
26 Mar 2012 What’s cooking: trends in food
“What’s Cooking? Trends in Food” is a brilliant FREE downloadable presentation by JWTIntelligence on the key trends driving food, from both FMCG and culinary perspectives. It surveys what’s changing when it comes to how we find, cook and eat food, how we think about what we eat and how brands are marketing food.
The presentation does this through the lens of eight relevant macro trends that JWT has highlighted over the past few years — including Food as the New Eco-Issue, Screened Interactions and Maximum Disclosure — as well as three overarching trends shaping the category: the influence of technology, the rise of health and wellness, and foodie culture. Within these trends, it spotlights myriad things to watch that it has been tracking.
Superbly presented and illustrated, the presentation is broken down into the following sections and categories, and expands on what each of these trends/sub-trends mean for brands.
1. FOODIE CULTURE
Yesterday’s gourmand has multiplied into factions of foodies all with various passions centered around cooking, dining out and eating, eating, eating. A foodie backlash may be under way, but food remains more photographed, analysed, critiqued and generally obsessed over than it’s ever been.
• Food as Theatre
• Food Fairs
• Food by Subscription
• Fearless Eating
• Kitchen-Restaurants
• Roots Revival
• Antique Eats
• Moonshine
• Heirloom Everything
• New Nordic Cuisine
• Beer Sommeliers
• Beer Cocktails
• High-End Techniques for Amateurs
2. FOOD AS THE NEW ECO-ISSUE
The environmental impact of our food choices will become a more prominent concern as stakeholders — brands, governments and activist organisations — drive awareness around the issue and rethink what kind of food is sold and how it’s made. As more regions grapple with food shortages and/or spiking costs, smarter practices around food will join the stable of green “best practices.”
• Spiking Food Prices
• From Staples to Luxuries
• Greener Supply Chains
• Greening Restaurants
• Carbon Footprint Labeling
• Curbing Food Waste
• Veering Vegan/ Vegetarian
• Insects as Protein
• Artificial Meat
• Sustainable Palm Oil
• Rooftop Farming
3. THE DEVIL WEARS PACKAGING
As the eco spotlight focuses on the environmental costs of packaging, brands will increasingly switch to bottles, boxes and other solutions that reduce, reuse, recycle, remove and renew. The ultimate goal is “cradle-to-cradle” packaging — sustainable from creation to disposal.
• BYO Containers
• Reusable Packaging
• Hydration Stations
4. HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Awareness of good nutritional habits has been steadily rising, even as obesity becomes a more pressing issue — in turn driving governments and health advocates to further push both consumers and brands to adopt healthier ways.
• Fooducate
• Nutrition Scores
• Fat Taxes
• Healthy and Fresh Vending Machines
• Gluten-Free
• Hold the Salt
• Inhaling
• Smart Lunchrooms
• Organic Fast Food
• What’s New in Functional Foods
– Food, PhD
– Artery-Cleaning Foods
– Mushrooms
– Matcha
– Slow Beverages
– Greek Yoghurt
– Spices
– Juicing Up Coconut
– Nutricosmetics
5. MAXIMUM DISCLOSURE
Competitive pressures and legal requirements are forcing manufacturers and retailers to take transparency to the max, disclosing more about nutritional data, green credentials, sourcing, social responsibility issues (Fair Trade, etc.) and the people and processes behind the brand.
• Labeling Legalities
• Tell-All Vending Machines
• Going Behind the Scenes
• Visual Fluency
6. LIVE A LITTLE
Faced with constant reminders about what to do (exercise more, eat better) and what not to do (overspend, overeat), and fatigued from several years of austerity, consumers will look for ways to live a little without giving up a lot. People have been exercising more self-control, and increasingly they’re looking to let loose once in a while: indulging in sinful things, splurging on treats and at least momentarily escaping from today’s many worries.
• The Lipstick Index Effect
• A Little Serving of Sin
7. NAVIGATING THE NEW NORMAL
As the new normal becomes a prolonged normal in the hampered developed world, more brands will open up entry points for extremely cost-sensitive consumers. Marketers will find new opportunities in creating stripped-down offerings, smaller sizes and otherwise more accessible products and services.
• Smaller SKUs
8. GETTING “SMARTER”
From phones to fridges, devices are getting “smart,” connecting the real world to the digital world and influencing how we find, eat and make food. More broadly, each step of the way — from shopping to finding recipes and cooking to dining out — is getting “smarter” for those armed with the latest digital tools.
• Smarter Cookbooks
• Smarter Recipes
• Smarter Kitchens
• Smarter Ordering
• Smarter Shopping
• Smarter Packaging
9. ALL THE WORLD’S A GAME
Increasingly, brands are applying game mechanics (leader boards, leveling, stored value, privileges, superpowers, status indicators, etc.) to non-gaming spaces in an attempt to drive certain actions or behaviours. This is more than brand-sponsored games — consumers are engaging in brand communities, content or campaigns through incentives and rewards modeled on behavioural economics. In food, gamification can help to motivate not only good eating habits (e.g., Foodzy) but also customer creativity and engagement.
• Apps That Gamify Eating
• Gamifying the Business Model
10. SCREENED INTERACTIONS
More flat surfaces are becoming screens, and more screens are becoming interactive. Increasingly we’ll be touching them, gesturing at them and talking to them. This is opening up novel opportunities to inform, engage and motivate consumers, whether through screens at restaurants, on vending machines and kiosks, or via out-of-home ads.
• Screened Dining
• Kiosks/Vending Machines
• Interactive Out-of-Home Ads
11. RETAIL AS THE THIRD SPACE
Retail spaces are increasingly serving as a “third space” that’s only partly about consumption. Supermarkets and other foodcentric outlets are becoming as much about experiences, unique environments and customer service as they are about simply buying goods.
• Food Halls
• Communal Eating
• Shops That Do More