Innovation in Non-Alcoholic Beverages Conference

Biography: Sam is the Managing Director for Innocent Drinks (UK & Ireland) and Founding Partner of the non-profit, PSALT.  Over the past few years, the innocent business has grown significantly to become the UK & Ireland’s favourite little healthy drinks company. It is known for its product innovation and compelling vision for the healthy chilled drinks category. Prior to innocent, Sam spent 20 years in the Consumer goods industry working for Nestlé, General Mills and Mars, where he led the Commercial Strategy department and was also the Grocery Sales Director for the UK.

Session Details: Dripping in Opportunity: Resurrecting RTD with “Powerful and Punchy” 03-11-2021, 9:00 am View In Agenda

Biography: Liliana Caimacan is the head of global innovation at Tata Global Beverages. An experienced, international business leader, Liliana has been leading transformational growth across brands and portfolios to drive step changes in business results for over 20 years. She is a leading expert on innovation, communication and business strategy within the FMCG and luxury industries, working with top blue-chip companies: Unilever, Tata, on world-class brands and portfolios. Her sector experience covers Consumer Goods, Personal Care, Home Care, Foods, Refreshments and Luxury, as well as driving disruptive innovations projects. She holds a Master’s in Marketing & Communications and an Executive MBA. Liliana is also a Marketing Professor at Hult International Business School.

Session Details: Fantasy vs Health: The Flexitarian Drinking Trend 03-11-2021, 1:00 pm View In Agenda

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Session Details: Discovering New Opportunities in No & Low: What’s brewing in the African Continent? 03-11-2021, 1:00 pm View In Agenda

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Session Details: PANEL: Innovation Methods: Real Market Testing for Successful Portfolio Development 04-11-2021, 10:00 am RTD Indulgence: Becoming the UK Category First for Creative Coffee Fixes 04-11-2021, 11:30 am View In Agenda

Biography: Flemming Morth is Head of Center of Innovation at Royal Swinkels Family Brewers, known for its iconic brands like Bavaria 0.0, PALM, 8.6, Cornet and Habesha. He is responsible for building a strong innovation pipeline, improving time to market, fostering and commercializing new growth opportunities. He graduated from Aalborg University in Denmark with a Master’s degree in International Business. Flemming has successfully developed and launched innovations, new brands and new business models in various industries. He is passionate about rethinking marketing and innovation to help customers better achieve their goals.

Session Details: The Social Tipping Point & Its Impact on Beverages of the Future 04-11-2021, 12:30 pm View In Agenda

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Session Details: No Alc Drinking Culture goes Mainstream but is it here to stay? 03-11-2021, 12:00 pm PANEL: Innovation Methods: Real Market Testing for Successful Portfolio Development 04-11-2021, 10:00 am View In Agenda

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Global Marketing Director (CMO) Power Horse Energy Drinks “ In search of the next Big Initiative to positively impact the lives of millions of consumers”

Over 18 Years of FMCG experience across  Europe, Africa, MENAT & West Asia region, with more than 10 years of working on Beverages in the stimulant category.

Studied Innovation at INSEAD Business School and obtained  Certification in Strategic Management from Wharton School University of Pennsylvania.

Session Details: Innovation in Energy: Packing the Punch with Flavour and Power 03-11-2021, 4:30 pm View In Agenda

Biography: Ben is the Founder of Seedlipand Æcorn Drinks, the world’s firstdistilled non-alcoholic spiritsand aperitifs.Hismission is two fold: Solve the dilemma of ‘what to drink when you’re not drinking’and continue his family’s300 years of farming heritage.Seedlip is now available in 29x cities including New York, Barcelona, Shanghai & Singapore and served in many of the world’s most awarded bars, restaurants and hotels including 350x Michelin * Restaurants & 9/10 of theworld’s best cocktail bars. Ben was named as one of the Top 50 most influential people in food and drink by The Telegraph and awarded Young Achiever of The Year by The Drinks Business. He continues to pioneer the non-alcoholic category forward with the launch of ÆcornDrinks in Selfridges and The Savoy in May 2019.

Session Details: Personalising Drinks for A Unique Experience: DIY vs Done For You Beverage Experience 03-11-2021, 3:00 pm View In Agenda

Biography: In 2016 Rob Fink founded the world’s first company to focus entirely on brewing Non-Alcoholic craft beer – Big Drop Brewing Co. As a lawyer with zero brewing experience, he teamed-up with an experimental brewer (Johnny Clayton from Wild Beer) and applied left-field fermenting techniques that meant no alcohol needed to be extracted from the end product to meet the required maximum 0.5% ABV. Less than 4 years later he is selling over 1 million bottles of 0.5% ABV beer annually around the world (eg Tesco in the UK, LCBO in Canada, Systembolaget in Sweden, Alco in Finland, NTUC Finest in Singapore etc). His beers have picked up 26 major international beer awards including twice being judged the ‘World’s Best’ at the World Beer Awards, Gold at the US Open Beer Championship and, the ‘Holy Grail’ of any non-alcoholic drink, winning medals against full-strength rivals in blind tastings. In 2019 Rob was a keynote at the Brewers of Europe Forum and the International Beer Strategies conference.

Session Details: PANEL: Innovation & The Investment Code: The Beverages Funding Landscape 04-11-2021, 2:00 pm View In Agenda

Biography: Ellie is the creator and founder of Caleño, a tropical non-alcoholic free spirit. On a night out dancing a couple of years ago, she became frustrated with the lack of adventurous non-alcoholic options. After talking with friends, she realised there was an opportunity to make those options more joyful. She flew to Colombia where she visited family and was inspired by the vibrant, colourful culture, and tropical flavours. Two months after launching, Ellie landed a listing with major UK retailer, Sainsbury’s and Caleño is now stocked in around 500 of their stores. Before launching Caleño, Ellie had a background in drinks, working for the UK’s largest drinks distributor. This taught her about the spirits making process and the hospitality industry where she was able to work closely with pubs, bars and restaurants. She also spent time at a Shopper Marketing agency, where she worked on exciting activations for brands such as Nestlé, GSK, and Estee Lauder.

Session Details: The Low & No Responsibility: Innovation through Brand Behaviour and Product Line 03-11-2021, 5:00 pm View In Agenda

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Session Details: From Sour Grapes to Vino Victories: Disrupting the drinking culture with non-alcoholic adult beverages 03-11-2021, 2:30 pm View In Agenda

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Session Details: Sustainable Innovation in Food & Beverages– How Green is the Road to Carbon Free? 04-11-2021, 5:00 pm View In Agenda

Biography: Anita is the founder and CEO of a Manchester/Ibiza based beverage start-up Crave Drinks. Prior to that she was the Category Manager, Vegan and Organic for a leading sport nutrition company Myprotein. She is a passionate and engaged leader with advanced degrees from Stockholm University and Peking University, Guanghua School of Management.

Session Details: PANEL: Innovation Methods: Real Market Testing for Successful Portfolio Development 04-11-2021, 10:00 am View In Agenda

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Session Details: PANEL: Innovation Methods: Real Market Testing for Successful Portfolio Development 04-11-2021, 10:00 am PANEL: Innovation & The Investment Code: The Beverages Funding Landscape 04-11-2021, 2:00 pm View In Agenda

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Biography: Chris has over a decade of sales and account management experience across the food and beverage space, and loves the challenges that come from working with both established market leaders and category disruptors. At PureCircle, Chris currently leads the UK & Irish market, as well as a number of global customers in the region. In addition, Chris also leads the Sports Nutrition category within Ingredion EMEA.

Session Details: Developing into Next-Generation Stevia 03-11-2021, 2:30 pm View In Agenda

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Marine has over 9 years of experience in building and executing marketing strategies for leading retail and grocery brands, across premium, organic and plant-based categories. In her last role, Marine was Head of Brand for Tesco Finest, the U.K. largest premium own brand. Prior to that, she was in charge of the leading yogurt brand, Muller Corner.

Marine is responsible for brand direction, strategy and execution across SDG’s portfolio, from Skinny Tonic to Emoji DRNK, bringing a fresh and innovative thinking to our business and driving our brands forward on this truly exciting journey

Session Details: Developing into Next-Generation Stevia 03-11-2021, 2:30 pm View In Agenda

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Ian is an entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Skinny Drinks Group.

Aged just 18, he set up his first business, as a self-taught photographer. After a hugely successful 2 years, reaching a turnover of £1.5m, Ian was ready to start his next venture and went on to establish his own property development firm. Fast forward a few years, Ian found himself running all North-West franchises of Britain’s favourite pizza chain, contributing to the company’s major expansion in the UK.

By then, this self-made man had mastered many disciplines, from sales to marketing and kitchen management.

But at a more personal level, Ian was faced with a problem. He’d been diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes and, as a big G&T fan, this meant that even low sugar tonics could spike his blood sugar. Faced with sugar crashes or quiet nights in, Ian set about addressing the need for a zero sugar, zero calorie and 100% natural mixer that didn’t compromise on taste. A few months later, Skinny Tonic – SDG’s flagship mixer brand – was born.

Today, SDG is on its way to becoming a brand powerhouse and one of the fastest growing and most agile drink manufacturers in Europe.

Session Details: Developing into Next-Generation Stevia 03-11-2021, 2:30 pm View In Agenda

Biography: Maria Rey-Marston leads Accenture’s NonAlcoBev segment, driving sustainable, innovative and transformative strategies for the top global companies in the industry. Her 20+ year career in  beverages, spans multiple categories from beer and spirits, to soft drinks and coffee, working with manufacturers, distributors and retailers. Her work has focused on supply chain, operations, new product introduction, routes-to-market, and commercial strategies. Maria is an Economist and holds a MSc in Supply Chain Operations from Georgia Tech and a PhD in Business Performance from Cranfield University.

Session Details: Getting Ready for 2030: Human-Centric Innovation for No-Lo Beverages 04-11-2021, 10:30 am View In Agenda

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Sue has worked in the drinks industry for over 25 years in NPD, Manufacturing and Technical roles. Having worked for Global manufacturer,  Cott Beverages,  for many years she has encountered many of the challenges that CSD manufacturers face today including re-formulating using natural ingredients, sugar reduction and CO2 shortages.

As the Technical Manager for CO2 Sustain she is working to provide an industry revolutionizing ingredient to help overcome these challenges and dramatically improve the consumer experience by making a drink stay fizzy for longer.

Session Details: How Improving CO2 retention can Improve your business 03-11-2021, 3:00 pm View In Agenda

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Laura Willoughby MBE is co-founder of Club Soda, the Mindful Drinking Movement. Their aim is to create a world where nobody feels out of place not drinking. Club Soda has individuals, drinks brands, and social spaces in its membership.

The inspiration for Club Soda comes Laura’s experience of giving up drinking seven years ago. A campaigner at heart with a background in movement building and politics, she realised that one of the big sticking points was a way to support people to take a self-guided journey to change their drinking.

Club Soda has over 50,000 individual members, have built a venue listing guide for mindful drinkers (clubsodaguide.com) and they run the UK’s only Mindful Drinking Festival which is now in it’s 7th edition. She is author of How to Be a Mindful Drinker, a new book for 2020 published by DK books. 

Laura is chair of Imbibe’s No & Low Taste Awards judging panel for 2020. 

Session Details: Case Study: The No and Low Landscape 03-11-2021, 4:30 pm View In Agenda

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Amy joined Synergy at the beginning of 2021 with 10 years of experience in the flavour industry covering predominantly project and account management in the beverage category. Amy is obsessively passionate about all things food and drink related and thrives from the collaborative approach Synergy takes in designing and developing new products with their customers.lo

Session Details: Round Table 04-11-2021, 8:30 am View In Agenda

Biography: Jill has worked at Synergy for 18 months, having worked in the flavour industry since 2003 after having started her career in confectionary. Jill has worked on both sweet goods and beverages but with a passion for beverage development this is where her expertise has grown over the years both in soft drinks and alcohol beverages.

Session Details: Round Table 04-11-2021, 8:30 am View In Agenda

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Session Details: Round Table 04-11-2021, 8:30 am View In Agenda

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Session Details: PANEL: Innovation & The Investment Code: The Beverages Funding Landscape 04-11-2021, 2:00 pm View In Agenda

Biography: With 25 years of experience at the forefront of Global sales, marketing, and business development for Beverage, Dairy, Bakery, Confectionery, Food Ingredients, Food Flavours, Food Service FMCG / Private Label, Retail, HIS (High Intensity Sweeteners) Next generation Natural Sweeteners, Natural Flavours. Using pioneering and exciting new technologies to produce sustainable F&B taste solutions Sweegen is your preferred partner to work with. 

Session Details: Oh Sugar! - Satisfying the sweet tooth naturally to meet consumer demands 03-11-2021, 5:00 pm View In Agenda