Just Drinks presents: The 13th Innovation in Non-Alcoholic Beverages Conference 2024

24 - 25

September

2024
  • London
  • Ticketed
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  • 2023 Agenda
  • 2023 Speakers
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Why attend?

What is new for 2024?

100+

Attendees to meet each year

15+

Exhibitors to meet each year

20+

Speakers

75%

Attendees at Director+ level

100+

Attendees to meet each year

15+

Exhibitors to meet each year

20+

Speakers

75%

Attendees at Director+ level

2023 Agenda

  • 24 Sep 2024
  • 25 Sep 2024
Expand All

Streams

Stream one

Innovating through Strategies & Growth

Stream two

No & Low

11:30 AM

When Craft & Corporate Collide: How to Survive & Thrive in the Growing AF sector

  • Tactics and Strategy for "smaller" players to stand out in a sector increasingly dominated by global drink companies
  • What does the future hold for craft producers in the AF sector?

Speakers

Rob Fink
Founder, Big Drop Brewing

12 PM

The Innovative Edge in No & Low

  • Using innovation through technology and ingredients to stand out from the crowd
  • Identifying key indicators of success in early-stage beverage investments cross category
  • Understanding the key factors of commercialisation when it comes to marketing and conquering in a highly saturated market

Speakers

Mark Livings
Creator & Founder, Lyre's

12:30 PM

Normalising Non Alcoholic Beer by making moderation cool & inspire consumers to drink responsibly

  • Taking inspiration from world’s favourite zero alcohol beer brand: Heineken 0.0 to accelerate non alcohol category growth
  • Understanding Moderation drivers to drive further growth of non-alcohol brands
  • Trends and consumer insights within Zero Alcohol Beverages
  • Reimagining the non-alcohol beer landscape: moving from niche to normal

Speakers

Karlijn van Ruiten
Global Heineken® Innovation Manager - HEINEKEN International

1 PM

Lunch and networking

2 PM

Trends and Innovation in Non-Alcoholic Start-Ups

  • Non-alc is a booming space that is showing no signs of stopping.
  • How non-alc start ups are standing out in the space.
  • How brands are using innovation to create their liquid.

Speakers

Holly Browne
Search & Insight Manager, Distill Ventures

2:30 PM

Panel discussion: Trends in no & low: Functionally fabulous and fun and flavourful

  • Looking at the growing use of nootropics and adaptogens in no and low beverages to understand the demand for fun, intrigue, and function
  • Using new, unknown (e.g mushrooms) and more commonly known ingredients (coffee) to add an edge to the non alc offering and a benefit to the consumer
  • Changing consumer perception of price and value through the use of functional ingredients to bring premium offers to market
  • Staying innovative with RTD, Convenience and fun social experiences
  • Understanding the consumer’s desire for a credible beverage that opens up opportunity to mood altering concepts

Speakers

Mark Livings
Creator & Founder, Lyre's
Craig Hutchinson
Founder and CEO, Mindful Brands
Karlijn van Ruiten
Global Heineken® Innovation Manager - HEINEKEN International

3 PM

Networking – Coffee and Tea Sponsored by Sweegen

5:30 PM

Drinks reception

6:30 PM

End of day one

8 AM

Registration

8:50 AM

Chair’s Opening Remarks

Speakers

Mark Dempsey
Senior Consulting Director – Global, GlobalData

9 AM

Readily Expressed & Ready to Impress: Innovation in RTD for Convenience & Growth

  • What’s hot and what’s not in RTD: Convenience, energy, flavour, function
  • Looking at innovation across the RTD range cross category to identify areas of opportunity
  • Considering value in ingredients vs value in price in an age where wellness and recessions prevail the consumer mind to decide on which areas to innovate
  • Creating offers that uniquely place brands to drive category expansion

Speakers

Adrian Hipkiss
Marketing & International Business Director, Boost Drinks

9:30 AM

Innovation in Non-Alcoholic Beverages: How are the dynamics of today and concerns of tomorrow shaping NPD in beverages?

Innovation in the non-alcoholic beverage industry is response to evolving consumer preferences and tastes, health concerns and sustainability considerations. New Product Development (NPD) in this sector is heavily influenced by both current dynamics and future concerns. Drawing from our recent (2023) proprietary consumer insights study and beverage voice of customer research, we will explore some key themes we believe are shaping current NPD in non-alcoholic beverages.

  • Naturality and functionality – the continued demand for better for you beverages
  • Water as the new soft drink of choice – how is NPD re-engaging consumers?
  • The sweet spot between affordability and maintaining great taste

Speakers

Sue Bancroft
Category Leader, Beverages, Ingredion
Joana Maricato
Global Research Insights Manager, Ingredion

10 AM

Story Innovation: Buying into the Brand

  • Differentiating with storytelling and branding to stand out in a saturated market
  • Competing with the big players to carve out market share
  • Creating an instinctive and memorable brand to gain worthy positioning in the industry
  • Tapping into marketing and creativity to create a loyal consumer base

Speakers

Johnny Johnson
Co-Founder - UNLTD

10:30 AM

Creating value in beverages – Capitalising on consumer needs across generations

  • Segmenting based on Nutritional benefits over consumers’ lifespan
  • Science & Solutions to create value
  • The benefits of fibre to the beverage industry
  • Formulation challenges: balancing positive nutrition, sugar reduction and taste

Speakers

Lin Peterse
Beverages Category Development Manager - Tate & Lyle
Marietta Sayegh
PhD, Nutrition Business Partner, Tate & Lyle

11 AM

Networking – Coffee and Tea Sponsored by Sweegen

11:30 AM

Consumer Voice – Attitudes to ABV%, moderation, and the recent changes in UK Alcohol Duty

  • Do they care about ABV% when making decisions?
  • How many people actively moderate their drinking on a specific occasion?
  • How do they think alcohol strength impacts flavour?
  • And how open are they to innovation focused on low(er) and non alc. alternatives?

Join this session for a debrief and analysis of the data from a survey run in July 2023, and have the opportunity to suggest follow up questions.

Speakers

Magdalena Jablkowska-Citko
Research Director, Toluna/Harris Interactive

12 PM

Breaking Barriers: Looking at Future Dispense Solutions

  • Understanding the development process of dispense at home
  • Identifying the challenges with dispense
  • Using innovation in dispense technology for no & low
  • The future of premiumisation at home

Speakers

Steve Gilsenan
Guinness Global Head of Quality, Guinness Diageo

12:30 PM

Spotlight: Being truly disruptive to address the drivers and trends in the beverage sector

  • The beverage sector is under increasing pressure which means companies need to be more ambitious, more radical and more disruptive
  • Making smart decisions around new technologies like AI, biometric sensing and advanced dispense can maintain market position and disrupt traditional markets
  • Be the disrupter, not the disrupted with examples from across consumer industry sectors

Speakers

Johanna Martin
Associate Director Consumer Disruption, Cambridge Consultants

12:50 PM

Lunch and networking

2 PM

Colours and emotions in beverages

  • Overview of natural colours and colouring foods in beverage
  • The importance of visual appeal in the digital environment
  • Colour psychology and mental health awareness
  • Optimal pigments and technologies in beverage

Speakers

Phillip Cook
Industry Business Manager, Beverage, Oterra
Emilio Saklambanakis
Regional Marketing manager, EMEA, Oterra

2:30 PM

From unknown to mainstream: CBD gains traction cross-category

  • Pushing a “niche” ingredient to wider categories to go mainstream
  • Experimenting with CBD in on-trade and off-trade to create more tailored drinking experiences
  • Innovating with CBD in the soft drinks category to create a loyal fan base with a wider audience
  • Innovating with drinks categories to bring CBD to greater market share and cater to growing wellness trends

Speakers

James Edmunds
Managing Director, TRIP

3 PM

Networking – Coffee and Tea Sponsored by Sweegen

3:30 PM

The R&D Innovation Journey: developing and launching successful NPD

  • Leveraging brand, tradition and innovation to thrive in a crowded market
  • Keeping consumers at the heart of innovation, to unlock creativity and identify opportunity.
  • Partnering with R&D, different approaches to innovation from creating great NPD briefs to identifying success criteria.
  • Leveraging trends & foresight to creating a long-term  science pipeline to support and develop the innovation portfolio

Speakers

Penny Willson
Head of Innovation - Britvic PLC

4 PM

Building resilience through innovation

  • Looking at the impact of the economic downturn is challenging for bringing new innovation to market
  • The worldwide uncertainty and changing consumer behaviour compounds this difficulty
  • How to best leverage existing capabilities and understanding of consumer attitudes to drive smarter innovation decisions

Speakers

Kiran Jainani
Sr. Int. Insights & Innovation Manager, Eckes-Granini Group

4:30 PM

Panel discussion: Killing Innovation: The dark side of the green agenda

  • The increasing importance of packaging in the beverage industry
  • New DRS schemes coming up in the UK, taxes on unsustainable materials and the push for lower carbon footprint
  • How the sustainability agenda is pushing innovation
  • How are smaller brands being affected
  • What is the knock-on effect sustainability regulations have in terms of innovation in flavours, portfolio, and product design

Speakers

Jessamy Beeson-Jones
UK Country Manager, Karma Drinks
Johnny Johnson
Co-Founder - UNLTD
Julia Kessler
Co-Founder & CEO - Nix&Kix

5 PM

Drinks reception

6 PM

End of day one

8 AM

Registration

8:50 AM

Chair’s Opening Remarks

Speakers

Mark Dempsey
Senior Consulting Director – Global, GlobalData

9 AM

Speaker hosted roundtables

Interactive roundtable sessions offer a unique opportunity to come together with your peers to share best practice and develop solutions to critical challenges facing the industry as a whole. Hosted by industry experts and each focused on a single issue, roundtables are an exciting, interactive way to build your personal network and learn from the experience and expertise of others.

Each roundtable session lasts for 45 minutes, and delegates may attend up to 2 roundtables.

Roundtable 1: To mock or not to mock!

  • A discussion focusing on ‘mocktails’ and their position – should they be mimics or drinks in their own right
  • Reviewing what consumers really think about the word ‘mocktail’ and what they would like to see
  • Exploring the on-trade and the difference in language and communication on menus
  • Exploring the history and evolution of the mocktails, including a tasting of the ‘first’ ever mocktail…but with a Synergy twist
  • A discussion on how to elevate mocktails with layered flavours and adding interest with trending flavours

Vicky Berry, Senior European business development manager, Synergy Flavors

Jill Ngo, Sweet good applications manager, Synergy Flavors

 

Roundtable 2: Brand extensions - friend or foe to the growth of alcohol-free

Sharing our latest research - Drinks For Everyone - we will open a discussion about the changing market, consumer behaviour and the impact on policy and regulation. Is there a way that all parts of the alcohol-free sector can work together to encourage growth?

Laura Willoughby, Co-Founder, Clubsoda

 

Roundtable 3: TASTE-Engineering: The power of modulation

From juice to plant-based beverages, this session is designed to showcase how we approach "taste" and the power of our modulation capabilities.

Muserref Karadayi, Business Development Manager TASTE, Sales & Marketing, Ingredion

 

Roundtable 4: Does nutrition - beyond sugar and calorie reduction - have a role to play in mainstream beverages?

  • Opportunities and challenges faced in creating the future soft drinks aisle
  • Impact of inflationary pressures on NPD strategies
  • Overcoming formulation challenges: balancing positive nutrition, sugar reduction and taste
  • A case study on flavoured water

Olivier Kutz, Beverages Category Director Europe, Tate & Lyle

Lin Peterse, Beverages Category Development Manager, Tate & Lyle

Marietta Sayegh, PhD, Nutrition Business Partner, Tate & Lyle

Valerie Vandaele, Beverages Technical Category Manager, Tate & Lyle

Speakers

VICKY BERRY
Senior European Business Development Manager , Synergy Flavours
Jill Ngo
Sweet Good Applications Manager, Synergy Flavours
Olivier Kutz
Beverages Category Director Europe, Tate & Lyle
Lin Peterse
Beverages Category Development Manager - Tate & Lyle
Marietta Sayegh
PhD, Nutrition Business Partner, Tate & Lyle
Valerie Vandaele
Beverages Technical Category Manager, Tate & Lyle
Laura Willoughby MBE
Co-Founder - Club Soda; The Mindful Drinking Movement
Muserref Karadayi
Business Development Manager TASTE, Ingredion

10:30 AM

Networking – Coffee and Tea Sponsored by Sweegen

11 AM

Soft Drink Aisle of the Future and The Role of Innovation

  • Evolution of the soft drinks aisle to cater to changing consumer expectations
  • Engaging shoppers in innovation at fixture and whilst shopping online
  • How will sustainability drive soft drinks innovation of tomorrow

Speakers

Sally Orland
Category Strategy Lead, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners

11:30 AM

Collagen Peptides: A key ingredient for the rising functional beverage industry

  • The functional beverage category is growing as consumers are looking for convenient ways to support their lifestyle and wellness goals
  • Discover how collagen’s versatility and wide range of benefits makes it the perfect hero ingredient for functional beverage formulations

Speakers

Andrea Launay
Market Analyst, Rousselot

12 PM

New Consumer Cravings: Shaking Up the Non-Alcoholic Beverages Category

  • Looking at increasing consumer demand across non-alcoholic beverage categories to understand new and declining trends
  • Using data to determine where to focus innovation in the non-alcoholic drinks category
  • Understanding global consumer demands to create beverages that tap into trending issues
  • Identifying consumer priorities to decide on areas for innovation in the drinks sector

Speakers

Mark Dempsey
Senior Consulting Director – Global, GlobalData

12:30 PM

Lunch & Networking

1:30 PM

Clean Mixing, Quick Serving, One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Innovation in Drinks Outside of Flavour Profiles

  • Innovating in traditional flavour profiles, by sourcing ethical, organic and local ingredients for a more premium (and tasty!) serve
  • Reaching different spaces in the soft drinks sector to maximise consumer reach
  • Focussing on formats instead of flavour to explore innovative ways to stand out in a saturated market
  • Playing with format and delivery to catering to a variety drinking occasions wanted by today’s consumer
  • Taking inspiration from nostalgic brands and flavour profiles to clear up headspace for new areas of innovation
  • Giving more choice to consumers outside of the flavour profile to tap into consumer priorities through format

Speakers

Jessamy Beeson-Jones
UK Country Manager, Karma Drinks

2 PM

Panel discussion: How to get the innovative edge in a market of vast choice

  • Where do you find real inspiration for creating new innovative beverages?
  • In an era of health and eco-friendly awareness, should innovation stay closer to home to reduce product footprint and support local produce?
  • Where is the focus in innovation in 2023 in the beverage industry?
  • With no and low and mixers, the lines can get blurry when it comes to category and audience, what are the key considerations when it comes to creating a beverage that may have multiple uses or fit several drinking occasions?
  • How important is the role of the soft drinks industry in influencing the no and low market and vice versa?
  • What should we consider as trailblazing when it comes to innovation in beverages?

Speakers

Mark Livings
Creator & Founder, Lyre's
Rafael Rozenson
Founder, Vieve
David Begg
Founder and Chief Exec, The Real Drinks Co.
Sally Orland
Category Strategy Lead, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners

2:30 PM

What in the world is happening with flavour?

  • Understanding consumer association with flavour, function and aesthetics to provoke the emotional state and increase purchase rates
  • Knowing the consumer avatar to create a portfolio that appeals and converts to high sales
  • Monitoring flavour and functionality trends to generate a successful NPD plan
  • Helping consumers in their quest for vitality through vitamin hits to increase the psychological and physical feel-good
  • Applying buyer psychology to innovation plans to impulse brand awareness and revenue

Speakers

Julia Kessler
Co-Founder & CEO - Nix&Kix

3 PM

Networking – Coffee and Tea Sponsored by Sweegen, Apple Prize Draw

Apple Prize Draw

3:30 PM

PANEL Is Functional Fad or Will It Function Forever?

  • Understanding the drives for more functional drinks 3 years post pandemic. Is functional here to stay?
  • Do consumers really know what vitamin hits and functional flavours they are taking and what makes them purchase a functional beverage?
  • How niche is functional or is it leaking into mass market consumption? What is driving its growth and how can brands continue to ensure that brands care about what is in a drink?
  • Looking at the beverage industry and all its variety. How can you make a drink for a mass market when innovation seems to occur in subcategories?
  • Which categories are leading the way with functional beverages / which categories are striving through functional?
  • Which ingredients are trailblazing the future of the beverage industry?
  • How can we give retailers the confidence of stocking new products with “curious” ingredients and tackle the hesitancy to provide newer functional products to consumers?
  • What can we expect of consumer spending during a recession on “non-staple” products or do functional beverages have a more significant role in a consumer’s daily life?
  • What do we need to understand about the drinking occasion for healthy drinks vs the adult occasion with functional drinking experience?

Speakers

Mark Dempsey
Senior Consulting Director – Global, GlobalData
Matthew Furber
Director R&I Plant Based, Danone
Zoey Henderson
Founder & CEO, The Fungtional Brew Company
Maria Sehlström
Co-Founder, Mindful brands
Julia Kessler
Co-Founder & CEO - Nix&Kix
Mark Wong
Founder, Impossibrew
Kiran Jainani
Sr. Int. Insights & Innovation Manager, Eckes-Granini Group
Rafael Rozenson
Founder, Vieve

4:15 PM

Chairman’s closing remarks

4:20 PM

End of conference

2023 Speakers

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Sally Orland
Category Strategy Lead, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners

Sally heads up the Category Strategy function at CCEP, with a focus on turning shopper understanding into action and building category capability. Prior to this she worked across a number of Category & Insights roles within CCEP and before that, JTI. Sally has a passion for understanding shoppers & consumers, finding the human angle to the hard facts. Outside of work she enjoys spending time with her family & 2 dogs, competing in dressage competitions and painting.

Session Details:

Panel discussion: How to get the innovative edge in a market of vast choice

2023-09-20, 2:00 PM

Session Details:

Soft Drink Aisle of the Future and The Role of Innovation

2023-09-20, 11:00 AM

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Adrian Hipkiss
Marketing & International Business Director, Boost Drinks

Session Details:

Readily Expressed & Ready to Impress: Innovation in RTD for Convenience & Growth

2023-09-19, 9:00 AM

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Penny Willson
Head of Innovation - Britvic PLC

An innovation specialist and scientist with a wealth of experience in successful product development across a number of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages categories in Europe and Africa. This is drawn from my work with global corporates and leading brands. I have strong technical expertise in beverage, supported by deep knowledge of consumer insights, strategy and commercial execution. At Britvic, I’m excited to be part of our drive to innovate at scale, grow exciting brands and demonstrate the strategic importance and commercial impact of a courageous and successful R&D Innovation strategy.

Session Details:

The R&D Innovation Journey: developing and launching successful NPD

2023-09-19, 3:30 PM

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Karlijn van Ruiten
Global Heineken® Innovation Manager - HEINEKEN International

Karlijn van Ruiten has worked in the drinks industry for more than 15 years; starting at soft drinks firm Vrumona, where she found her passion for marketing. After multiple commercial roles on cider and beer brands for HEINEKEN she is now responsible at HEINEKEN Global for growing the non alcoholic beer category as Brand Development Lead of Heineken® 0.0.

With a wealth of experience in product development - in both alcohol and non alcohol category- she now leads a portfolio of H® 0.0 innovation projects; from brief to ideation and consumer validation, finalized concept, supply solution, commercial and marketing plan and eventually global launch.

Prior she worked as Marketing Manager Vrumona, where she learned that the beauty of brand building lies within adding value in the life of people; by changing behaviour towards more healthy choices for her brand’s consumers or by adding value to her own team by being a true connecting people manager.

Session Details:

Panel discussion: Trends in no & low: Functionally fabulous and fun and flavourful

2023-09-19, 2:30 PM

Session Details:

Normalising Non Alcoholic Beer by making moderation cool & inspire consumers to drink responsibly

2023-09-19, 12:30 PM

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Steve Gilsenan
Guinness Global Head of Quality, Guinness Diageo

Steve Gilsenan has been part of the Guinness Global Brand Team for the past two years, working as Global Head of Quality for Guinness, having previously spent 20 years in Supply. Steve has worked on innovation projects such as MicroDraught and NitroSurge over the past two years, and as a qualified Master Brewer and Beer Sommelier, he had spent the previous five years as Master Brewer of St James’s Gate. Throughout his tenure, he has worked in operations and technical quality across most of Guinness’s key markets, which took him to Trinidad, Ghana and Singapore before returning home to St. James’s Gate in Dublin, Ireland.

Session Details:

Breaking Barriers: Looking at Future Dispense Solutions

2023-09-19, 12:00 PM

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Kiran Jainani
Sr. Int. Insights & Innovation Manager, Eckes-Granini Group

- An MBA from ESB Reutlingen, Germany with a focus on Strategic Marketing, Brand & Innovation Management
- A seasoned professional with more than 10 years of work experience in Strategic Marketing, R&D, Market Research, Project Management, Change Management & Innovation Management within the FMCG industry

Session Details:

PANEL Is Functional Fad or Will It Function Forever?

2023-09-20, 3:30 PM

Session Details:

Building resilience through innovation

2023-09-19, 4:00 PM

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Mark Dempsey
Senior Consulting Director – Global, GlobalData

Mark brings over 20 years experience in the foodservice, retail and FMCG sectors to GlobalData.  Mark joined the GlobalData team in 2017 following 5 years living in Canada where he was an insights leader for PepsiCo and strategy consulting leader for the NPD group.   In his role at GlobalData, Mark brings bold thought-leadership to global partners across the manufacturer, retailer and distributor segments; always striving to find new ways to create growth by positively influencing shopper behaviour.

Mark brings significant FMCG knowledge and expertise to the conference having led research around the world on topics from shopper segmentation, to category market sizing to innovation planning and the study of global best practices.

Mark will be chairing the conference whilst sharing his views on the changing nature of next generation product offerings, the demands and expectations of today’s consumer, and the innovations and trends that will shape the future…

Session Details:

Chair’s Opening Remarks

2023-09-19, 8:50 AM

Session Details:

PANEL Is Functional Fad or Will It Function Forever?

2023-09-20, 3:30 PM

Session Details:

New Consumer Cravings: Shaking Up the Non-Alcoholic Beverages Category

2023-09-20, 12:00 PM

Session Details:

Chair’s Opening Remarks

2023-09-20, 8:50 AM

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Holly Browne
Search & Insight Manager, Distill Ventures

Holly leads DV’s search agenda in identifying the next generation of founder-led spirits brands for potential investment, by staying on the pulse with evolving drinking trends and culture. Before DV she worked in food and drink retail, working on a wide range of insight projects for the UK’s leading grocers and FMCGs. Her experience gives her a great understanding of changing consumer trends and unique founder ideas which meet the lifestyles of today’s consumers.

Session Details:

Trends and Innovation in Non-Alcoholic Start-Ups

2023-09-19, 2:00 PM

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Mark Livings
Creator & Founder, Lyre's

Serial, multi-award winning entrepreneur and founder of a portfolio of businesses in the FMCG / CPG sector, including marketing and advertising, logistics and fulfilment, print and merchandise production. He has recruited and led high-performing executive teams across several businesses from foundation to multi-million dollar annual revenues and award-winning standing in their respective industries.

In 2019, created and founded now the world's largest, most widely available and most valuable non-alcoholic spirits company, Lyre's Spirit Co. Lyre's products have secured no less than 300 international wine and spirits awards in the first three years of availability and the prestigious non-alcoholic producer of the year in the New York Spirits Competition and a 2021 Spirited Award from the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation.

Mark's background experience is marketing focused and bridges the client / agency divide, bringing a thorough understanding of marketing strategy development and brand commercialisation for the FMCG / CPG industry.

Session Details:

Panel discussion: Trends in no & low: Functionally fabulous and fun and flavourful

2023-09-19, 2:30 PM

Session Details:

The Innovative Edge in No & Low

2023-09-19, 12:00 PM

Session Details:

Panel discussion: How to get the innovative edge in a market of vast choice

2023-09-20, 2:00 PM

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Craig Hutchinson
Founder and CEO, Mindful Brands

Session Details:

Panel discussion: Trends in no & low: Functionally fabulous and fun and flavourful

2023-09-19, 2:30 PM

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Maria Sehlström
Co-Founder, Mindful brands

Session Details:

PANEL Is Functional Fad or Will It Function Forever?

2023-09-20, 3:30 PM

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James Edmunds
Managing Director, TRIP

Session Details:

From unknown to mainstream: CBD gains traction cross-category

2023-09-19, 2:30 PM

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Jessamy Beeson-Jones
UK Country Manager, Karma Drinks

I've spent over 10 years successfully launching 'better for you' and ethical brands within the competitive UK FMCG space. I'm driven by making a positive impact to both people and planet, by giving consumers delicious, sustainable and responsible choices for food and drinks they love

Session Details:

Clean Mixing, Quick Serving, One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Innovation in Drinks Outside of Flavour Profiles

2023-09-20, 1:30 PM

Session Details:

Panel discussion: Killing Innovation: The dark side of the green agenda

2023-09-19, 4:30 PM

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Johnny Johnson
Co-Founder - UNLTD

Johnny Johnson is the Co-Founder of the multi award-winning non-alcoholic beer brand UNLTD. UNLTD. produce non-alcoholic beers that are multi award-winning in taste, premium in design and which promote a healthier lifestyle. Progressively brewed, UNLTD. beers harness all of the character whilst staying refreshingly sessionable at 0.5% abv. Their beers are super low in calories, rich in B vitamins, vegan and gluten free.

Session Details:

Story Innovation: Buying into the Brand

2023-09-19, 10:00 AM

Session Details:

Panel discussion: Killing Innovation: The dark side of the green agenda

2023-09-19, 4:30 PM

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Julia Kessler
Co-Founder & CEO - Nix&Kix

Julia Kessler is the co founder and CEO of Nix & Kix, a multi-award winning adult soft drinks brand. A hint of cayenne is added to great tasting fruit flavours, for a clean refreshment.

 

Nix & Kix has built the company from zero to over 1,000 stockists across the UK and international, along with a diverse distribution network spanning retail and foodservice.

 

Julia’s experience consists of 12 years is in Supply Chain Operations and Program Management in the Hi-Tech industry. She has led numerous business process improvements across multiple regions as well as leading various cross-functional and international teams.

Session Details:

PANEL Is Functional Fad or Will It Function Forever?

2023-09-20, 3:30 PM

Session Details:

What in the world is happening with flavour?

2023-09-20, 2:30 PM

Session Details:

Panel discussion: Killing Innovation: The dark side of the green agenda

2023-09-19, 4:30 PM

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David Begg
Founder and Chief Exec, The Real Drinks Co.

An engineer by training and a cabinet maker in his spare time, craftsmanship lies at the heart of
everything David Begg, founder of The REAL Drinks Co., sets his mind to. Following a career in
international consulting, David sat on the founding team of Active Hotels (now booking.com),
before joining forces with Tom Dixon to found the eponymous design-first furniture, lighting and
interior design brand.

After a move to the Chiltern Hills, David realised that the consumption of alcohol was contrary
to these principles of a simpler, cleaner and more mindful way of life. It was here that The REAL
Drinks Co. began. Applying authentic winemaking techniques to the world’s finest loose-leaf
teas, REAL produces sophisticated, non-alcoholic Sparkling Teas for all occasions, naturally,
nothing added, nothing taken away, just as nature intended.

It’s this uncompromising devotion to flavour that sets The REAL Drink Co. apart from the
crowd. David wants to create a legacy. Through innovation, commitment to quality, and a
dedication to delivering diverse options, The REAL Drinks Co. is becoming the leader in
non-alcoholic fermented drinks, shaping a future where non-alcoholic drinking is celebrated
and respected.

Session Details:

Panel discussion: How to get the innovative edge in a market of vast choice

2023-09-20, 2:00 PM

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Rafael Rozenson
Founder, Vieve

Session Details:

PANEL Is Functional Fad or Will It Function Forever?

2023-09-20, 3:30 PM

Session Details:

Panel discussion: How to get the innovative edge in a market of vast choice

2023-09-20, 2:00 PM

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Dominic Allport
Global Consulting Director - Custom Projects

Dominic has 20 years experience leading Account Management and Delivery teams within many leading insight companies including Nielsen, Mintel, Euromonitor and Which?, and has spent time running his own research and data consultancy.

Dominic has also built up an extensive track record of partnering with global FMCG, Foodservice, Retail & Real Estate clients to provide value-added insight, business intelligence and consultancy, with a particular focus on market and opportunity sizing, competitor analysis, product research and consumer insight.

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Emilio Saklambanakis
Regional Marketing manager, EMEA, Oterra

Responsible for assisting the commercial teams with inspirational materials, market insights and refreshed industry trends, Emilio manages the deployment of marketing campaigns and initiatives at a regional level across EMEA. His work closely overlaps with Oterra's global marketing team to effectively address the specific needs of each industry territorially, whilst also maintaining the communication of the company's global marketing and innovation agendas

Session Details:

Colours and emotions in beverages

2023-09-19, 2:00 PM

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Phillip Cook
Industry Business Manager, Beverage, Oterra

Having spent 11 of his 20+ years in the food industry leading research, development, and applications for colouring foods and natural colours, Phil Cook is now the Industry Business Manager for Beverage, Dairy and Ice-Cream markets for Oterra, the World’s Largest Natural Colours company. With a combination of technical expertise and market knowledge, Phil matches customers with the best solutions, and identifies new opportunities in the colour space. 

Session Details:

Colours and emotions in beverages

2023-09-19, 2:00 PM

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Laura Willoughby MBE
Co-Founder - Club Soda; The Mindful Drinking Movement

Laura Willoughby MBE is the founder of the world’s largest mindful drinking movement, Club Soda, and the UK’s foremost expert in low and no alcoholic drinks.  Club Soda runs the new Low & No Tasting Rooms in Covent Garden. 

 

Laura was named number 16 in 2023’s Drinks Retailing’s latest Top 100 Most Influential People in Drink, one of the 100 most influential women in hospitality by CODE, and is a Trustee for The Drinks Trust. The Club Soda Tasting Room was Drink Retailing’s Independent Retailer of the year 2023. 

 

Receiving an MBE for services to the community in 2004, Laura’s devotion to Club Soda means hundreds of thousands of people are supported in their journeys to live well by being more mindful about drinking alcohol. 

Session Details:

Speaker hosted roundtables

2023-09-20, 9:00 AM

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VICKY BERRY
Senior European Business Development Manager , Synergy Flavours

Vicky Berry is the Senior European Business Development Manager at Synergy Flavours, leading business development for the beverage and nutrition markets. Vicky has been at the forefront of Synergy’s innovation pipeline, providing the latest market insights to support future focus areas and developments. Working with colleagues across geographies, Vicky has a key role in the expansion of Synergy’s natural extracts and essences platform which includes the latest product launches; Inspiring Fruits and Hop essences. An important function of the position is collaborating closely with customers, providing market insights and trends to help them stay one step ahead of the competition.

Session Details:

Speaker hosted roundtables

2023-09-20, 9:00 AM

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Jill Ngo
Sweet Good Applications Manager, Synergy Flavours

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:

Speaker hosted roundtables

2023-09-20, 9:00 AM

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Mark Wong
Founder, Impossibrew

See boring stuff below: 👇

📺 Featured on Dragons’ Den | 🍺 Founder at IMPOSSIBREW | 🇬🇧 GB Food and Drink Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 | 🇫🇷FWS, French Wine Scholar (Highest Honours) | 🍷WSET Level 3 | ⚗️GC in Brewing - Institute of Brewing & Distilling | 📖 Durham University First Class Philosophy Graduate

www.impossibrew.co.ukBrews

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Andrea Launay
Market Analyst, Rousselot

Andrea Launay graduated in 2016 with a MSc in Health Food Innovation Management from Maastricht University.  He then pursued a career as a food & beverage market analyst

and consultant, where he provided data driven insights allowing companies to stay up to date with market dynamics and latest trends and innovations.

Since 2021, he joined Rousselot as a Market Analyst focusing on bringing data & insights to support the global Rousselot Health & Nutrition business.

 

Session Details:

Collagen Peptides: A key ingredient for the rising functional beverage industry

2023-09-20, 11:30 AM

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Olivier Kutz
Beverages Category Director Europe, Tate & Lyle

Olivier Kutz, Category Marketing Manager Tate & Lyle Europe, has a FMCG & Brand Management background through some well-known household names such as PG Tips and Lipton tea, Douwe Egberts coffee and Heinz Ketchup & Foodservice sauces.

As a stevia specialist, Olivier has been working on sugar reduction solutions from an ingredients perspective for quite some time, and has actively taken part in the development of stevia based solutions in Europe. Having spent most of his marketing career in Brand Management and Customer Marketing, over time Olivier built a solid understanding of B2B and consumer markets across the region, translating insights into action and commercial opportunities for his customers.

Session Details:

Speaker hosted roundtables

2023-09-20, 9:00 AM

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Lin Peterse
Beverages Category Development Manager - Tate & Lyle

With a technical background on ingredient functionality, Lin has worked before as beverage scientist and as technical specialist, supporting various Tate & Lyle customers. She’s currently responsible for category growth in the Beverage, Bakery and Confectionary categories working closely with our nutrition, regulatory, commercial, and technical applications teams. Driving growth by translating consumer insights into valuable commercial opportunities is what motivates and inspires Lin at Tate & Lyle.

Session Details:

Creating value in beverages – Capitalising on consumer needs across generations

2023-09-19, 10:30 AM

Session Details:

Speaker hosted roundtables

2023-09-20, 9:00 AM

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Marietta Sayegh
PhD, Nutrition Business Partner, Tate & Lyle

Marietta Sayegh, MSc, PhD is the Nutrition Business Partner for Europe at Tate & Lyle. In her current role, Marietta supports the EU region by sharing the latest scientific evidence related to various Tate & Lyle ingredient solutions with internal and external audiences and customers. Moreover, Marietta contributes to the development of science-based communication materials targeted at nutrition, health, and wellness audiences.
Marietta holds a PhD in Human Nutrition from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, UK, on inter-individual variation in glucose responses in women. Prior to joining Tate & Lyle, Marietta worked as a postdoc research fellow at the University of Aberdeen, where she led projects focusing on nutrition sustainability and food security within Scotland.

Session Details:

Creating value in beverages – Capitalising on consumer needs across generations

2023-09-19, 10:30 AM

Session Details:

Speaker hosted roundtables

2023-09-20, 9:00 AM

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Valerie Vandaele
Beverages Technical Category Manager, Tate & Lyle

Valérie Vandaele is the Beverage and Confectionery Technical Manager for Europe at Tate & Lyle. Valérie has strong expertise of sweeteners and fibres and, with her team, constantly puts the focus on customers, to better serve them and develop professional solutions for sugar reduction, clean label and healthy products with Tate and Lyle ingredient solutions.

Valerie joined Tate & Lyle 11 years ago and has experience across different technical functions within the food industry in France. Valerie holds a MS in food science and engineering from JUNIA - University of Lille, France.

Session Details:

Speaker hosted roundtables

2023-09-20, 9:00 AM

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Johanna Martin
Associate Director Consumer Disruption, Cambridge Consultants

A Senior Innovation Strategist with deep expertise in disruptive innovation across a wide range of consumer sectors including beverages, consumer health and beauty. As part of the Consumer Disruption team at Cambridge Consultants I help our clients navigate the path from idea to pilot and beyond. Working closely with our technologists, designers and scientists we draw on a broad set of tools across Foresights, Behavioural Sciences, Consumer Insights and Design Thinking. I am excited to be part of the conversation around translating new technologies like AI and biometric sensing into meaningful and desirable use cases for today’s and tomorrow’s consumers.

Session Details:

Spotlight: Being truly disruptive to address the drivers and trends in the beverage sector

2023-09-19, 12:30 PM

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James Wilkinson
Enterprise Account Director, Toluna

James works with Toluna clients to democratize research through a seamless blend of proprietary research technology, integrated panel, deep sector expertise across the globe and an agile service model. He builds close relationships to ensure brands maximize their ROI with Toluna and leverage the platform and service model to meet their local and global strategic goals. Prior to joining Toluna, James had over 20 years of experience working in technology businesses to provide companies with the insights and analysis to enable data-driven decision-making, working with finance, supply chain, HR and marketing.

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Magdalena Jablkowska-Citko
Research Director, Toluna/Harris Interactive

Magda is passionate about innovative digital solutions and developing consumer and shopper insights to effectively drive business decision making. With 15 years’ experience in market research, Magda offers a strong blend of quantitative and qualitative expertise and currently holds a strategic role supporting the growth of the FMCG and Retail business sectors at Toluna/Harris Interactive.

Session Details:

Consumer Voice – Attitudes to ABV%, moderation, and the recent changes in UK Alcohol Duty

2023-09-19, 11:30 AM

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Gavin Sugden
Senior Client Director, MetrixLab
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Rob Fink
Founder, Big Drop Brewing

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:

When Craft & Corporate Collide: How to Survive & Thrive in the Growing AF sector

2023-09-19, 11:30 AM

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Zoey Henderson
Founder & CEO, The Fungtional Brew Company

Zoey founded the Fungtional Brew Company with a desire to bring more functional herbs and fungi into the mainstream. Creating more mindful options for conscious consumers looking to reduce their alcohol consumption and empower their health. Zoey has been in the Hospitality industry for over 15 years, across bars, restaurants, events and as a venue and business owner. Her past role as a mindful drinking consultant opened up the world of no and low and this is where she saw the functional gap in the category. An entrepreneur with a passion for health and wellness, her brand Fungtn aims to bring functional drinking into the low alcohol, craft beer space.

Session Details:

PANEL Is Functional Fad or Will It Function Forever?

2023-09-20, 3:30 PM

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Sue Bancroft
Category Leader, Beverages, Ingredion

Sue, Ingredion Beverage Category Director EMEA, has over 25 years’ experience developing both commercial and marketing strategies in B2B and B2C businesses, globally and locally.  Her experience ranges from commercialising global confectionary platforms at Chupa Chups, managing NPD for cosmetics at The Body Shop, sales for Virgin Vie followed by beverage ingredient strategy management within PureCircle and Ingredion.

Session Details:

Innovation in Non-Alcoholic Beverages: How are the dynamics of today and concerns of tomorrow shaping NPD in beverages?

2023-09-19, 9:30 AM

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Muserref Karadayi
Business Development Manager TASTE, Ingredion

Muserref developed stevia market in emerging markets as regional director for 9 years at Purecircle by Ingredion and recently joined TASTE team to develop flavor modifier business in EMEA. Graduated from Food Engineering at Aegen University , Izmir. Muserref has over 20 years experience in food ingredients market.

Session Details:

Speaker hosted roundtables

2023-09-20, 9:00 AM

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Joana Maricato
Global Research Insights Manager, Ingredion

Joana Maricato is responsible for the consumer and market research at Ingredion, a leading global ingredients solutions company. She is the Global Insights Research Manager at Ingredion’s Insights Center of Excellence, focusing on providing practical and useful insights as well as identifying the best strategies to create consumer-preferred products in today’s increasingly complex business environment.

Session Details:

Innovation in Non-Alcoholic Beverages: How are the dynamics of today and concerns of tomorrow shaping NPD in beverages?

2023-09-19, 9:30 AM

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Plan Your Visit

Venue

London

Details to be confirmed soon

Arena International Events Group “(Arena”) is aware of numerous third party agencies which are contacting Arena’s customers and purporting to have access to hotel room bookings and events attendee lists. It is unclear whether the agencies in question are in possession of such information, or whether they intend to scam unsuspecting customers. Whilst Arena International Events Group pursues such third party companies for their potentially illicit activity, Arena encourages you to be cautious in engaging with such third party agencies and Arena shall not accept any responsibility for any losses incurred by you should you choose to engage with third parties that have no affiliation to Arena International Events Group.

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Partner with us

Your brand will be in direct contact with end users who need to explore solutions and new offerings that tailor to consumer trends within a wide range of beverage categories such as juice, water, tea, energy drinks, no and low, carbonated, and other.

This conference presents a vital chance for you to engage with decision-makers, demonstrate your solution’s value proposition in an intimate, industry-specific environment, and help you cut through the noise of your competitors.

 

Contact us to become a partner

 

Partnership Opportunities

We work with you to design a bespoke package to meet your business needs, where you could:

  • Demonstrate your expertise on the agenda – have the attention of the entire audience. For greatest impact, why not position your talk before a networking break and immediately conduct follow up conversations with highly engaged attendees
  • Showcase your business and its services at an exhibition booth, which provides a perfect meeting place for prospective new clients
    Present the value proposition of your offering over your competitors, in front of an audience of active, engaged potential customers
  • Speak with key decision makers as part of our intimate, interactive roundtable style workshop sessions with over 8 hours allowed for networking

Event reach

 

  • 150+ attendees each year
  • 80% attendees C-suite level

 

Take a look at our current sponsors

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Check out what our speakers had to say about the conference and industry!

Enquiry

Contact Us

SPONSORSHIP ENQUIRIES

Ben Gemmell

Head of Consumer Portfolio

+44 207 661 8841

SPEAKER ENQUIRIES

Alfred Mani

Conference Producer

+44 (0)20 4540 7582

MARKETING ENQUIRIES

Monica Chan

Marketing Manager

SPONSORSHIP Enquiries

To enquire about sponsorship opportunities for the conference, please contact:

Ben Gemmell

Head of Consumer Portfolio


+(44) 207 661 8841

SPEAKER Enquiries

To enquire about speaking opportunities for the conference, please contact:

Alfred Mani

Conference Producer


+44 (0)20 4540 7582