II. 'Beverage Trends and Consumer Trends' at the International Mineral Water Congress

Organized for the second time by Kızılay Natural Mineral Waters, the II. The panel titled “Beverage Trends and Consumer Trends” at the International Mineral Water Congress was held with the participation of important names in the industry.

Rasime Yılmaz Ozman: We launched Kızılay Plus with flavors such as unused green tea, açai and karavürmer in the mineral water category.

Alper Özcan: There is a huge potential in mineral water

Organized for the second time by Kızılay Natural Mineral Waters, the II. The panel titled “Beverage Trends and Consumer Trends” at the International Mineral Water Congress was held with the participation of important names in the industry.

Organized by Kızılay Natural Mineral Waters, academicians and industry stakeholders who have conducted research in the field of mineral water in Turkey, II. It came together at Emaar Address Istanbul Hotel on Thursday, November 17, as part of the International Mineral Water Congress.

The main theme of the congress was "One Life Mineral Water" and the panel titled "Beverage Trends and Consumer Trends" was moderated by Marketing Turkey Editor-in-Chief Günseli Özen. Emphasizing that mineral water is more than just a bottle, Özen pointed out the importance of catching the trends in the panel; Red Crescent Beverage Marketing Director Rasime Yılmaz Ozman, Kantar Research Strategy Director Alper Özcan, Refinery Advertising Agency Strategy Director Can Çalışkan, Award-Winning Writer and Chef Yunus Emre Akkor.

We started by telling what is the truth of mineral water.

Red Crescent Beverage Marketing Director Rasime Yılmaz Ozman said, “Consumers used to see mineral water as a cheap beverage that they drank often. We started by explaining what is the truth of mineral water. We wanted research on mineral water. We established Madensuyu.org Platform. Most importantly, we have Afyon and Erzincan resources. For years, it was sold in the same way as Kızılay mineral water. We put Rafa Erzincan and Afyon side by side and started talking to the consumer. Consumers began to read labels and content. He began to understand the differences between brands. This move we made at the beginning of 2020 also expanded the category. Afyon grew by around 23 percent and Erzincan by around 48 percent. People are starting to tell the difference now. We have been among the sponsors of the Istanbul Marathon for 2 years. When the athletes come to our stands, they say, "I want Erzincan, I need magnesium." People started talking mineral. They say they want Afyon mineral water for digestion," he said.

Kızılay Plus products, our most important example for the future of the sector

Stating that the future of mineral water is flavored mineral water, Rasime Yılmaz Ozman said, “People are now turning to healthy drinks. Brands that attach importance to these three topics and can communicate will carry themselves into the future. The first is to put sustainability and being a green company, which we call natural goodness, at the heart of the brand, to do this with natural products, the second is healthy life style, the other is to be a brand with purpose, to work in the sense of social responsibility. The transparency of the labels, their readability, the story of the brand, the digitalization, the balance between the prices are indispensable. These are the titles where we develop our products. Our most important example for these is; Red Crescent Plus products. Kızılay Plus, mineral water products with black elderberry, açai strawberry, green tea. Enriched minerals, zinc, ginseng added naturally. It is produced with natural plant and fruit extracts, calorie-free and sugar-free. It has been on the shelves for 1 year. Unseen and unused flavors in the mineral water category. They achieve growth of up to 70 percent in the online channel. They have approached one-third of the flavored mineral water segment.”

Mineral water has a great place in understanding the new world

Kantar Research Strategy Director Alper Özcan shared the results of consumer research in mineral water. Özcan said, “According to the results of this research covering the beverage sector, there is a much greater potential in mineral water. In addition to being healthy, it has its fun side. Mineral water is spreading to a very wide world with its plain and fruity-flavored forms. We are in the field of healthy drinks, acidic-carbonated drinks, refreshing and enjoyable drinks. Today, plain mineral water is seen as the main category. Fruit-flavored mineral water also has great potential for the main category.”

In his speech, Refinery Advertising Agency Strategy Director Can Çalışkan mentioned that the mineral water sector is a sector that needs to increase its potential, and drew attention to the elements of a broader perspective, understanding what the consumer expects and considering it as a lifestyle. Hard working; He gave examples from world brands on topics such as the necessity of understanding the new world, the change of what is said to be unchangeable, and the spread of vegan burgers.

Award-winning Author and Chef Yunus Emre Akkor said, “Today, the culture of eating and drinking is incredibly distorted. Recently, we see that there are consumers who wake up consciously and give priority to health.”