Future Innovations in Food and Drinks to 2015: NPD, trend convergence and emerging growth opportunities

‘Innovation is the most important factor for building competitive advantage in the global food and drinks market. However, most industry executives are unsatisfied with returns on investment achieved on their new products. Although breakthrough innovation is generally perceived to be the most profitable, incremental innovation and category repositioning could prove more effective strategies.

Future Innovations in Food and Drinks to 2015: NPD. Trend convergence and emerging growth opportunities is a new management report published by Business Insights based on extensive analysis of over 75,000 new product launched and an exclusive global panel survey. The report explores the key trend in the global food and drinks market, assess the most innovative models, analyzes the most innovative products and provides actionable recommendations for increasing innovation success rates.


Key features of this report


• Enhance the effectiveness of your innovation strategies with this reports analysis of the innovation models of leading good and drinks manufacturers including Con Agra and General Mills and actionable recommendations for choosing an innovation strategy.
• Assess the key trends in food and drinks innovation based upon this reports analysis of product launch data from over 75,000 product launches between 2006 and 2009 detailing regional contribution, category coverage and product claims.
• Benchmark leading executive opinions on the future of the food and drinks industry based upon this report’s analysis of our proprietary global survey detailing the key issues affecting the future of NPD and innovation in the food and drinks market.

Key Market Issues


•Understanding market trends. Health and wellness will continue to maintain its leading position as the major trend influencing NPD in the food and drink sector.
•Choosing the right innovation strategy: Many companies place too much emphasis on line extensions. This report explores the effectiveness of different strategies, their usage and gives examples of recently launched products.
•Leveraging external sources: The report analyzes the potential for developing partnerships with external sources, such as suppliers, research centers, universities and private individuals.



Key findings from this report


• A high level of innovative activity in the soft drinks sector can be attributed to an explosion in new combinations, flavour and tastes driven by indulgence and premiumization trends as well as a shift to new functional, nutraceutical and natural soft drinks lines
• The economic downturn has thrown up some new opportunities for traditional food categories. The shelf stable (canned and packaged) sector, long seen as the dowdy neighbor to more exciting categories such as frozen, chilled and fresh, has witnessed somewhat of a revitalization as consumers downgraded their spending patterns
• Consumers increasingly believe that own label brands are on a par with their branded counterparts.


Key questions answered

1. What are the key industry issues affecting the future of the food and drinks new product development?
2. What factors are driving the key developments in food and drinks innovation?
3. Who are the innovation leaders and what lessons can be learned from them?
4. How are food and drinks companies improving their return on investment in innovation?


Report Highlights
Companies mentioned in the report: Anheuser Busch In-Bev, Cadbury, Danone, Del Monte, Eataly, Findus, Kelloggs, Kirin, Mars, Medisyn, Molson Coors, Nestle, Sara Lee, Starbucks, Unilever and Wrigley
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Table of Contents
Future Innovations in Food and Drinks to 2015
Executive summary 12
Drivers of innovation 12
New approaches to innovation and product lifecycle management 13
What’s new in innovation? 14
Global NPD launch patterns 15
Case studies 16
Industry opinion survey results 17
Conclusions 18
Chapter 1 Drivers of innovation 20
Summary 20
Introduction 21
The impact of private label 21
Private label is changing the food and drinks marketing landscape 21
Private label penetration 23
Younger shoppers are more receptive to private labels 24
Private label and innovation 25
By increasing their quality private labels are now a credible source of innovation 25
Recession has allowed private label to offer an alternative to eating out 25
Food industry restructuring 26
M&A activity 26
Deal activity has declined, but looks set to increase again in the foreseeable future 26
“Bought in” innovation is part of the rationale for M&A 27
Recession and innovation 29
Innovation rates increased during the recession 29
Recession may actually make it easier to launch products 30
Some companies are now betting on innovation driving future growth 31
Consumer drivers of innovation 32
Two areas are affecting innovation 32
Purchasing criteria are having the greatest impact 32
Simplification and transparency are important trends 33
The health issue and claims regulation 34
Obesity continues to be a growing problem 34
Marketing innovation that backs product development is one way to tackle obesity 36
Regulation of health claims is retarding innovation 37
Rising innovation costs are reducing the rate of innovation 37
Re-positioning products as healthy 38
Global food supply issues 40
Chapter 2 New approaches to innovation and product lifecycle management 44
Summary 44
Introduction 45
Product lifecycle 45
Management of product lifecycles is changing dramatically 45
Time to market in particular is decreasing 45
However, measuring time to market is not seen as such an important metric 46
Types of product innovation 49
The industry believes breakthrough innovation is key however 49
Resistance to open innovation is harming breakthrough innovation 50
Examples of innovation 51
Health breakthroughs 51
Packaging can also play a strong role in offering new health benefits 52
Line extensions 52
Line extensions offer lower risk innovation 52
Line extensions are not risk free however: is Starbucks risking its brand? 53
Other industries are extending into the food and drinks space 55
Varying brands by region can be a powerful tactic 55
Me-toos 56
Incremental innovation is the norm in food and drinks 56
Adopting an open innovation strategy 56
General Mills G-WIN Worldwide Innovation Network 58
Other open innovation examples 60
Consumers’ role in open innovation 62
Other examples of open innovation 63
The way ahead for open innovation 65
Chapter 3 What’s new in innovation? 70
Summary 70
Introduction 71
Health 71
Functional Foods 72
Kids’ specific products 74
Targeting kids with functional foods will increasingly attract scrutiny 75
Weight management 76
Digestive health 80
Beauty-enhancing foods 82
The future for functional foods 84
There are risks as well as opportunities when targeting health 85
Indulgence 87
Specialty gourmet foods 87
Variety in flavor is also growing 88
Ethical retailing 89
Organic food is still the most important segment 89
Simplification of products is also a key area to target 90
Convenience 92
Microwaveable packaging is a key trend 92
Packaging and innovation 94
Offering portion control is important 95
On-the-go is still an important trend 95
Packaging can help to target more specific consumer groups 96
Other areas where packaging innovation can be of benefit 96
Chapter 4 Global NPD launch patterns 100
Summary 100
Introduction 101
Innovation levels by product market 101
Breakthrough innovations by market 101
Breakthrough innovations are becoming rarer, even when innovation rates are up 101
Soft drinks are the one bright spot of innovation 103
Breakthrough innovations by region 104
Europe is the key regions that is cutting back on true innovation 104
Innovation levels by type 105
Formulation is the main type of breakthrough innovation 105
NPD by overall product category 107
Evolution of NPD by region 109
Latin America is an increasingly important region 109
But the industry still sees Asia-Pacific as the most innovative region 110
Overall NPD trends 111
Health 112
Convenience 113
Indulgence 114
Chapter 5 Case studies 118
Summary 118
Introduction 119
New partnerships and alliances 119
Foodservice joins forces with mainstream food 119
Food meets pharmaceuticals and biotechnology 121
Global players tackling open innovation 123
General Mills 123
Kraft 125
Chapter 6 Industry opinion survey results 130
Summary 130
Introduction 131
NPD and building competitive advantage 131
NPD is considered the best mechanism for gaining competitive advantage 131
Key drivers for future NPD 132
Emerging markets are seen as the key driver of future growth 132
Views on scientific and technological advances clash with innovation ambitions 133
Importance of different types of innovation 134
Breakthrough innovations are still seen as the most important 134
Sources of innovation 136
The industry appears resistant to external sources of innovation 136
The NPD cycle 137
The time-to-market for new ideas appears set to fall significantly 137
Innovation success metrics 139
Despite reducing time to market being seen as important, measuring it isn’t 139
Trends in innovation 140
Most innovative food and drinks companies 141
Chapter 7 Conclusions 144
Summary 144
Introduction 145
The need for “breakthrough innovation” 145
Reliance on internal innovation ideas needs overhauling 145
Reap the rewards of open innovation 146
Cross-fertilization and innovation 147
Emerging market growth and innovation 148
Consumer pressures on innovation 148
Future NPD trends 149
Health and wellness will continue to be the leading trend 149
Indulgent innovation will focus on offering high quality and specialty products 150
Convenience benefits and innovative packaging will go hand-inhand in the future 151
Ethical products will be very important in the future 151

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List of Tables
Table 1.1: Total private label penetration in Europe, Asia Pacific and the US, by country, 2002– 2012 24
Table 4.2: Share of global breakthrough innovations (% of all launches within each market) by selected food and drinks markets, 2006 – 2009 102
Table 4.3: Number of global breakthrough innovations (actual) by market, 2006-2009 103
Table 6.4: Respondents’ views on the which are the most innovative companies in global food and drinks 142


List of Figures
Figure 1.1: Private label growth ($m) in Europe, Asia Pacific and the US, 2002–2012 22
Figure 1.2: Number of M&A deals (by deal date) in the food and drinks sector, 2007-2009 26
Figure 2.3: Length of average NPD cycle now and in five years 46
Figure 2.4: Importance of innovation success metrics 47
Figure 2.5: Importance of innovation types for food and drink NPD now and in next five years 50
Figure 2.6: Nutricia Forticare 51
Figure 2.7: Rising Beverages Activate functional drinks 52
Figure 2.8: Starbucks Via instant coffee 54
Figure 2.9: General Mills G-WIN website 60
Figure 2.10: External contacts made by Cadbury in open innovation program 61
Figure 2.11: MyStarbucksIdeas website 64
Figure 2.12: Current and projected share of new products developed using external elements 66
Figure 2.13: Key sources of product innovation for food and drinks companies in next five years 67
Figure 3.14: Unilever Amaze kids’ specific brain food 76
Figure 3.15: Candia Silhoutte Active 79
Figure 3.16: Campina Optimel Control 80
Figure 3.17: Kraft LiveActive Chewy Granola Bars 81
Figure 3.18: Danone Essensis 82
Figure 3.19: Probi Bravo Friscus 84
Figure 3.20: Goodbon Maple Chunks 88
Figure 3.21: Moulin du Calanquet fruit juice 88
Figure 3.22: Kraft Triscuit 91
Figure 3.23: Bonduelle Vapeur vegetables 93
Figure 3.24: La Demi-Calorie Galettine Moment 94
Figure 3.25: Fleur d’Olive Choc-o-lait 94
Figure 3.26: The reusable milk jug available in Waitrose and Sainsbury’s in the UK 97
Figure 3.27: ConAgra Foods Healthy Choice trays 98
Figure 4.28: Share of global breakthrough innovations launched (% all launches within each market), by selected food and drinks markets, 2006-2009 102
Figure 4.29: Share of breakthrough food and drinks product launches by region, 2006-2009 105
Figure 4.30: Innovation by type, 2006-2009 (%) 106
Figure 4.31: New product launches by category (% of overall product launches), 2006-2009 108
Figure 4.32: New product launches by region (% of overall product launches), 2006-2009 109
Figure 4.33: Innovation levels of companies in each region in the next five years 111
Figure 4.34: Importance of selected trends in food and drinks NPD over next five years 112
Figure 4.35: Importance of health sub-trends in food and drinks NPD in next five years 113
Figure 4.36: Importance of convenience sub-trends in food and drinks NPD in next five years 114
Figure 4.37: Importance of indulgence sub-trends in food and drinks NPD in next five years 115
Figure 5.38: Burger King Krinkz fries 120
Figure 5.39: BK Fresh Apple Fries 121
Figure 5.40: General Mills Progresso Light soup 124
Figure 5.41: Kraft Bagel-fuls 127
Figure 6.42: Importance of investment areas for competitive advantage in next five years 132
Figure 6.43: Importance of key NPD drivers over next five years 134
Figure 6.44: Importance of innovation types for food and drink NPD now and in next five years 135
Figure 6.45: Relative importance of different sources of product innovation ideas for food and drinks companies over next five years 137
Figure 6.46: Length of average NPD cycle now and in five years 138
Figure 6.47: Importance of innovation success metrics 140
Figure 6.48: Importance of trends for food and drink NPD over next five years 141

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