FMCG Innovations and Trends by Sophia Nadur

Wessanen 's purchase of Clipper Tea in 2012 was a good fit from the start given both companies' ethical credentials. If a recent BBC investigation into ethical practices among leading British tea brands is true (link to BBC story HERE ) , this M&A may hurt  Pukka Herbs ' clean image among millennials. However, the bigger issue in my view is the impact on growth of the $5bil European tea category in the mid-term given increasing retail market dominance by one company (Unilever also owns Liptons, PGTips, Pure Leaf, T2, Lyons among other tea brands). Link to article on Unilever's acquisition of Pukka HERE .

(c) 2012 Convergence Alimentaire blog image I cut my FMCG marketing teeth  at Unilever and ended my full-time global food & drink industry career at Kraft/Mondelez. I now run a  healthier drinks startup  business ( drinktg.com ) alongside a global innovation consultancy where I work as an  "extrapreneur"  supporting companies wanting to remake their portfolios to better fit emerging consumer needs for healthier products......so I am perhaps in a unique position to give a point of view.  If you are Dutch or British, you  feel closer culturally to Unilever  and few people living in the UK will have forgotten Kraft's poor treatment of people & assets post  Cadbury's acquisition . However, the reality is that the  vision and values of both companies are not so dissimilar  and both are facing the same  fundamental shifts  in consumer behaviour & needs in relation to "big FMCG/CPG" brands in both developed a...