The Best of British: The Food & Drink Expo and the Natural Food Show

Over the past two weeks, I have had the opportunity to savour what the food and drink industry has to offer us in 2012. I attended the Food & Drink Expo at Birmingham’s NEC, the largest trade fair for the industry, and the Natural Food Show, held at Kensington, Olympia. The two shows were very different in their atmosphere and size of shows, yet both events had some strong themes running through them.

The concept of ‘Britishness’ and the importance of using British produce was very much all around me. With such a high demand from consumers for all things British, there was a lot to see at these events which showcased such quality foods. From smooth and rich varieties of cheese to the best in home grown fruit made into jams or juices, to freshly made quality ready meals. There was also a high level of gluten-free products which suppliers are hoping will reach many mainstream supermarkets or independent food stores this year. These products are also working around the biggest events to happen in the UK this year as some brands are co-ordinating their product launches with the Jubilee and the biggest sporting event of the year.

As ‘34% of shoppers says that quality is extremely important when choosing where to shop for food and groceries – the highest level for more than a year’, it is clear that consumers do want to know where their purchases come from, what is in it and how organic and eco-friendly are the products they are buying. We may be in a time of recession, but consumers still want to eat well, care about provenance and take a lot of pride in our produce. Brands are trying hard to tick all the boxes to meet the needs and requests of consumers and their values, and are quite effective in their exercise. Similar to Levi Roots’ Reggae Reggae sauce (a guest speaker at the F&D Expo), the foods I encountered had a great story, a lot of drive and with the right backing they will be very successful in time to come.

The Social Radio Experience

After the rise of the social TV, it was only a matter of time before a ‘Social Radio’ came onto the scene, and it has presented itself in the form of an App!

‘The Social Radio for Twitter’ app reads out your Twitter feeds for you, turning your Twitter account into a ‘radio station’. It gives users the opportunity of choosing content they want to listen to (Twitter users, lists, hashtags, trending topics) and play songs or albums found on phones or tablets. This application, although still in the Beta stage, was released at the end of February 2012. It has received extremely positive reviews and was also been selected to compete in the top 20 best mobile apps for the Appcircus/Mobile Premier Awards. The app allows you to multi-task at work or be on the move whilst keeping on top of tweets that you are following. This application is also a good platform for those with limited accessibility. I decided to try out this app, and I must admit it was a quite unique experience.

I can definitely see the appeal of this app as I am able to listen to what is being tweeted by the people I follow, whilst carrying on with my daily tasks or making that cup of tea. It is very accessible and easy to use, takes little time to download, and has minimal delay in comparison to the feed on the online pages. However, as it is still being tweaked, there are a few issues which need some work, and will no doubt be corrected in the future.

For example, we do not tweet as we speak; therefore certain words that are abbreviated will be mispronounced due to the robotic text-to-speech voice, i.e. how it pronounces links, or words such as ‘UK’ or ‘USA’. Unfortunately, this makes the human tonality of live tweeters very cryptic, which I think would be problematic as brands and individuals use Twitter as a quick way to get their personality across in their short messages.

Despite its flaws, it is an interesting experience, particularly for those who need to keep track and be updated on their real-time feeds. It’s a big step in content-based communication and is only the beginning of what is to come and how we might experience the future use of social media platforms.

Toy Fair 2012: The Rapid Growth of the Slow Toy Movement

As I waited impatiently to be let into the biggest trade fair for the Toy industry in the UK, I could barely contain my excitement. Greeted by grand characters such as Raa Raa, Sonic the Hedgehog and Bananas in Pyjamas, I could feel the magic of Toy Fair all around me. With a ‘no kids allowed’ policy, adults were given full reign to release their inner child, playing with the new toys for 2012, with the intention of doing business of course. This annual trade fair, hosted by the British Toy & Hobby Association, is a great opportunity for traders within the Toy Industry to push their new collections for 2012, to network, start conversations, gain distribution and boost sales.

There are many new trends to see at Toy Fair. The one that jumped out to me was the ‘Slow Toy Movement’, created by Catherine Taniere and Thierry Bourret. This concept aims to promote ethically sourced toys that leaves much to a child’s imagination. It was great to see classic toys and the more traditional games making a come-back and reinventing themselves and new companies upholding the values of this concept. Toys such as the classic Brio collection of magnetic trains on wooden tracks and Le Toy Van’s new imaginative play-sets and collectables are perfect examples of this movement.

Taking things back to basics raises the importance of children developing at their own pace, learning through traditional play, and pushing children to use their imagination. The toys that we used to play with as children have come back with a bang! As these toys have clear benefits for child development, for adults, these toys bring feelings of nostalgia, fun memories and the sense of innocence we had as a child. Technology does have a role to play, particularly for older children (and Kidults too, of course!), but it is nice to see a balance of offerings for younger children and the optimism within the traditional toy sectors of the market this year.

One to Watch for 2012: The Social TV Convergence

There was a time, a long long time ago before the internet, The X Factor and Pringles existed, when the phase ‘water-cooler moment’ was coined. This was a moment of community and shared experience, where the tele-visual event of last night was watched by the majority so they could be involved in the conversation. Then, as time passed, the number of channels grew and digital recorders such as Sky Plus and online catch-up sites like 4oD and iPlayer evolved, and the relevance of the event diminished to a point where advertisers withdrew and ratings dropped.

Now, however, an online revolution is changing all that, it’s no longer the water cooler but the social media moment, and it happens live, as the programme is broadcast. Suddenly a two screen revolution is under-way as internet access and multi-platform applications such as Twitter and Facebook are used in unison with the television to analyse, discuss and ridicule the exploits of soap characters, reality ‘stars’ and world events. No longer does it take any great effort to access the social media platforms for the average viewer, of a certain demographic, has mobile phones, tablets and laptops at their sides while they watch TV. There are even services like Zeebox springing up that embrace this trend and give users a one stop social media stop.

This is a sign of the future where all forms of media channel (YouTube, ITVPlayer and Sky TV) are viewed within a web environment that is not confined to the window of that company. So what does this mean? Well, for the consumer it means more feedback which could lead to better programming but also more power to those who air their views. For the businesses involved, the broadcasters lose control over image but have more metrics by which to show value to advertisers and these advertisers will no doubt be the target of the social media platforms collecting opinions.

Leveson Inquiry: Tabloid Witch-Hunt or Hunt for Media Standards?

As the first seminar of the Leveson Inquiry into media standards and ethics began yesterday morning, it saw the start of what would be a lengthy debate into the controversial matter of the phone hacking scandal. This inquiry has brought forth many key issues: The treatment of individuals as a mere ‘story’ rather than as people in their own right; the constriction of free speech and sharing of information; or can the ‘pressures’ journalists are facing justify their illegal actions?

I agree that journalists are constantly under pressure to get a story published quickly, especially as they are up against such competitive social media platforms and a decline in circulation. However, this ‘pressure’ has seemingly led certain journalists to take shortcuts in their practice which is, in effect, damaging to the institution of journalism, especially in the public eye.

I have to admit I was hooked reading the live feed of the seminar as it happened. Although, the battle between the tabloids and broadsheets as to ‘who said what’, and the fear that Leveson was out to get the tabloids, did seem to steer away from the objective of the inquiry. They understood that what happened was illegal, but I am not sure that the defence was strong enough; especially as one line of defence was “good journalism at times breaks all these [moral] codes, and breaks the law maybe in a small way.”

Leveson concluded that the seminar had “achieved what I hoped it would achieve”, giving the viewpoints needed to help shape its direction further. I know that there was an array of perspectives, but I am not sure that the focus on the point of ethics was made clear enough. I am looking forward to the next instalment which will take place on Wednesday 12th October 2011, but I do hope the fundamental value of genuine journalism is remembered in order to ‘shape’ the future of media standards.