinks rocketed from start-up to over $200 million in retail sales within eight years, creating a new category in Europe – fruit smoothies. But between 2007 and 2009 its sales plunged by 29% and prices were slashed. This unique 27-page report sets out the seven strategy lessons that can be learnt from the experience of Innocent. ...more
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| Beauty foods and beverages: 7 strategy lessons |
Beauty foods and beverages are big in Japan, but in the West few brands have gone beyond a niche. This unique report sets out the seven strategy lessons that can be learnt from the experience of Danone Essensis, Nestlé Glowelle and Borba Skin Balance Water – three case studies which provide the most clear insights into the risks and opportunities in the “beauty-from-within” business. ...more
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| Marketing Kids’ Healthy Beverages: Ten key case studies |
In the market for kids’ foods and drinks, it’s in beverages that you will find the most examples of success – and some of the smartest innovations ...more
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| Failures in Functional Foods & Beverages: And what they reveal about success |
The functional foods market is a complex one. Success with a new product or ingredient is rare. This unique 98-page report examines failures by functional brands and ingredients. It sets out the lessons that can be applied by anyone trying to develop an effective strategy for a brand or trying to commercialise nutrition science and offers concise strategies for reducing the risk of failure!..more |
| 20 Key Case Studies in Functional and Health-Enhancing Beverages |
Using 20 detailed Case Studies of brands addressing a range of benefits – energy, joint health, sports beverages, protein boosting, digestive health, weight management and heart health – this report looks at what makes some functional and health-enhancing brands succeed and what makes others fail. Each Case Study gives our usual independent and opinionated analysis and addresses packaging, choice of ingredients, nutrition profiles, marketing communications, pricing strategies (and why some brands are able to earn premium prices), which consumers buy them and why, all supported with supermarket sales data...more |
| To see our complete list of Reports & Case Studies
Click here |
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