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32 In-House NPD Professionals Boost Profits With Trend-Led, Exciting Food & Drink NPD

Boost Profits With Trend-Led Food & Drink NPD: Stay Ahead Of The Curve & Excite Customers With Profitable NPD & Product Innovations Driven By Insights Into The Latest Health, Packaging, Consumer, Shopper, Sustainability, Ingredient & Retailer Trends To Monetise New Growth Opportunities.
A One-Day, Brand-Led, Conference & Networking Event, 8th October 2019, One Great George Street, Central London. 

A One-Day, Brand-Led, Practical Conference & Networking Event, 8th October 2019, One Great George Street, London.

Book Before 1st August & Save £100

08.30 Registration, Coffee & Informal Networking

09.00 GIC Welcome, Interactive Voting Introduction & Chairs’ Opening Remarks

Ann Dunn
Head of Product Development & Quality
Harrods 

WINNING NPD

09.20 Find The Winning Formula: Hit The Jackpot By Turning The Right Trends Into Outstanding NPD

  • Putting all your eggs in one basket! Determining when an emerging trend will achieve longevity, make sense for your company and is worth significant investment
  • How can you be first-to-market by quickly progressing an idea from a blank sheet of paper to the drawing board?
  • Break the mould! Find a way to stand out and create a unique and exciting product retailers want to stock
  • It’s new and shiny but does it realistically translate into your existing product range, category or portfolio?
  • Creating an exciting story around your product which resonates with consumers and retailers in an increasingly crowded market

Hannah McKay
Head of Food & Beverage
Caffè Nero

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS: Q&A PANEL DISCUSSION

09.40 Optimise Key Trends To Create Commercially-Successful Products & Sky Rocket Sales With Exciting Innovations

  • Tracking trends from their infancy! How can you anticipate if a trend will deliver lasting, innovative products or could be worth investing in for a quick win?
  • Remember cronuts and black ice cream? Just how can you separate the long-term trends from the fads to identify the next big thing?
  • When meaningful market insight is so hard (and expensive) to come by: how can you stay ahead of the curve and informed on the latest micro and macro trends?
  • Thinking ahead! Taking inspiration from trends coming through and considering what is on the horizon

Ricardo Brenna
Head of Insights
Ferrero UK & Ireland

Paul Thomas
Head of Insight
Asahi Beer

Dougie Hastings
Head of Proposition
Prezzo

Martyn Clover
Head of Food
Tortilla Mexican Grill

Joe Benn
Co-Founder & UK Managing Director
Ugly Drinks

TRENDS: DIVE DEEPER - INFORMAL DISCUSSIONS

10.10 Interactive NPD Trends Breakout Discussions

A) Flexitarianism

Rachel Chatterton
Food Director
Gousto

B) Proteins

Emma Lewis
Group Head of R&D Veg & Meals and Culinary Lead
Nomad Foods

C) Convenience

Melanie Tucker
Head of Out of Home
graze

D) International

Adam Wilcock
European R&D Director
Papa John’s International

E) Sugar F) Meat-Replacements G) Clean & Natural H) Drink Trends

10.30 Morning Refreshment Break With Informal, Facilitated Networking & Chef Demos

Omkar Mestry
Executive Head Chef Hilton
London Tower Bridge 

Shereif Elfahhan
Head Chef
Wagamama

11.00 Discover How To Detect & Action New Category Trends Faster & Apply AI To Social Data In Order To Transform Your Insights Capability & Get To Market First

Richard Maryniak
Global Chief & Innovation Officer
Black Swan Data 

PACKAGING & SUSTAINABILITY

11.20 It’s Not Easy Being Green: With Consumers, The Government & Retailers Increasingly Demanding Recyclable Packaging & Sustainable Products, How Can The Industry Deliver?

  • The balancing act! Can cost-effective, sustainable packaging be achieved whilst maintaining shelf life and the look and appeal of the product?
  • Make your green credentials work for you to maximise the interest of the environmentally conscious consumer and retailer
  • How far are consumers willing to go to save the world? Will they actually spend more money on their groceries to do it?
  • Sustainability is about more than packaging. Considering carbon footprint, ethical and local ingredients sourcing, shelf life and waste in your NPD to develop cost-effective, sustainable and profitable product

Thomas Cropper, Managing Director, Tuk In Foods

HEALTH TRENDS: Q&A & PANEL DISCUSSION

11.40 Capitalise On The Latest Health & Nutrition Trends: Insights Into How To Satisfy Consumers’ Evolving Definitions Of Healthy With On-Trend NPD

  • The usual suspects? From salt to sugar and paleo to keto, what do consumers want now and how can you capitalise on it for your business?
  • Don’t miss out! In an ever-changing market how can you realistically anticipate the next health trend to invest in?
  • The science behind healthy eating; separating what is healthy from what is perceived to be healthy to create new products that are nutritious, tasty and excite consumers
  • One size fits all? Top tips to create good value, convenient and healthy products which tick every box for the consumer

Kyrsten Halley
Head of Brand
Ryvita

Daniela Busseni
Head of Category Development – Sweet Treats
Premier Foods

Frankie Fox
Co-Founder & Head of Innovation
The Foraging Fox

James Kidman
Head of Food
Crussh Fit Foods & Juice Bars

12.10 From Novel To Mainstream: Navigating The Journey Of A New Ingredient Into Consumer Acceptance

Emma Gubisch
Head of Consumer & Sensory Insight
Leatherhead Food Research

PEER-TO-PEER DISCUSSION

12.55 Facilitated, Interactive Peer-To-Peer Discussions

A) Macro Drivers For Better NPD

Andrew Wardlaw, Insight Director, MMR Research Worldwide Ltd

B) Social Media C) Waste D) Market Disruptors E) Brexit

13.25 Chair’s Afternoon Remarks

Gail Paddy, Own Brand Director, Morrisons PLC 

Naomi Gardner, Innovation Director, Dairy Crest Limited

CONSUMER INSIGHTS & SHOPPER BEHAVIOURS: Q&A PANEL DISCUSSION

13.35 Unlocking The Latest Consumer Influences & Shopper Motivations 

  • Data-driven insights into consumer behaviours to discover what is influencing shoppers right now
  • What do consumers understand about food? Bolster consumer confidence, address miscommunication and effectively communicate the benefits of your product
  • The psychology driving recent trends towards more health-conscious and sustainable choices - how could this change?
  • Future proof your NPD: from shopping to snacking, flavours to cuisines; exploring the consumer’s evolving relationship with food and how this will impact food and drink retail in the long term

Miguel Uribe
Grocery Buyer
Whole Foods Market

Ian Hepburn
Transformation Director
Mars Wrigley UK

Jeremy Pang
Founder
School of Wok

Kevin Hancock
Senior Buying Manager
Ocado

14.10 Bonus Session Reserved for Exclusive Conference Partner:  For more information on how to get involved, please call +44 (0)20 3479 2299 or email partner@npdfoodconference.com

PLANT-BASED INNOVATION

14.40 Overcoming Technical Hurdles & NPD Challenges To Create Profitable Plant-Based Foods With Mass Appeal

  • Capitalising on the world of plant-based foods! Overcoming NPD challenges and technical hurdles to create tasty, protein-rich and exciting vegan-friendly foods
  • Which strategy should you pursue to boost profits? Delicious plant-based products which happen to be vegan versus vegan ‘meat’ and dairy substitutes
  • Tactics to broaden your product appeal: win over the ‘carnivores’ and tap into the flexitarian market without alienating vegans

Gail Paddy
Own Brand Director
Morrisons PLC

INGREDIENTS & FLAVOURS

15.10 Successfully Translating Emerging Ingredients & Flavours Into Your Product Portfolio With Up-To-The Minute Trends For Hot-Off-The-Press Products

  • What’s hot and what’s not! Uncover new ingredients, cuisines and flavours and debate which ones are old news!
  • How can brand new ingredients help to generate sugar-free, meat-free, dairy-free and other free-from products?
  • Exploring the consumer trend towards ‘clean’: will your ingredients list turn them on or off your product?

Paul Dickinson
Director of Food
Fuller’s

Ian Craddock
Senior Research Chef
McCormick & Company

Steve Kearns
Managing Director
Cawston Press

Rusty Warren
NPD & Consumer Research Manager
Subway – UK & Ireland

15.40 Afternoon Refreshment Break & Informal Networking

CONCEPT TO LAUNCH - DOUBLE PERSPECTIVE

16.10 Exploring Different NPD Processes, Technologies & Trend Adoption To Maximise The Success Of Launches, Minimise False Starts & Consistently Produce Lucrative Products

  • Save time, effort and money! Practical steps to improve the percentage of launches that translate into commercially viable products
  • From consumer research to negotiating the chaos behind a launch, lessons learnt to improve the complete product innovation process
  • Meticulous research versus gut-feeling; what is the best NPD strategy to create the next game-changing product?

16.10) Paul Thomas, Head of Insight, Asahi Beer

16.30) Joe Spence, Innovation Lead, innocent drinks

IMPLEMENTING NPD WITH A RETAILER: CASE STUDY

16.50 Retailer-Manufacturer Relationship: Collaborating & Building Relationships For Successful, Market-Leading NPD

Daniela Busseni
Head of Category Development – Sweet Treats
Premier Foods

17.10 Conference Round-Up, Quick-Wins Advice & Co-Chairs’ Closing Remarks

17.15 Official Close Of Conference

Are you interested in getting involved in The NPD Food & Drink Conference - Trends & Innovations? For more information, please call +44 (0)20 3479 2299 or email info@npdfoodconference.com.