“FourFactors” was the shout from the crowd! That’s was the core methodology at the heart of my seminar – training the scientifically proven material created by Peter Wennström and developed by the Healthy Marketing Team in our consulting practice worldwide.

On Thursday 11 October I was delighted to deliver my 1-day seminar on ‘How to be a Winner in the Healthy Marketing Game’ to an invitation-only audience of over 150 VIP guests in Jakarta.

Based on learnings from my Healthy Marketing Team work across Asia and the seminal work of industry thought leader Peter Wennström, my seminar introduced the attendees to advanced strategic techniques in the positioning and development of food, beverages and ingredients brands in Indonesia.

To arrange an in-house training session for your company or to attend the next in the global series of FourFactors Masterclasses contact me directly at The Healthy Marketing Team via www.thehmt.com or email sam (at) thehmt.com

Sam Waterfall on successful emerging market branding.

On Monday 16 July I delivered a FourFactors Marketing Masterclass in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The FourFactors were developed and refined by Peter Wennström and we use them at the Healthy Marketing Team to help our clients to test concepts and to create concepts within the Food, Beverage, Ingredients and Personal Care categories.

This particular Masterclass was delivered to a private audience of Senior Marketers from one company. It’s a fantastic way of ensuring that everyone from the business shares the same view of the marketplace, the consumer and the specific category they are looking to operate within. [..]

Sam Waterfall on Emerging Market Innovation: Addressing 100+ of Egypt's leading Marketers at a private bluechip invitation only Innovation Seminar in Cairo in June 2012.

Addressing Leading Marketers in Cairo, Egypt…

Having worked with a client extensively on a global basis, in June I was asked to speak at their headline customer event. With an audience of 100+ top marketers from the Food & Beverage industry in Egypt, I was asked to outline the drivers of Emerging Market Innovation: “What makes it successful?” and “How can you predict what’s coming next?”

While these both seem like massive questions, it turns out that with the right strategic tools and an overview of global Food & Beverage activity, answering them may be easier than you’d think. As Senior Partner at the Healthy Marketing Team, I use our Healthy Marketing Innovation Model to help our clients predict and create successful products and brands.

It turns out that Egypt is a particularly fascinating market for Food & Beverage Innovation. While the countries is at a political crossroads following last years revolution, the people of Egypt, like the populations of other emerging markets are full of hope that tomorrow will be better than today. They are looking for products and brands to support the development and health of their families as they strive to achieve in an economy which is set to grow.

While the timeless Egyptian Pyramids have stood still for thousands of years, the country's Food & Beverage Consumers are increasingly demanding, creating huge opportunities for companies who can deliver the right combination of quality, differentiation and branding.

What I observed was in many ways similar to my observations in Vietnam last year: There is a huge amount of launch activity but there is a lack of structure and clear communication. The result of this is visible in many emerging markets… Lots of new products, all struggling to create meaningful differentiation and all contributing to growth stultifying consumer confusion. The problem is that this ends up with brands fighting it out in the commodity zone and [..]

Sam Waterfall on successful food & beverage branding in emerging markets.

In May 2012 I was invited to address the 7th SE Asia Soy Food Seminar & Trade Show at the Grand Hyatt Singapore.

This is a particularly prestigious event in the Soy Calendar, hosted by The ASA: The American Soybean Association.

It was a particular honour as I was invited to give a private half day masterclass on food and beverage marketing to the invitation-only audience from across SE Asia and around the world.

Delegates at the 7th SE Asia Soy Food Seminar & Trade Show Singapore May 2012

In the Masterclass I talked about what it takes to get branding right in emerging markets.

It’s critical that the consumer awareness is considered. Too often, brands launch in the hope that they can educate consumers with their advertising. While this is possible, experience tells me that most companies lack the time, budget and patience to convert this sweet marketing dream into a commercial reality.

I also spoke about the types of ingredients to include and showed a powerful model which suggest what ingredients will be suitable for your category and for your target consumer. The best thing about the ideas I shared is how they can stop you launching a concept which will confuse consumers and end up left on the shelf. In fact, by balancing the [..]