Mintel in the Media – this week's highlights

Milan, London, New York, Paris … but what about Lagos, Sao Paolo, India or Mexico? No, we are not planning our next holidays here at Mintel, we are actually discussing the future of fashion weeks which are now going global with new vibrant locations competing with the more traditional ones. Alexandra Smith, Mintel’s director of consumer trends said in an exclusive interview for The Guardian: “Fashion has traditionally been a closed space, but now we’re seeing bloggers having more of a role and they are invited to shows. It indicates there is a general interest in bringing freshness and diversity – not only in voices, but in the designers and locations.”

We also made a splash this week in several foodservice trade publications, as Monday’s press release about the climate of the US restaurant industry in 2012 featuring our director of foodservice research, Eric Giandelone, got great coverage. It was picked up by Food Technology, Restaurant Management, QSR Magazine, Fast Casual and Nation’s Restaurant News. Giandelone was also quoted in another Nation’s Restaurant News story about McDonald’s new baked good offerings. A third Nation’s Restaurant News article used some of our Mintel Menu Insights data to point out the most popular ethnic cuisines at restaurants in Q3 2011. More on food, Yahoo! Philippines and the Hindustan Times (India) quoted our story on food authenticity in a piece on the world’s best street food.

Meanwhile, Mintel’s research was quoted in a number of other high profile publications. To start with, The Times used our data on shapewear, showing how 1.7 million British women bought or received an item of shapewear in the past year. Then, the Daily Mail quoted our research in an article on Turkey, surely on the wish list of many holiday-makers. Following that, our travel analyst Tom Rees was quoted in the March Issue of ABTA Magazine on British couples deciding to tie the knot abroad – a sector which has seen a growth of 27% in the past five years. And our Gabriel Federici, Mintel Sales Director Europe, was interviewed by the London’s business newspaper City AM on the German upmarket car sector: “When people think of Germany they think of efficiency and reliability. Excellence combined with luxury always sells – and even more in times of recession. It’s the same with the beauty market.” Gabriel said. Also, our global drinks analyst Jonny Forsyth was quoted by Reuters and the Economic Times (India) on Starbucks’ plans to rival Nespresso in the coffee pod market. Then, our global food analyst Marcia Mogelonsky was asked by Bakery and Snacks to comment on speculations over the sale of United Biscuits. Marcia said that the sale, if confirmed, would present opportunities for companies willing to expand in Africa – where UB is present in South Africa, Nigeria and Middle East.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, since our insight into the black haircare market was utilized for two stories this week in very prestigious publications: CNN and The Washington Post. Our data found that in 2011, 36% of black women were no longer using chemical relaxers to straighten their hair, compared to 26% reporting the same in 2010.

Meanwhile, in other beauty news, Beauty Packaging used our insight and quotes for three separate articles this week. The first covered the addition of Benjamin Punchard as our senior global packaging analyst, the second discussed our Kinetique beauty trend and the third included data from out most recent report on the color cosmetics industry. Moreover, the March issue of Beauty Magazine published an extensive feature on our latest European male grooming research, which shows how the male skin-care market is booming, up 45% from €289 million in 2005 to €420 million in 2010. More on male personal care, the Indian Business Review quoted our data on sun cream usage in a piece titled “Top 10 worst male health habits”. ”

Other big stories included a piece in the New York Times about an increase in parents wanting environmentally-friendly cleaning products to keep toxins away from their children. It stated that Mintel maintains that “concerns about chemicals have made natural baby goods some of the hottest green-product categories.” And, the Daily Star referenced our research in a quirky piece titled “Battle of the sexes: wheels come off claims about him ‘n her”.

Also of note, our senior beverage analyst Garima Goel Lal was interviewed for a Chicago Tribune story about the wine preferences of millennials while yet another local favorite, The Chicago RedEye included some of our insights into male shopping habits. According to our research men are spending more money on clothing than they were a year ago. Garima’s comments were also used in a Beverage Industry profile of the current state of the beer market.

Additionally, The Sacramento Bee and FoodNavigatorUSA used data from our Mintel Global New Products database to illustrate the popularity of products launched with whole grains and The Palm Beach Post quoted stats from our Mobile Gaming report for a story about a new mobile game app while The Dallas Morning News referenced our potato chips sales figures.

Other coverage included stories in Drug Store News (nut consumption), Food Business News (private label cookies), Food Processing (stevia in beverages), Convenience Store Decisions (deli trends) and The Orange County Register (gluten-free menu items).