This week The Grocer reports on Nescafé’s 3in1 premix coffee sachets UK launch. A convenient pre-mixed blend of coffee, whitener and sugar.

We were asked to comment on the new product launch. Consultant Rosa Wilkinson describes it as “clever and insightful” and adds that “this could drive relevance for the Nescafé masterbrand. Coffee has had to make itself more relevant – today’s younger consumers are even more demanding of convenience than a couple of generations ago.”

We are proud to announce that we have made contributions to the marketing press twice last week:

Consultant Sally Moses comments in The Grocer’s article ‘Review for Pepsi Raw after sales deteriorate’ by Alex Beckett:

‘The brand had suffered from the outset with a “half-hearted approach” from PepsiCo, claimed Sally Moses, branding consultant at The Value Engineers. “You only have to look at Pepsi Raw’s Facebook page to see how it’s failing to resonate. Consumers don’t know where to buy it and don’t know what it is. The benefits of the raw cane sugar ingredient were not properly established. It’s a shame because many people enjoy the taste.”‘

Read the full article on The Grocer online. 

Alex Waters, Director of Capabilities, comments in Marketing in Kim Benjamin’s article ‘Kronenbourg looks to home’ which discusses that the brand aims to drive off-trade sales by playing on its premium credentials.

‘Alex Waters, director of brand consultancy The Value Engineers, shares this view. “The challenge is convincing the trade that Kronenbourg truly is a premium brand and that it should be priced accordingly”, he says. “This means exploring new behaviours, target consumers and products for Kronenbourg. It could target a demographic that is not well served by lagers currently, such as 35- to 45-year-olds, where it could play to its brand heritage of the Brasserie Kronenbourg and become the lager choice for those who know their beer or want to be seen to know it.”‘

Read the full article in Marketing online.

Following up from yesterday’s PR news in The Times we have further good news today: our director Alex Waters has been quoted in this weeks The Grocer commenting on the Young’s partnership deal with GO3 and David Beckham’s brand endorsement.

“Beckham’s presence would succeed in livening up the “bland” frozen category, agreed The Value Engineers director Alex Waters, although he questioned the superstar’s food credentials. “People are now beginning to understand omega-3 is brain food but this is undermined by the link to Beckham, who is more about athletic prowess,” he said. “He has huge pulling power, though, and is still a bankable endorsement for brands.”

Read the full article on The Grocer online.

Once again we’re pleased to see our brand in the news.

This week Giles Lury, Director of Branding, appears in The Grocer, in Alex Beckett’s article, ‘Chew on this: too much NPD can be a category’s undoing’.

Giles comments on some of the issues facing the chewing gum market – we’ve selected some of his quotes:  ”Chewing gum got too complicated for its own good… There was an explosion of fruit flavours a few years ago, which led to a cluttered shelf space that was hard to navigate. In some ways it was a victim of its own success.”

“Society doesn’t have a good perception of gum and it lacks positive role models… [it] has a long term-societal battle to fight.”

If you’d like to read more and have access to the magazine online, click here.

The Grocer’s lead story this week focuses on Mars becoming the first confectionery company to reduce saturated fat levels across its core chocolate bar range and therewith setting the confectionery industry agenda.

Sally Moses, consultant at The Value Engineers, comments:

“We know satfat is on the government’s agenda but it would be dangerous to market the reductions as a consumer benefit. You never hear a consumer say ‘I love a Mars bar but wish it had less saturated fat’.”

Read the full article on The Grocer online.