Petfood Forum China 2015 focuses on new product and brand development for pet food manufacturers in China and Asia. At this exclusive conference, pet food professionals can learn from industry experts about how to develop a new pet food or snack product with a brand that stands out in the marketplace and grabs the attention of today’s pet owners in the rapidly growing Chinese pet market.
Scheduled for August 28 at the World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai, Petfood Forum China also offers networking opportunities with other pet food professionals and leading industry suppliers. It is co-located with Pet Fair Asia, one of the largest trade shows for the pet industry in China, which runs August 27-30, 2015 (www.petfairasia.com/en).
Here is the latest schedule and session information for Petfood Forum China as of press time. For updates, please visit www.petfoodforumevents.com.
9:00-9:30 Registration and check in
9:30-9:45 Welcome and introduction
9:45-10:45 Finding your opportunities in the Chinese pet food and treats market—Pushan Tagore, director of pet care global for GfK, looks at trends in and projections for Chinese pet ownership and the pet food market. GfK’s retail audit of the Chinese pet care market tracks online sales, plus sales in pet shops, mass merchants and veterinary clinics in Beijing and Shanghai, the two most important markets within China. Tagore makes comparisons to the US and Europe to highlight similarities and differences—thus identifying niches for Chinese pet food companies to stand out and out-grow the market.
Tagore studied international management at Oxford Brookes University in the UK and has more than 10 years’ experience in consumer research. His career started with the Nielsen Co. and includes five years in a regional market research role with Hill’s Pet Nutrition. In his current role with GfK, he is responsible globally for all petfood syndicated retail tracking and consumer research.
10:45-11:15 Coffee break
11:15-12:15 Innovative product development phase 1: pre-commercial activities—Russ Kelley, consultant with Summit Canine Consulting Services, focuses on upstream, or pre-commercial, actions that are critical components for developing and successfully documenting new nutritional concepts, including concept development, conceptual testing, regulatory and legal assessment, preliminary ingredient/nutrient assessment, front-end formulation, preliminary product performance testing and finally commercial handoff.
Kelley has served the pet food industry since 1997 as a senior scientist with the Iams Co., P&G Pet Care and Mars Pet Care, specializing in reproduction, growth and development, physical stress, gastrointestinal health and colony management. He founded Summit Canine Consulting Services LLC in 2015. Kelley received bachelor and master degrees of science in animal science from Auburn University, where he also served on the staff, after graduation, as a research specialist in the area of growth and developmental biology for the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences. He has published numerous scientific papers, proceedings and abstracts on canine nutrition, influences of physical stress and regulatory influences of animal growth and development.
12:15-13:30 Lunch
13:30-14:30 Innovative product development phase 2: product qualifications for a successful commercial launch—Eric K. Altom, PhD, consultant, explains commercial product design and delivery, focusing on concept stability, production material supply, package qualifications, legal and regulatory barriers, production-scale formulation challenges, finished product qualifications, animal feeding studies to validate product performance and support in-market claims and commercial product introduction.
Altom is an animal nutritionist with over 20 years of pet food industry experience. He received his bachelor of science degree in animal science from Tennessee Technological University, followed by a master of science degree in nutrition from Clemson University and a doctorate in animal nutrition at Auburn University. Since 1999, Altom has been a leading nutritionist with the Iams Co., P&G Pet Care and Mars Pet Care, mainly in research and development. He also served as technical services and outreach manager, providing technical sales support across all business units, developing integrated nutritional plans for specialized programs, nutrition education for key industry influencers and leading applied clinical research programs. In 2015, Altom founded a private consulting firm.
14:30-15:30 Establishing partnerships and developing feeding trials for innovative product development—Serge Boutet, owner of SB Nutrinnov Consultants, provides insight into developing partnerships with ingredient suppliers and other sources for innovative formulations and products; then, for the final product, setting the right feeding trials to ensure market success. Although pet food formulation is based on science, the successful inclusion of novel ingredients is an art and has usually been the result of partnerships between nutritionists, scientists and specialty ingredients suppliers. Completion of this innovative development must then go through the final judges: pets themselves, via formal or in-home feeding trials.
Based in Montreal, Canada, Boutet is an agronomist expert in animal nutrition and a McGill University graduate, with a bachelor of science in animal science and completion of an executive development course (mini-MBA). Through his 31-year career in animal nutrition, including the last 25 in the pet food industry, his expertise in nutrition covers many aspects of pet food and feed formulation, ingredients and product development. Boutet started his consulting company in 2013, after serving as manager of pet foods and nutrition for J.E. Mondou Ltee (the largest pet product retail chain in Quebec, Canada) for more than eight years, plus 13 years as the technical services manager for Rolf C. Hagen and Hagen Pet Foods. He also had previous roles with Ralston Purina Canada (Chow Division) and Hill's Pet Nutrition.
15:30-16:00 Coffee break
16:00-17:00 Taking the product to market and building your brand—John Stanley, president of John Stanley Associates, explains the specific marketing and retail skills you need to take your new product to market and build a winning brand. New product development success means getting the consumer to buy your product. Consumers are inundated with new products, and your role is to engage the consumer—and retailers—to ensure your new product is the one that attracts attention.
Stanley is a certified speaking professional with the National Speakers Association, specializing in retailing marketing presentations, and has been recognized among the top 10% of speakers in the world. He is the author of Just About Everything a Retail Manager Needs to Know, Think FOR Your Customer and Setting Up Shop, as well as a regular contributor to pet retail magazines around the world. Stanley holds a master of science degree from Essex University and previously taught perishable retail management at Merrist Wood College in Guildford, England. His company was named Micro Business of the Year by the Kalamunda Chamber in 2012 and 2013, and the Western Australia Small Business Exporter of the Year in 2010 and 2012.
Petfood Forum China online
Pet food in China
www.petfoodindustry.com/articles/5079
