Mintel in the Media – this week's highlights

While health concerns are high on the consumer agenda globally, it seems Indian manufacturers in particular have been quick to respond to this growing demand, with new research from Mintel positioning the country as one of the world’s leaders in ‘no additives or preservatives’ claim, according to Mintel’s latest data on product innovation in the region. Our research gained extensive coverage in a number of key publications in India, including the Times of India which quoted our Innovation Consultant for the Indian market, Deepa Dsousa, who said: “The primary driver for the increase in these claims in India is the consumer perception of added additives or preservatives in food being considered unsafe and concerns about food safety and long term toxicity of these chemicals on their future health.” The research was also featured in Food and Bev News, Business Standard and The Hindu (Business Line). Still in India, but this time with coverage from our luxury goods press release, Mintel was quoted in Retail Asia about how Asia Pacific is poised to become the largest luxury goods market and our coffee shop research was featured in The Hindu. In addition, we also had a great piece in the Hindustan Times featuring on their strategy page.

Next, our Head of Financial Research Deborah Osguthorpe fed into the FT’s Lex colum entitled “RBS – Left at the Altar“. Our intelligence revealing that coffee shop sales in China have grown at an average annual rate of nearly 30 per cent, was featured in an article about Costa’s plan’s for expansion in China. Lastly, our Director of Retail Richard Perks was featured in a video from the Financial Times examining bargain basement luxury.

And, as Britain celebrated the sweetest time of the year with national chocolate week, the international media was dominated by Mintel’s chocolate data and analysis from our Director of Insight, Mintel Food and Drink, Marcia Mogelonsky, AKA Mintel’s chocolate expert. Starting with the BBC which included Mintel’s chocolate consumption data in the UK, where 81% of consumers eat chocolate every week. Meanwhile, Reuters painted a less rosy picture of the market across Europe in – Stressed snackers shun chocolate as Europe’s crisis bites.  “For the first part of the recession we thought chocolate would be recession proof, and then we said recession resistant, and now I think people are just getting ground down,” said Marcia. The story continued to run in Reuters which highlighted that while the global chocolate market value will be little changed on the year at $84.5 billion in 2012, Western Europe’s chocolate market value is set to fall by around 5 percent, according to our latest data. Reuters used Mintel’s data once again in a piece titled: Europe’s cocoa grind to dip as chocolate market shrinks. Moreover, the Daily Mail ran with the same story, which was also featured in Sina in China, Ynet  in Israel and in Bljesak.info in Bosnia and Herzegovina and B92 – Internet, Radio i TV Stanica in Serbia.

On a fitter note, Bloomberg  highlighted our bicycles research in an article titled “Middle-Aged Men in Lycra Becoming Target for Bike Makers”. “It’s not just having a flashy bike, it’s having all the gear,” said Michael Oliver, Mintel’s Leisure and Media Analyst. And onto younger consumers, The Daily Telegraph featured our latest charities report in the UK which highlights the rise in giving among 16 to 24 year-olds. According to our findings, the percentage of people aged between 16 and 24 who donated money to charity has risen from just over a quarter in 2010 to almost four in ten this year. Ina Mitskavets, Mintel’s Consumer and Lifestyles Analyst and author of the report, said that “the ease and convenience of donating money on social networking sites is behind the rise in generosity among young people”.

Onto the smallest room in the house, our latest toilet cleaning and care report in the UK was highlighted in Houseware Live – which talked about how British consumers’ dislike of cleaning the toilet means there are opportunities for improved products within the toilet-care market. The same story was featured in DIY Week. Meanwhile, the Huffington Post  highlighted Mintel’s underwear sales which shows a 2.3 percent drop in sales of all men’s underwear products in 2009.

Also this week, Mintel was referenced by the Spanish female magazine Hoymujer on gluten free food, by the German Berner Zeitung on healthy eating and finally by L’Observatoire Cosmetiques in France on the male fragrance market in China.

Over in the US, Mintel kicked the week off with some great coverage that referenced our energy drinks sales projections in USA Today, MediaPost Marketing Daily and MSN Money for a story that discussed three new Red Bull flavors, while the Huffington Post mentioned our underwear sales figures to suggest an improved economy, as it’s widely held that underwear sales increase during a healthy economic climate.

Next up, Mintel Foodservice Analyst Kathy Hayden was quoted extensively in a Time Magazine piece where she discussed the increasing popularity of chicken at fast food restaurants. She pointed to new chicken sandwich offerings at McDonald’s and new sauce flavors at Popeye’s as evidence that chicken is becoming a hot item on menus across the globe. Meanwhile, in our second USA Today feature of the week, our quick service restaurant sales figures were used for a story about the Hilton Hotel chain’s foray into casual dining and the Financialist highlighted our insight into consumer attitudes toward sustainability initiatives at restaurants.

Also of note, Advertising Age included our sales figures for the bar soap and body wash categories for a story that discussed the increasing popularity of bar soap usage, and the Tampa Tribune used our menu data for an article about the growing tapas trend at hotel chains. Mintel Menu Insights found that tapas menu items grew 9% between 2010 and 2011.

In addition, last week’s press release that quoted Senior Vice President at Mintel Comperemedia Andrew Davidson got the financial media talking, appearing on CNBC and Yahoo! Finance. According to Mintel Comperemedia, August mortgage mail volume was the highest it’s been since May 2008.

If you follow food trends, you know that there is a lot of focus on quinoa right now in the US and Mintel’s gluten free data figured into a Prevention Magazine story that asked the question “which one is healthier: brown rice or quinoa?” In beauty news, GCI Magazine and Beauty Packaging both covered our men’s fragrance in China press release that found the men’s fragrance market enjoyed 20% growth from 2008-2011.

Closing out the week, Gourmet Retailer and Progressive Grocer quoted our consumer food data, Perishables Buyer used our frozen pizza figures and two Drug Store News articles mentioned our info on tea sales and handheld frozen foods. Mintel insight was also featured in Nutritional Outlook, Convenience Store News, Food Processing, Packaging Digest and Beverage Industry.