As pottery-makers and glass blowers have known for thousands of years, the shape of a container is a powerful art form, says George Caplea, executive vice president of global business development for Constar Inc., Trevose, Pa.
When the founder of Bacardi, Don Facundo Bacardí Massó, purchased the company’s first distillery in Cuba, he found a colony of fruit bats hanging from the rafters.
As one of the top-selling flavored malt beverages (FMBs), Mike’s Hard Lemonade has found a niche with consumers. Yet, Seattle-based Mike’s Hard Lemonade Co. is not resting on its flagship brand and recently created new products to extend to new usage occasions, demographics and category niches.
Dill pickles, cookie dough, and peanut butter and jelly hardly sound like inspiration for adult beverages, but each of the aforementioned flavors were launched by vodka-makers within the last year. As these new product introductions show, one of the largest trends in the spirits category is unusual flavors, analysts say.
For the fourth consecutive year, digestive health is the top trend in the health and nutrition segment, said Gregory Leyer, global business development director of consumer healthcare for Danisco, now a part of Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont, during the Pre & Probiotics 2012 Virtual Conference on Feb. 1.
In the summer of 2007, an English man posted a video of his one-year-old son biting the finger of his three-year-old son on YouTube. The video, known as “Charlie Bit My Finger – Again!,” went viral reaching 417 million views as of Feb. 9. At the time of publication, it was the most viewed video on YouTube that is not a professional music video, according to Wikipedia.
Children can get crafty when it comes to eating vegetables. They can push them around their plates to try to make it look like they’ve eaten more than they have; or they might hide them in their napkins or underneath other food. The last resort for most kids is actually eating the vegetables. However, manufacturers and parents alike are hoping that incentives and constant exposure to vegetables might help these picky eaters adapt.
Most of the time, people have a good idea about which types of beverages contain high amounts of sugar, sodium or calories. What they might not know is the extent of a product’s nutritional value — or lack thereof. For food and beverage consumers, seeing is believing.
Package design, marketing and price point for Malibu rum were all designed with a relaxed, casual summertime occasion in mind. However, a plethora of occasions and consumer types opened the Purchase, N.Y.-based Pernod Ricard brand’s eyes to new opportunities. By diversifying its portfolio, Malibu aims to appeal to more consumers more often throughout the year.
