Mintel in the Media – this week's highlights

There was a lot of excitement last week here in the Mintel office in the UK: while a summer to remember for Britain drew to a close, Mintel revealed an exciting new partnership with innovative social networking site GetLunched to offer individuals and businesses the opportunity to lunch with Mintel’s expert analysts and get more out of their lunch break than simply refuelling. The initiative raised great interest in the trade press, and has already appeared in: Confectionery News, FoodBev, Food and Drink Europe and Food and Drink Towers. For your chance to enter, click here to visit the dedicated page. If successful, you could be lunching with some of the best in the business very soon!

In addition, the Huffington Post cited our latest US E-cigarette data. In Mintel’s US electronic cigarette report, it predicted cigarette manufacturers would also start producing them as a way of providing customers with a ‘healthier’ way to get their nicotine fix. Again the Huffington Post quoted our Head of Leisure, Technology and Media, Matt King, on a new app launched by fashion magazine Tank: “By introducing an added-value digital element to print, this caters for people who want to be connected at all times but also enjoy the touch and feel of a traditional magazine, and perhaps also enjoy the opportunity a magazine gives them to ‘switch off’ from technology from time to time.” Said Matt. Meanwhile, Richard Perks was quoted in Huffington Post commenting on middle class shops posting positive results. Richard Perks, Director of Retail Research at Mintel argued the number of luxury consumers trading down to middle-class brands to save some pennies was not significant enough to affect sales. “Largely (the success) comes down to the merchandise,” he said. “Debenhams for example has got its segmentation of its products right – whereas Marks and Spencer has got it badly wrong. Richard was also asked to comment on The Kingfisher Group on BBC Radio 5 and how wet weather cost it £30 million in the six months to the end of July because people stayed in. Richard Perks said we had good weather in March which was too early.

Onto food, this time the Daily Mail quoted our latest European ready meal data. In the UK, we eat more processed ready meals than any other European country, with 30 per cent of adults eating at least one ready meal a week compared with 16 per cent in France, according to market research firm Mintel. Our Ice Cream news story continues to get coverage, this week in another article in the Daily Mail which showcased Mintel’s latest ice cream research. Retail experts Mintel suggest total annual ice cream consumption will fall from 374 million litres to 324 million in the decade from 2007, meaning we will eat at least 500 million fewer scoops a year.

On a healthier note, The Guardian quoted Senior Leisure Media Analyst Michael Oliver in The humble Mamil: why we need ‘middle-aged men in Lycra.’ The term “Mamil” was actually coined in 2010 by – who else? – a Mintel marketing wonk, named Michael Oliver. His report found that this new market segment comprised ABs in their 30s and 40s, with a decent income, who read broadsheet newspapers (well, they did then; now they have the app) and who shop at Waitrose. And with that purchasing power, these latter-day yuppies-turned-bikies splash out on bespoke bicycles often worth several thousand pounds. Our bikes research was also quoted in the Scotsman. Still with leisure, the Independent quoted Mintel in “Welcome to the strange world of the London club promoter.” According to Mintel, the last recession of the early 1990s resulted in an averaged 14% loss of revenue for the clubbing industry.

Our fashion retail also featured in the media this week, Retail Times quoted Mintel’s Tamara Sender in “Fashion shopping site, ShopStyle, offers 10 tips to online business startups”. The article featured tips devised during a recent mentoring session given to finalists of the Fringe Fashion awards for emerging fashion talent. Speakers included Tamara Sender, Senior Fashion Analyst at Mintel. In addition, our own label research was quoted in both BrandRepublic and Marketing in brands ditch price promotions as defence against own-label lines.

The end of a successful week at the Beyond Beauty event in Paris brought some great coverage for our latest beauty press release on the UK Colour Cosmetics report. The release got some high profile trade coverage including professionalbeauty.co.uk which quoted Mintel’s Head of Beauty and Personal Care Insight Vivienne Rudd: “The market turned in a dynamic performance in comparison to other beauty categories like haircare and body care. Confidence is becoming something of a luxury in the current economic climate yet, eight out of ten British women feel more confident when wearing make-up. Sales in the market have continued to grow and will continue to do so for as long as the market delivers the feel-good factor even if the economy cannot.” The release was featured in bizcommunity.com and cosmeticsbusiness.com and gcimagazine.com and cosmeticsdesign-europe.com.

Meanwhile, in the United Emirates, NewzGlobe looked at Mintel’s emigration research in an article titled “Best places to live in the World.” According to a recent Mintel Research report, one in three is now contemplating emigration. In South Africa, Food Stuff featured our latest low/no/reduced sodium claims release, the same story was featured in Club Darwin in Spain.

And over in Chicago the week began with three New York Times stories in one week. The first quoted Director of Insight, Mintel Food & Drink, Marcia Mogelonsky in a piece about consumers battling confusion when it comes to healthy eating. According to Marcia “most people have randomly arranged a set of diet principles. They eat organics sometimes, they buy based on price sometimes. Very few people are completely committed to any one cause.” The second story referenced our sales and consumption data for the mustard market while the third included our insight into the single-serve frozen meal industry.

Marcia was clearly in high demand this week, as she was also interviewed for a Mashable.com article where she gave her opinion of the newly-launched candy corn Oreo cookies and foodservice analyst Kathy Hayden was sought out by Reuters and asked to comment on the new alcoholic milkshakes trend that’s taking shape in the restaurant industry. The story was also picked up by Fox News. Another Mintel expert, Director of Innovation & Insight Lynn Dornblaser, was quoted by Baking Business about the lack of innovation in the bread industry.

Meanwhile, our yogurt sales figures were included in a Bloomberg Businessweek story, as well as a piece in Food Technology Magazine that discussed dairy innovation. Next up, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette used our frozen meals sales data for a profile of the strategy from H.J. Heinz for competing in the faltering frozen food field.

Also of note, The Indianapolis Star highlighted our makeup brand loyalty stats to teach readers about which makeup brands give you the most bang for your buck and Beauty Packaging referenced our fragrance intelligence for an article about new scent trends.  Additionally, the Asbury Park Press utilized our outlook of the frozen dessert industry for a piece about Mr. Green Tea ice cream expanding to the consumer market while Prevention Magazine sought out our expertise on the milk industry to explore the merits of almond milk vs. soy.

And in Comperemedia coverage, Fox Business included our direct mail figures for a news item that discussed the decline in consumer card balances and Deliver Magazine covered our press release about the SPIA industry.