Bert Van Thilborgh
My lecture reports on two topics that I researched the last three years. The oral presentation that will bepresented at ICTIMESH 2018 in Dubai is a combination of the Current Trends in the Chocolate Industry and Futuring techniques and how the cocoa & chocolate industry will evolve in the next decade. The oral presentation highlights 6 current chocolate trends such as the worldwide rise of consumption of dark chocolates, more health claims for chocolate, the medicalization of chocolate, the growth of a chocolate experiences economy, the sustainicracy of the chocolate industry.These trends were definedafter extensive market research (based on Mintel, Datamonitor, Innova Market Insights, industry talks with the biggest chocolates manufacturers in the world such as Barry Callebaut, Puratos, Cargill and Valrhona. The research was completedwith expert interviews with different chocolate brands and chocolatiers, …and cool hunting to spot some interesting chocolate innovations worldwide at ISM, but also at the Salon du Chocolat, and in various cities such as Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Ghent,London, New-York and Japan .. For The Future of Cocoa &Chocolate: Chocolate consumption in 2030, we made use of the same sources and literature studies and combined these with Futuring techniques, such as roadmapping, SWOT Analysis, stakeholder analysis, Future Wheels and and the analytical scenario thinking method.We see the rise of the chocofashionista and bring an interactive lecture pinpointing the uncertainty of cacao shortage or the way we evolve in a future world with an abundance of cacao, the choice that producers can make into healthy chocolates or the choice for indulgence. With a lot of examples that we see already on the horizon we will talk about innovations in chocolate production, fair trade initiatives, premiumization of chocolate brands, future chocolate experiences, ….
Chocolates; Cocoa; Premiumization; Experience Economy; Fair trade; Storytelling; Medicalization; Uncertainties; Cocoa shortage; cocoa abundancy;Futuring techniques; Analyitical Scenario thinking method; Future Wheels;