Boss of the award-winning Alchemist bar group Simon Potts is the latest big name to join the speakers’ roster for CGA’s new Insight 2018 conference in London on April 19.
Potts, whose expanding brand is bringing the art of mixology to the mainstream, will join craft beer brewer and bar owner John Gyngell, founder of another award-winning business, Leeds-based North Bar and North Brewing Co, to examine how the premiumisation of drink is now central to driving the evolution and quality of the out-of-home experience – and changing the way alcohol itself is marketed.
They join online media pioneer Jamie Bolding, whose Jungle Creations social media house delivers quality content, much around food and drink, to an audience of almost 59 million Facebook followers worldwide, US food and restaurant tech entrepreneur and investor Michael Atkinson, who believes technology will be the saviour of the eating-out market, and is now pioneering voice-activated ordering solutions.
Bolding and Atkinson will headline the conference’s Disruptors session. Jungle Creations is now the most viewed media company on Facebook, the most viewed cross-platform in Europe and second most viewed in the world. Its 16 social channels pump out 100 to 150 of the internet’s most shareable videos every day, with top food and drink brands, including McDonalds, increasingly coming to it to create their own viral content. Its Twisted cooking channel has over 10 million followers and last November launched a delivery-only restaurant in East London, allowing every recipe video posted on the Facebook page to be ordered via delivery.
Atkinson’s experience includes running restaurants in the US, working on Wall Street and launching and investing in a string of restaurant tech projects, including FohBoh, the original online B2B community for global foodservice. He’s now leading the advance of voice activation in the hospitality space.
Also on the roster is Casual Dining Group’s chief customer and digital officer Celia Pronto, whose background includes senior marketing roles with Bookatable and Ford’s retail group, will discuss the attraction and effectiveness of new techniques for understanding consumers and your brands’ DNA.
Meanwhile, CGA’s own insight experts will present the latest thinking on both tracking brand success and understanding what is driving consumers food and drink preferences.
“With competition at its hottest and margins at their tightest, the need for the out-of-home food and drink market to get thoroughly under the skin of its customers, and understand the trends shaping their preferences, in the wider world too, has never been greater,” said CGA’s vice president and conference chair Peter Martin,
CGA’s new Insight 2018 conference will spotlight new and developing market patterns, new analytics and new technologies that should already be shaping company strategy, operations and most importantly marketing.
The conference is on Thursday, April 19, at 30 Euston Square Auditorium, London, NW1 2FB. To request a place at this exclusive invitation-only event, go to www.cga.co.uk/events/insight-2018
“In a fast-changing, highly competitive marketplace the imperative to stay fresh, relevant and engaged is undeniable – and that’s as true for event organisers as restaurant, pub and bar operators,” Martin added,
“That’s why we are evolving too – not just looking at what’s happening in the out-of-home market now, but putting it in the context of wider food and drink trends, decoding new consumer habits and brand success factors, understanding the marketing techniques and new technologies that are molding emerging attitudes and actions in the wider world.
“We’ll be hearing from operators and brand-owners, entrepreneurs and corporates, market disruptors and challengers of the status quo.”
The conference is open to senior executives from across the out-of-home sector – strategists, marketers, insight teams and all those influencing new thinking in their businesses.
There will be much to debate and discuss, so reserve your place today.
