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David, as Director of Innovation & Insight at Mintel, what
would you say are some of the general innovation trends
within today’s food industry?
Total innovation and renovation activity is up, but there is
currently a greater focus on renovation. Whereas 49 percent
of all activity globally in 2008 was genuinely new products,
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nowadays play a less important role and the major players
account for a smaller percentage of total activity than they
used to, one factor being the growth of private labels. There
are also many new, smaller, entrepreneurial companies
operating in fast-growing niche markets. Even the big players
are changing by launching into specialist areas through small
subsidiaries, or by launching more local brands rather than
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it used to be.
How is the growing demand for new products affecting the
ingredient industry?
It’s true that today’s consumers are more demanding as
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before. Consumers and the retail trade demand more variety
and for ingredient suppliers that means more potential
scope although it may be many more high-value, smallvolume
opportunities than in the past. There’s also a great
opportunity to work with the smaller, newer players and grow
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ingredient or family of ingredients with multiple specialist
applications, including applications that were once seen as
very niche, for example dairy-free yogurts and ice cream –
and a greater need to partner with brand owners to develop
complete solutions – all the way from concept development
to launch and post-launch – rather than simply “selling an
ingredient”.
Would you say that innovation, and the processes involved,
are subject to geographical differences?
The decline of genuinely new products is more apparent
in some markets than in others – for example in Eastern
Europe compared to main Western European markets or in
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ously also important differences by category. For instance,
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all food launches in Europe than in any other region while
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and Asia than elsewhere.
It often used to be said that Japan was a hotbed for
innovation, and certainly the country sees very high levels of
innovation. However, it’s a relatively closed market and many
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Similarly, it has often been said that major trends originate
in the US and spread to Europe and elsewhere. That is
sometimes still true, but depends hugely on the category and
trend involved. For example, the clean label trend and the
ongoing trend towards “all things natural” is arguably more
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many trends in “fresh food” originate in Europe where the
chilled distribution chain can support them. So, some of the
“universal truths” of the past are no longer true, as everything
is more fragmented, more varied.
When it comes to the processes, those probably vary
more by size and scope of the company involved than they
do by region. Simply put, many smaller companies put more
faith in judgement than in science. More technical innovations
still tend to come from the most mature markets where
the demand is more apparent and the consumer will pay for
added value.
How do you think innovation will change and affect the food
and ingredient industries in the coming years?
I’d say more variety and very possibly something
approaching the death, or at least the decline, of what was
once mainstream. There will be more focus on healthy
lifestyle diets, personalized nutrition, new ingredients, and
more snacking. For the ingredient industry, bear in mind that
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years, with a greater focus on specialized solutions, local
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be. We should also consider the new role for the consumer
as co-creator, harnessing the power of social media to
directly impact on how products are developed, launched
and reformulated.
As a research provider, how has Mintel’s support to the
food and ingredient industries changed? And what does
Mintel do in order to meet new needs?
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will continue to produce huge quantities of published data
and insight across regions, categories and trends, but our
solutions, like those of the ingredient industry, are increasingly
tailored to each client’s individual needs. This also
means changing the way we deliver – for example meeting
the immediate needs of a client on a train or plane, en route
to a meeting, who needs an immediate answer by mobile
phone, rather than the 100+ page reports that we once
focused on.
David Jago,
Director of Innovation
& Insight at Mintel