I have been to Vietnam many times on work assignments. However I’ve only been to Ho Chi Minh, in the south, the city which straddles the Saigon river. Two weeks ago I visited again for a client workshop and in between sandwiched some other engagements. One was with an ex-Nestlé colleague who now works for …
Last week I spent 3 days in Seoul. Although I have been to Korea many times, this was my first visit since the COVID pandemic eased. Seoul was very busy and even though it was November, and hardly peak season, bustling with visitors. I have done quite a few projects in Korea over the years. …
I’ll start with a confession, I don’t like durian. In marketing terms I am a rejector, neither am I a considerer (someone who may buy but doesn’t currently) and of course I am not a user. I have my former colleagues in Malaysia to blame. I will not name and shame here as many of …
Last week Perfetti van Melle completed its acquisition of Mondelez’s US, Canadian and European gum businesses. Perfetti paid US$1.35b and acquired a plethora of brands including Trident, Dentyne, Stimorol and Bubbalicious. Perfetti has annual revenues just shy of €3b, so this acquisition is very substantial. Managing the integration from an operational and commercial perspective will …
I’ll start with a confession. I spent a lot of my childhood in Brittany with a delightful French family. It did wonders for my French plus fast tracked an ever lasting interest and respect for French cuisine. Earlier this month I was back in Brittany to two cities I never visited before, Nantes on the …
Anuga is a bi-annual event held in Köln, Germany. For many in the food and beverage industry it’s the most important trade event to showcase new products, innovations and crucially find new customers. I travelled all the way from Japan for the October 2023 show. What did I find? First, even though the show is …
Anuga is the food industry’s Olympic showdown. How was 2023’s gourmet event? Read More »
How can LLM (large language models) improve marketing productivity?
J.M. Smucker otherwise known as ‘Smuckers’ is an American food juggernaut with revenue of $8.5b. However, the business has a weak international footprint, 96% of revenue is in the US (5% of sales are in Canada and only 1% elsewhere). Smuckers last week agreed to buy Hostess brands, famous for Twinkies, for a total value …
Mention ‘curry’ to a consumer and there’s a fair chance they’ll think of India. This summer I stayed in an AirBnB in London, the host hailed from India originally and the kitchen had the largest display of spices I’d ever seen – over 40 varieties! I was not surprised that India is the largest spice …
Costco has succeeded in Japan where others have failed. Last week it opened its 32nd store. Join me ot see what I found!