The Symrise portfolio consists of more than 35,000 products. Our customers – from small, regional specialists through to global enterprises – use these products to manufacture hundreds of thousands of their own products for consumers around the world. To better understand their tastes and preferences, and thus perfect our product development, all Symrise divisions have experts working to identify and analyze trends and leverage them effectively. The trendscope™ 2024+ report for the food and beverages sector is one example of this.

INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT

We have known since time immemorial that eating and drinking nourish both body and soul. Initially it was merely a matter of satisfying hunger; enjoyment and health were secondary. And today? Food has become an important part of our life, especially once basic needs have been met. Compared with centuries ago, people are far more concerned these days with what they are eating, how it affects their health and whether their eating habits are socially acceptable. The industry must constantly up its game and adapt to new trends.

For Symrise, this means continuously monitoring and analyzing consumer behavior in the Taste, Nutrition & Health segment, to provide our customers with the best solution for their products in order to satisfy consumers. This applies to small food startups and global food companies alike. Our trendscope™ report, conceived in 2007 originally for the beverages market, is intended to serve precisely this purpose. “Our customers and internal departments found the results so helpful that we have continued to develop the report and now include other food categories,” says Regine Lueghausen, Vice President Global Marketing in the Food & Beverage division at Symrise and head of the Taste, Nutrition & Health segment’s Marketing Excellence.

The trendscope™ team now draws on a large number of qualitative and quantitative approaches combined with a variety of different data sources. “For example, we analyze consumer reports about food that we find online or on social media,” says Leif Jago of a significant part of their research. He is Global Marketing Manager Food & Beverage at Symrise and since 2021 has been one of the people responsible for the report. The team also analyzes studies, market reports and other surveys in order to better understand consumer behavior and preferences. The research also looks at the new products being launched by the food and beverages industry. “Many trends emerge in the world’s urban hotspots. In twelve of those, including Shanghai, Berlin, Tokyo and New York, we have conducted interviews with food bloggers, journalists and trendspotters,” says Jago. The findings are shared and discussed with Symrise colleagues from marketing and product development at sites all over the world, who contribute their expert knowledge of local trends. “We also take this opportunity to find out which concepts are in particularly high demand among our customers at the moment, to be sure their side is also reflected,” explains Regine Lueghausen. This holistic approach goes even further: The research provides the basis for individual reports for the beverages, food, dairy products, snacks and confectionery product categories. Even the Pet Food division benefits from the report because product ranges for pets are often influenced by food trends.

“We are extremely agile and are always keeping an eye on the skill sets we need.”

Regine Lueghausen,
Vice President Global Marketing Food & Beverage

“Consumers are increasingly asking for plant-based products that are tasty and healthy, and not only as an alternative to eating meat.”

Leif Jago,
Global Marketing Manager Food & Beverage

“Together we can approach projects in a much more targeted way, are quicker, more agile and thus also more sustainable.”

Barbara Bridges,
Global Account Director

The result is a comprehensive overview of the macro trends of the coming years. To take an example from trendscope™ 2024+: “The topic of health is becoming increasingly important, particularly since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, and physical and mental well-being are a priority for many people,” says Leif Jago. According to him, consumers are gaining a better understanding of how closely the two are linked. trendscope™ features another similar trend, which it calls “mindful choices,” referring to the push to consume less sugar, salt and fat but without sacrificing taste; the term “plant-based” is generally used as a synonym for meat substitutes. “But we are noticing that the phenomenon is much broader: Consumers are increasingly asking for plant-based products that are tasty and healthy, and not only as an alternative to eating meat,” says Leif Jago. For instance: “Activist Eating” sees consumers seeking out products that can be manufactured with significantly lower carbon emissions than others. “This trend will be around for a while.” For Symrise, there is always the question of what the macro trends mean for our own portfolio, says Regine Lueghausen. “We are extremely agile and are always keeping an eye on the skill sets we need. The objective is to help our customers achieve their goals and simultaneously contribute to the sustainable success of Symrise.” 

Once trendscope™ is developed for a particular product category, it sets off a structured process. The Symrise business units that implement the findings receive in-depth webinar training, supplemented by a toolbox of materials, ranging from brief descriptions of the trends, infographics, right through to presentations and videos tailored to individual customers. “We can then build on this knowledge to develop taste solutions that we can use to reconcile consumer demands with our customers’ strategies,” says Barbara Bridges. “We can use trendscope™ to create value by making better use of our resources.” The Food & Beverage Global Account Director passes on the report’s findings to her international customers. “Together we can approach projects in a much more targeted way, are quicker, more agile and thus also more sustainable.” She also notes that her customers have been asking more frequently about what benefits these products have for the consumer. Good prices or high quality are no longer sufficient for proposed new food concepts to succeed. “This development is also due of course to consumers nowadays being very well informed and wanting the best products for their particular situation,” says Barbara Bridges.

“We translate the trends for different customers into different products.”

Katja Tiitinen,
Regional Director Sensory & Consumer Insights

Her colleague Katja Tiitinen confirms this. As Regional Director Sensory & Consumer Insights for the Food & Beverage EAME region, Katja works at the interfaces of the internal value chain. “Our strength is that we can incorporate trends at any point, and we also receive corresponding feedback, from areas spanning research, production, and marketing,” she says. Her team tests products for their technical and taste properties, among other things, and she recognized some time ago that sourcing locally is becoming increasingly important. “Many developments are taking place worldwide, more than ever since the advent of social media,” she adds. “But we are also seeing that some trends vary in different parts of the world.” The opportunities this offers for Symrise and its customers are huge. Complexity too is increasing, meaning that Katja Tiitinen also has the task of bridging the gap between the different areas. “We translate the trends for different customers into different products and adapt tastes to the respective market, for example.”

For Symrise and its customers, therefore, the research is worthwhile on several levels. Product development becomes more precise, faster and more sustainable – which in turn reduces costs – and consumers also benefit: They can enjoy foods that cater precisely to their tastes as well as nutrition and health requirements.

The future of trend research

With Symvision AI™, Symrise has developed its own tool that can predict taste trends using artificial intelligence. It uses data collected by Symrise through its trend research over 10 years to better understand markets, consumer preferences and trends. Symvision AI™ also draws on current data from market launches and insights from market experts. Bringing all this together makes it possible to predict taste trends and how they will develop across different regions of the world.