This year’s 17th Global Water Drinks Congress on 20-22 October 2020 has two major differences from previous events. The first is that it is now online. The second is its ‘Beyond the Bottle’ theme, with a focus on wider product and packaging opportunities.
Typically attracting 150-200 participants from all over the world, the event aims to provide industry leaders, entrepreneurs, suppliers, customers and advisers with a complete overview of the water drinks market and developments.
“What hasn’t changed is the extremely high calibre of speakers and discussion,” commented Richard Hall, chairman of event organisers Zenith Global, the food and drink experts.
“We have speakers from all five leading international producers – Coca-Cola, Danone, Nestlé, Niagara and PepsiCo. They are joined by other market leaders, from Bisleri in India to Highland Spring in Scotland, and key innovators, from Loop with its refillable packaging for home delivery to Crunchy Hydration on adaptogenics, nootropics and CBD.
“Having just held our first two virtual events, we’ve found they can generate even better networking and debate because it’s so easy to contact other delegates, hold individual discussions, join round tables and engage in social conversation as well as ask questions and take part in polls. The other advantages are reduced costs, no travel time and the ability to revisit sessions as they are all recorded.
“The Beyond the Bottle theme is particularly relevant this year, because of the continuing debate about plastic. We no longer talk about bottled water, since there are many packaging alternatives. There are also many product alternatives in added flavours and functions. And now companies are exploring opportunities beyond drink packaging in capsules and dispense,” Mr Hall concluded.
Another highlight of the Global Water Drinks Congress is the Global Water Drinks Awards that will be presented on 21 October, for which there were 160 entries across 16 categories from 27 countries.
