I’ve recently been having a bit of a look at how the premiumisation trend has been playing out in some food areas. In Hawaii, single estate coffee is now actively marketed with some of the top blends and Peaberry beans retailing at $50-$60 per pound or more. Although we are talking about a natural food product, you would be amazed at the technologies some of the farms are using to get the best quality. Here are a few highlights:

Regular soil sample analysis to ensure the right level of nutrients are present in the volcanic soil. Some farms are organic.

Coffee trees trained to grow along trellises to get optimal exposure to the sun, like vines. This growing format has actually been patented by Kona Joe! A good example of technology transfer between parallel industries.

Hand picked and sorted beans

Water-less pulping, not sure how this process works

Combination drying processes to ensure the beans are in the optimal condition

Various state-of-the-art roasting technologies

Gas tight, nitrogen flushed packaging with a CO2 bleed valve

You can even have a custom label on the coffee just for you…

See this Kona Premium link for a full story of their process. In the USA, coffee is the subject of deep passion and premiumisation is a key trend which I predict will continue to play out in the market, credit crunch or not.

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I guess you’ve probably read the purple cow.

It’s one of the books everyone in innovation talks about. Seth Godin announces the death of advertising and the need to sell your product to enthusiastic early adopters so they can tell everyone else about it. He talks about creating something that stands out from the crowd, a product that will vitually advertise itself. The book is a bit simplistic in my view and polarises to make a point (“the TV-industrial combine is dead”). Does every product that your company makes have to be an absolute stand-out from the crowd, remarkable thing? I don’t think so. However, If you have even have a few products which do stand out, I agree it can make a big difference (just look at Toyota with the Prius). Do you even need to change your product to turn it into a purple cow?

Shreddies have found a new way to talk about their product without changing anything at all watch?v=pqRtynIV96E&NR=1 which stands out a bit. Some people seem to have got quite annoyed by the whole diamond shreddies thing, but I guess that’s the point.

In the end though, in my view, there are better books to read if you want to uncover powerful new directions for your future innovation. I prefer the Innovator’s Solution by Clayton Christensen myself. More on this book in future posts.

If you want to see Seth Godin in action, here is a link to one of his talks. He speaks well anyway.