JUNE 2016MARKET INSIGHTS

2

HA

VI G

lob

al S

olu

tio

ns:

Mark

etI

nsi

gh

ts

PACKAGING

BIODEGRADEABLE Breakthrough

FRESH TAKEUflex, India’s largest flexible packaging company, recently announced the launch of Flexfresh, a new biodegradable product that is able to effectively extend the shelf life of produce. The product is based on Uflex’s Equilibrium Modified Atmospheric Packaging (EMAP) technology, which keeps oxygen and carbon dioxide levels inside the packaging at consistent levels. After early experiments with tropical produce validated that traditional polymers were not effective in preventing water condensation in produce bags (subsequently allowing fungal and bacterial infections to grow on the produce itself), Uflex engaged a technology partner to help codevelop the Flexfresh solution. By maintaining in-bag humidity at 98 percent, Flexfresh keeps produce dry and condensation-free, allowing for very low product weight loss and providing protection for the produce against infections. Flexfresh is currently available as liner bags (5kg and 10kg), flow wraps, form fill and seal (FFS) films, and lidding film. Uflex is also developing a Flexfresh retail film that can be applied to both cut and whole products.2

EXTENDED “SHELL-F” LIFEAfter three years of experimentation, researchers from the National University of Singapore have developed a new, nontoxic, biodegradable packaging film made of chitosan (a natural polymer derived from the shells of crustaceans) and grapefruit seed extract (GFSE). The material is said to slow fungal growth to such a degree that it could potentially double the shelf life of perishables. The prototype film pairs chitosan’s short-term biodegradability and inherent antimicrobial and antifungal properties with the antioxidant, antiseptic, and germicidal properties of GFSE. The end result? A composite film that not only prevents bacterial and fungal growth, but that also provides mechanical strength and flexibility comparable to synthetic polyethylene film. The innovative, new film has not yet been commercialized; next steps include additional research on degradability and an accelerated product shelf life study.3

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the

United Nations (FAO), approximately 1.3 billion tons of food

—nearly a third of all food produced for consumption—is lost or wasted every

year.1 Due to its strong potential to significantly reduce food waste, interest in

packaging that extends the shelf life of its contents continues to grow. Additionally,

innovation has now expanded beyond the immediate benefit of longer product

shelf life to include biodegradable materials with an eco-friendly impact.

3

FOODSERVICE

PROTEIN’S New Pulse

PULSE POSITIONING Market research shows that pulses have attracted the attention of millennials, a demographic that tends to be more focused on nutrition and plant-based proteins. A growing number of pulse products are being launched in market, including protein powders, pastas, snack foods, refrigerated and vacuum-packed options, as well as ready-to-eat choices. Pulses may also hold particular appeal for consumers wishing to lose weight. One research study revealed that overweight and obese adults who incorporated pulses into meals enjoyed weight loss outcomes equal to (and in some cases, better than) the group instructed to reduce calories.5

CHICKPEA CHOICESOther pulse trends predicted for 2016 include more gluten-free options and the increase in “hip” flours like those made from beans and lentils. New Jersey chefs have predicted that, during the International Year of the Pulses, there will be a rise in foods made from chickpea flour due to its slightly sweet, rich flavor. Of note to those chefs are the innovative menu items at Manhattan’s Santina restaurant, including the cecina, a Tuscan chickpea crepe. Although the taste profile of the crepe alone is relatively bland, toppings include Calabrian tuna (spicy tuna tartare); funghi (nebrodini mushrooms); lamb tartare (green olive and aioli); gamberetti (rock shrimp, ginger, and garlic); and avocado trapanese (tomato and almond pesto). Santina’s is also developing recipes for chickpea french fries to add to its menu.6

Pulses—high-fiber, plant-based proteins, such as chickpeas, beans, dry peas,

and lentils—are projected to be in great demand this year, so much so that the

United Nations has dubbed 2016 “The International Year of Pulses.” The National

Restaurant Association supports this prediction, anticipating that chefs will

increasingly use pulse vegetables as a central feature of dishes and shift the

spotlight away from animal proteins.4

3

4

HA

VI G

lob

al S

olu

tio

ns:

Mark

etI

nsi

gh

ts

ANALYTICS

EXPLORING Emotional Analytics

AN ADVANCED ALTERNATIVE?Emotional analytics are more nuanced than behavioral analytics (which tend to extrapolate feelings from behavior) or sentiment analysis (which yield a less defined examination into emotions). Able to provide information that goes beyond whether a prospect has a negative or positive reaction, emotional analytics can even detect specific emotions like joy, excitement, anger, and frustration. With this level of robust analysis, a company could strategize targeted actions that can help reconcile negative outcomes or reiterate positive ones.7

BROAD APPLICATIONCompanies using emotional analytics range from content-focused media firms to hospitality giants like Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. Starwood’s recently announced merger with Marriott will create the world’s largest hotel chain, with 1.1 million hotel rooms in more than 5,500 locations worldwide. A key priority for the greatly expanded company? Using emotional analytics to continue to understand customer feedback and maintain their signature, high-touch service at such an enormous scale.8

MARKET MONITORInternational financial software, data, and media conglomerate Bloomberg has adopted emotional analytics in its quest to help clients prevent market abuse. The company’s emotional analytics capabilities help provide insight into the use and risks of using social media. Rather than searching using traditional terms that define violations (e.g., “sell tickets”), potential violations can now be flagged by degree of emotional response (the presence or absence of emotion—or a pattern of emotion within conversations) and filtered through neural networks and machine learning technologies.9

Despite investments made in data-collection and behavioral-analytics

programs, companies still lack the ability to understand how prospective

customers feel and react in real time beyond broad categorizations of positive

and negative responses. Insights into real-time emotional responses have the

potential to make a profound difference in building customer relationships

and, ultimately, a company’s bottom line.

5

ANALYTICS

5

ENHANCED INSIGHTSIn January, global media giant Mediacom announced a collaboration with Realeyes, a new technology platform that measures consumer emotions as they view video. Realeyes’s technology was recently integrated into MediaCom’s content hub to enable emotional analysis within content testing and media planning. High-profile clients leveraging the technology include Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Honda, Diageo, and Samsung. Realeyes uses webcams to collect facial expression information while people view advertisements and other content to analyze emotional responses to the exposed content. MediaCom executives stated that emotional analytics should “impact decision-making during creative testing, media planning, and post-campaign analysis.”

Benefits of the approach include faster, more accurate results and lower costs than online surveys and traditional focus groups. The technology is also capable of segmenting emotional responses by demographics; for example, MediaCom can assess if any differences exist in the response of a native Italian versus a native Japanese person to the same ad. The technology can also measure the intensity of response, adjusted for cultural differences. Realeyes’s testing costs range between $3,500 to $7,000 USD, in sharp contrast to the $10,000 to $15,000 USD price tag typically attached to traditional prelaunch focus-group testing conducted

by research vendors like Nielsen Market Research and Millward Brown. Realeyes’s testing is also faster than traditional testing, lasting between 48 to 96 hours (versus 150 hours) from start to finish.10

SENSE-IBLE ACCESSORIESEmotion-sensing technology is also becoming a more integral part of wearables. New entrants like the Feel wristband and the MoodMetric ring are capable of reading skin temperature, pulse rate, and galvanic skin responses to identify emotions. A product of Sentio Solutions, Feel’s four wristband sensors measure biosignals. The associated mobile app then creates visuals of the wearer’s mood and monitors how mood changes are connected to participating in activities, various interactions with other people, and any environmental changes experienced. The wristband is also able to vibrate when extreme emotions are registered, offer breathing and meditation recommendations to alleviate stress, and provide advice on healthy living and positive emotions.11

Moodmetric executives claim that their ring is the smallest device on the market that can track emotions. Designed by a top Finnish jewelry designer, information gathered from the ring’s sensors is communicated through an app so that wearers can receive instant feedback on moods, including the levels of a particular emotion and when it peaks.12

MARKETING

6

HA

VI G

lob

al S

olu

tio

ns:

Mark

etI

nsi

gh

ts

BUILDING Fan Loyalty

ENHANCED EXPERIENCES Ever wanted to spend the night with baseball legends? The Boston Red Sox partnered with Airbnb to give loyal fans a chance to win just that—an overnight stay in Fenway Park hosted by legendary Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling. In keeping with Airbnb’s positioning of connecting its customers to unique travel experiences, company executive Alex Ward stated, “Through our partnership with the Red Sox, we’re excited to magnify the magic and rich history of such an iconic place by offering the first ever overnight experience through Airbnb.”14

With the help of mobile technology, some MLB stadiums have focused on making the in-person experience more enjoyable for their fans. At San Francisco’s AT&T Park, Denver’s Coors Field, and New York’s Yankee Stadium, fans have access to a new biometric security service.

Clear, provider of expedited security access at 13 major U.S. airports, provides a similar CLEARlane experience in the stadium. Subscribers essentially sail through a “fast access” line by scanning their thumbprints and avoiding lengthy security lines at the park.15

MENU MAYHEMFrom the restaurants to the stands, food is considered a critical—and talked about—piece of the fan experience. In recent years, stadiums have become a hotbed for outlandish foodservice innovation, with the menu-planning process kicking off many months before the first pitch. New menu ideas are evaluated on more than just taste, often being screened against fit with all other available menu items, price points, and—most importantly—fan feedback.16 In a competitive bid against Citi Field’s reputation as one of the best ballparks for food, Yankee fans will have a wealth of upgraded food selections to choose from in the coming season. Among the more decadent of the new offerings are the “Tape Measure,” a two-foot, $27 cheesesteak topped with a choice of white American cheese or Cheez Whiz, served on a fresh-baked hoagie roll; and the “Barnyard Wedding,” a fried chicken cutlet on top of a cheddar cheese–covered beef patty, topped with hash browns.17

Nowadays, consumers have many choices available to them when spending

money on entertainment, so Major League Baseball (MLB) stadiums must work

harder than ever to build brand loyalty. Smart executives leverage concepts of

scarcity and seasonality (e.g., the window of opportunity to attend baseball

games is fairly limited), but to keep consumers interested while at the game,

stadiums are also adding new twists to traditional experiences.13

7

RECYCLING

CREATIVE MATERIALS Recovery & Reuse

WEDDING WONDER Hospitals generate approximately 26 pounds of waste per filled bed per day, and Beacon Converters, a sterilization packaging manufacturer, has committed to reducing the quantity of health-care packaging waste that ends up in landfills. To draw attention to its mission, the company created a wedding dress made of discarded Tyvek, a high-density olefin sheet

product; the goal was to encourage others to see waste as a resource rather than garbage and as an alternative to recycling. Company executives partnered with Nancy Judd, a sustainable fashion artist, to commission the dress as part of Judd’s sustainable Recycle Runway Collection. To further momentum, Beacon invited health-care professionals and manufacturers of medical devices to make flowers for the bride’s bouquet and train out of recovered materials. Two- to four-inch flowers were also made out of discarded Tyvek, showing the unprinted side of the recovered materials. Beacon then created a YouTube video describing how to recreate the flowers.18

MUNICIPAL MINDSETThe city of Austin, Texas, made a zero-waste commitment in 2008 when residents threw

away an estimated $11 million USD worth of usable goods. City officials later completed a study of residential trash, finding 3,300 tons of textiles and 344 tons of electronics that could be reused and reiterating that more needed to be done to change consumer mind-sets. As part of the city’s concentrated efforts to encourage alternatives beyond recycling, Austin recently launched several major initiatives: opening the Austin Creative Reuse Center, kicking off Austin’s Fixit Clinic series, launching a new Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and upgrading the city’s Recycle & Reuse Drop-Off Center. The initiatives generated positive ripple effects within the community for sustainable businesses, with the Creative Reuse Center now receiving donations of art supplies, fabric, office supplies, and leftover materials from local conventions, in addition to other local business and consumer donations.19

Zero-waste advocates point out that recovery and reuse have a tendency to

be overlooked as people focus more heavily on recycling, even though reuse is

the most resource-friendly option. Companies and local governments are now

finding creative ways to reuse materials while encouraging further participation.

7

8

HA

VI G

lob

al S

olu

tio

ns:

Mark

etI

nsi

gh

ts

www.havigs.com

Credits1FAO.org. (n.d.) SAVE FOOD: Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org 2Corbin, T. (2016, March 14). Uflex’s Flexfresh Offers Shelf Life Extension, Packaging News. Retrieved from http://www.packagingnews.co.uk 3Corbin, T. (2016, February 24). Eco-Friendly Packaging Material Could Double Food Shelf-Life, Packaging News. Retrieved from http://www.packagingnews.co.uk 4Cavuto, K. (2016, January 14). 8 food trends to expect in 2016, The Inquirer. Retrieved from http://www.philly.com 5Duggan, T. (2016, March 9). Cool Beans: U.N. Declares 2016 the Year of the Pulse, San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.sfchronicle.com 6Gottfried, S. (2016, January 19). North Jersey Chefs Predict the Big Food Trends of 2016, The Record. Retrieved from http://www.northjersey.com 7Morgan, L. (2016, April 8). Businesses Harness Emotional Analytics for Gains, InformationWeek. Retrieved from http://www.informationweek.com 8Venture Beat. (2016, February 9). Starwood Hotels’ Luxury at Scale Requires Emotional Analytics, Venture Beat. Retrieved from http://venturebeat.com 9Morgan, L. (2016, April 8). Businesses Harness Emotional Analytics for Gains, Information Week. Retrieved from http://www.informationweek.com 10Levine, B. (2016, January 12). Marketers, Welcome to the World of Emotional Analytics, Marketing Land. Retrieved from http://marketingland.com 11Feel. (n.d.). Hack Happiness, Feel. Retrieved from http://www.myfeel.co

12Moodmetric. (n.d.). Smallest Mood Tracking Technology, Moodmetric. Retrieved from http://www.moodmetric.com 13Deal, D. (2015, September 21). How Major League Baseball and NFL Stadiums Win with Local Marketing, SIM Partners. Retrieved from http://www.simpartners.com 14Airbnb.com. (2015, August 12). Airbnb and Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer Curt Schilling to Host First-Ever Sleepover at Fenway Park (Press Release), Airbnb. Retrieved from https://www.airbnb.com 15Deal, D. (2015, September 21). How Major League Baseball and NFL Stadiums Win with Local Marketing, SIM Partners. Retrieved from http://www.simpartners.com 16Hendricks, M. (2016, April 6). How a Major League Baseball Stadium Decides What Crazy Food Fans Will Eat, USA Today. http://ftw.usatoday.com 17Perez, C. (2016, March 31). Yankee Stadium’s New Food Menu Is Literally Insane, New York Post. Retrieved from http://nypost.com 18Allen, D. (2016, March 23). Say ‘I Do’ to Material Recovery, Packaging Digest. Retrieved from http://www.packagingdigest.com19Ross, R. (2016, February 12). Making Reuse Mainstream, The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.austinchronicle.com

Mohawk Everyday Digital uncoated items are manufactured with windpower by offsetting emissions from purchased electricity with Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from Green-e certified windpower projects.

Copyright © 2016 HAVI Global Solutions. All rights reserved. All content, products, and images not owned by HAVI Global Solutions are trademarks and copyrighted properties of their respective owners.