Paris Food Show Calls Olive Oils Marketed for Children "Innovative"

By Lindsey Partos

Nov. 1, 2010 12:05 UTC

By Lindsey Partos
Olive Oil Times Contributor | Reporting from Paris

With the plump new market of babies and children in their sights, a handful of freshly-launched olive oil products were lauded for their innovative edge at this year’s food business show SIAL in Paris.

Fully embracing the health message linked to extra virgin olive oil, several firms have rolled out new products with a market target that marks a clear departure from the adult consumer towards the youngest slice of the population.

From a potential pool of 985 new products, a jury at SIAL selected 400 products for their innovative angle. XTC Innovation managing director Xavier Terlet, and a
member of the jury, reminded a conference audience that ‘pleasure is fundamental for innovation’.

“It is pleasure before all. It may seem obvious, but this is not always so. It must be the first motivation and the first guarantee to the consumer,” he said.

The three olive oil products hand-picked by a SIAL jury for their innovative angle inherently use the health associations increasingly linked to extra virgin olive oil to market their products for babies and children.

Spanish firm Monva launched the ‘Oliver petit gourmet’ product in a plastic, hand-pumped 250ml bottle with a security opening system. The product was selected ‘for the babies target, new to this category’, say the jury. Indeed, the box for the packaging is emblazoned with a photo of a laughing baby, clearly flagging up the target market.

With its vibrant, colourful packaging, alphabet letters and infant drawings, the target market is clear for spanish firm Vega Carabana’s PequeOliva brand of extra virgin olive oil.

According to the jury, the extra virgin olive oil product that mixes the olive varieties Picual and Arbequina, also meets ‘sophistication’ and ‘easy to handle’ trends.

‘Packaging, market positioning, and merchandising’ are the key innovations noted by the jury. Rolled out onto the market in December 2009, and with an eighteen-month shelf life, the product aims to reach fine food retailers, supermarkets and dietetic stores.

Selected by the committee for its “proposition of an oil targeting kids, the product underlines an oil enriched in vitamins A, D, K and E for babies that supports physical and intellectual development during the growth.”

The product is firmly rooted in ‘fun’ and ‘sophistication’ trends with its tasting notes of ‘apple’ and ‘fresh grass’ packaged in a color-block 250ml tin can.

The Kidsolio extra virgin olive oil from turkish firm Cosmopolitan also found the attention of the jury who selected the product for its ‘adaptation to the kids target’. The brightly-coloured label on the 250ml bottle features big, vibrant, child-like letters and a rainbow.

Pushing the health angle of the olive oil, the firm claims the product provides ‘some of essential fatty acids as its ratio of linoleic acid linolenic acid is similar to that of breast milk’, while the SIAL judges underlined the ‘sophistication, fun, medical and naturality’ trends reflected in the Kidsolio product.

Paris Food Show Calls Olive Oils Marketed for Children "Innovative"

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