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Written by: Jiang Shan, Lin Yanli
Edited by: Wilbur Zhu (WeChat ID: aotokuer), Anna HU
Beyond the Contest and More about the Contest
After the fierce competition over the past 4 months, the Fresh Air Beverage Innovation Contest Final by Food and Beverage Innovation Forum 2017 (FBIF2017) went out with a bang on April 20th in the Hilton Shanghai Hongqiao Hotel. "Carbohydrate Blocker COCOA Milk", a drink developed by university students from Jiangnan University, won the first prize over all competitive candidates.
Moderators, Judges and Winners of Fresh Air Beverage Innovation Contest 2017
Fresh Air Beverage Innovation Contest 2017, jointly held by FBIF2017 committee and Halmana, is a beverage formula design competition welcoming university students to take part in. In this competition, the committee received 280 beverage designs from nearly 50 Chinese food universities. 18 finalists were determined after the first round by judges in terms of product innovation and sense, etc. The final round was held in the beverage tasting part of Beverage Tasting. The consumer demands are getting increasingly diversified and personalized, thus simplified products can no longer meet the demands of consumers, the new generation in particular. Consumers are unaware of their needs, let alone the brand—this precisely describes the status of Chinese consumers. Fresh Air Beverage Innovation Contest targets this status. Young to Young, let the new generation designs their own beverage.
To judge for the final round of this contest, 8 senior executives were invited from Unit-President, Nongfu Spring, Weichuan, Tetra, Firmenich, Want Want, Wanglaoji and Ipsos. In the contest, 18 candidates presented their group works to judges in terms of product concept, target, formula, packing, etc. Judges talked to students and gave beneficial comments to them.
Yin Xiaomei, Senior Director of Global Innovation Commercialization, Firmenich Aromatics (China) Co., Ltd., raised a question.
Candidates of this contest were the post-90 students from universities. They endowed the beverage development with new life with their innovated mind and audacious attempt. Everyone had a heated discussion about beverage products and brought up with lots of new ideas, creating splendid moments. It is believed that, in the near future, beverage products designed by the post-90 will appear in our life. I can’t wait to see it!
Designed for Love, "Carbohydrate Blocker COCOA Milk" is a Brand-new R&D Experience
New, fresh and love are the theme of this Fresh Air Beverage Innovation Contest. “Carbohydrate Blocker COCOA Milk” developed by the students from Jiangnan University is a kind of beverage designed out of love. One of the team members originally aimed to design a substitute drink for his family diagnosed with three-hypers. In order to maintain the steadiness of the main ingredient, Starch Blocker, the original team designed the bottle cap separating powder and liquid. This design perfectly combines the product innovation and packing design, and it completely outbreaks the scale of beverage formula design. It is an exploratory attempt in the R&D field as well as a design based on customers’ demands.
3. Integrate stories into beverage design products
To integrate R&D design into marketing was the direction the sponsor taught university students to use in beverage research and development. “Venus-Jiang Yining” is one of these products endowed with stories. In the awarding ceremony, the award moderator made a joke about the love story between Classmate Xiaoming from Unit-President and “Venus-Jiang Yining”.
“Venus-Jiang Yining”
A cartoon image was specially designed by the original team, and the formula and flavor were also designed according to characteristics of the campus belle, showing the unique flavor of the post-90 university students.
Buddies, do you feel aggressive now and confused then when studying and working? Even so, nothing can stop you from pursuing the enthusiasm of new life and the courage to try new stuff. Take a bottle of “Venus-Jiang Yining”, freshen up and keep moving. Love yourself and love the youth.
“N+M Staying Up Partner”
To emphasize the consumers’ drinking occasions in research and development was the focus that the sponsor taught the students. “N+M Staying Up Partner” is kind of energy-refilling beverage designed for people who always stay up late. Deadline is the first productivity. If it is inevitable to stay up late, how to refill the energy and relieve the pain when the body is consuming?
That’s why “N+M Staying Up Partner” was born. N (Night) bottle cold black tea with plum mulberry should be drunk before staying up in order to freshen up, resist fatigue and raise working efficiency. M (Midnight) bottle wheat germ milk instant hot drink should be drunk when you feel hungry after work, to refill easily-absorbed nutrition and help you sleep. N bottle is clear and transparent while M bottle is with rich milk flavor. This perfect combination won the affection and praise from judges. It feels better to stay up late with this drink.
Acceptance Speech
“We’ll definitely come again next year no matter what.”
A team member of “Carbohydrate Blocker COCOA Milk” answered excitedly in the interview, “As a junior student, I’m so delighted to get the first prize today. Thank you all of you who gave us help all the way. In the future, we’ll be committed to the health of Chinese people. Targeting people of three-hypers, we'll create popular and healthy food based on the market. I have been tired but rich these days. In the show, we not only understand the latest developing trend of R&D, packing and marketing in the food industry, but also have a nice talk with several senior executives. I learned a lot. We’ll definitely come again next year no matter what.”
Behind the Contest
Reporter: What do you value most in this Fresh Air Beverage Innovation Contest? Most of today’s candidates are the new generation in grade one and two. Do you have any suggestions for them?
Henry Yu, Marketing Service Director, Tetra Pak China: As a food contest, people would love to buy functional food. But I value the drinking occasion more. After all, what you drink is closely related to the occasion. Find a breakthrough point in one specific occasion, and combine your concept with the occasion. As for my suggestions, students should find a balance between the top product and popular product. In the coming activities, I suggest to leave some time for enterprise supervisors to teach students so as to help candidates find an accurate position to better develop the product.
Reporter: Which one of the entries impressed you most and why?
Xue Lian, R&D Director of Nongfu Spring: Personally, I prefer “Venus-Jiang Yining”, for it represents the post-90 in my heart in terms of choice of concept, flavor formula and the presentation that we heard just now.
Yin Xiaomei, Senior Director of Global Innovation Commercialization, Firmenich Aromatics (China) Co., Ltd.: The first prize “Carbohydrate Blocker COCOA Milk” impressed me the most. I see innovation factors both in the formula and the packing. Most importantly, they don’t just have new ideas but new technology. It’s hard to copy if their products are commercialized. Also, I prefer “Persephone”. It is featured as poetic and pictorial splendor and has a good flavor.
Reporter: I believe these young people have impressed everyone present here with their innovation. What do you think of their innovation? And do you have any suggestions for them to better develop in the food industry in the future?
Andy Gu, Senior PR Manager of Management Department, Weichuan: I hope to see their innovation which is not replaceable. Innovation and feasibility are not contradictory. We can make innovation feasible by means of technology and science. Always maintain observant, creative and exploratory.
Cao Yongmei, Managing Director of the Manufacturing Department, Want Want China: I totally encourage students to participate in innovation contests. They did an excellent job. It's a chance for them to practice. Our company can also get to know hotspots of the society from university students. I realize that university students start to be aware of product safety, quality guarantee period and sterilization methods. Food enterprises also value product safety most. Hopefully, in these contests, those students can take safety issues into more consideration. If they design with heart, the value and the influence of innovation contest will be maximized.
Moderators and Judges
Moderators:
Sophia Nadur, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ideas 2 Launch Ltd
Bin Zhang, Founder, Halmana Beverage Inno-Lab
Juries:
Zhang Zhigang, General Manager of Research & Development Department, CR Beverage
Henry Yu, Marketing Service Director, Tetra Pak China
Cao Yongmei, Managing Director of the Manufacturing Department, Want Want China
Yin Xiaomei, Senior Director of Global Innovation Commercialization, Firmenich Aromatics (China) Co., Ltd.
Xue Lian, R&D Director, Nongfu Spring
Huang Xiaodan，R&D Director, Guangzhou Wanglaoji Pharmaceutical Company Limited
Alice Zhou, President of Ipsos China, Ipsos
Yu Hongbo, Head of Food & Beverage Research Institute & Convener of Innovative Commission, Uni-President Enterprises (China) Investment CO., LTD
Andy Gu, Senior PR Manager of Management Department, Weichuan
Awarding List
First prize: "Carbohydrate Blocker COCOA Milk"
Second prize: "Venus-Jiang Yining”, "Persephone"
Third prize: "Beauty & Joy", "bamboo shoots @fresh", “N+M Staying Up Partner”
Pictures of Awarded Teams
Congratulations to all awarded teams. Let's expect more updated concepts and products from these young university students. Let's show the world, the innovation spirit of the new generation in the food industry.