Friday Five: CPG

Each week we bring you five interesting stories from the industries we work with closely. Today, five stories we’re reading about trends in CPG.

IOT meets Beer

Once upon a time, you could only interact with your beer in one way: by popping the top and drinking it. Beverage maker Heineken has raised the game on that time-honored task by making a foray into the “internet of things” or IoT. The Heineken “Ignite” bottle lights up when you clink it with another, and it can also light up to the beat of music in the club. Check out a video below:

Nation’s largest retailer with new packaging mandate

Walmart Inc. hopes to achieve 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable private-label packaging by 2025. Walmart will also work with suppliers to reduce their environmental impact through this initiative. It’s just one sign of how the CPG industry is aligning with a new emphasis on sustainability.

Biodiversity

CPG leaders are considering a lot more than packaging. At Natural Products Expo West 2019 last week, leaders from companies like General Mills and Applegate how they could use their collective influence to promote a key theme in the food industry: biodiversity. Recognizing the sustainability of the food supply is vital for the long-term health of their companies, CPG leaders have an eye on new products such as moringa, a “superfood” that can be sustainably grown in harsh, hot climates.

WeWork launches an incubator for food startups

WeWork has been expanding rapidly, providing office space and tasty snacks to mobile workers, but WeWork Food Labs its it first food-industry focused effort. This innovation lab will contribute $1 million in equity investments to a group of startups. WeWork hopes to use this project to foster innovative in some of the industry’s biggest challenges in terms of supply chain, sustainability and packaging.

Pop Ups with Staying Power

We’ve written elsewhere about the power of play in retail environments. We expect to see many more retail brands experimenting in the Instagram-worthy pop up space. Two noteworthy examples on radar: Nespresso’s continual innovation on this front with pop up shops that invite the target consumer to explore and this unique take on the artisanal coffee bar featuring a new packaged product from Organic Valley: