Elderly people who have made a New Year’s resolution to improve their diet need to put eating more fruit, vegetables and oily fish at the top of their list.

According to a new study published in the journal Neurology, elderly people with higher levels of vitamins B, C, D and E and omega-3 fats in their blood perform better on tests of mental acuity and show less brain shrinkage typical of Alzheimer’s disease. These nutrients come from eating a wide range of fruit, vegetables and oily fish, or fortified foods and supplements.

This first study to measure actual blood nutrient levels, rather than basing its findings on less precise data from food questionnaires, also shows that unhealthy diets produce the opposite result: a decline in cognitive performance.

With a third of aging consumers concerned about mental decline, food products aimed at boosting mental sharpness are fast entering the market. These ‘senior nutrition’ ingredients present a huge global opportunity for the food industry with demographics firmly on its side.

Not only is it estimated that 2 million + people will be over 65 years old by 2035, interestingly, brain ageing may kick in earlier than we thought. A study published in the BMJ shows that brain function can start to deteriorate as early as 45.

]]> http://www.kaizo.net/2012/01/06/benefits_of_vitamins_and_healthy_oils/feed/ 0 http://www.kaizo.net/2011/09/29/clarity-on-food-labels-mission-impossible/ http://www.kaizo.net/2011/09/29/clarity-on-food-labels-mission-impossible/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:06:27 +0000 Fabienne Garceau http://www.kaizo.net/?p=2379 Last week’s announcement [http://www.foodnavigator.com/Financial-Industry/UK-scraps-sell-by-dates-on-food-products] that UK food manufacturers have been asked to remove ‘display until’ and ‘sell-by’ date labels from food packaging takes us one step closer to clearer, more user-friendly food labels. Or does it?

According to research carried out by the Food and Drink Federation [http://www.fdf.org.uk/news.aspx?article=5504], shoppers continue to be confused by the difference between ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ – both of which are set to stay. The former states when a perishable food is no longer fit for consumption; the latter gives information about the quality of non-perishable food products [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14926429].

Reducing unnecessary food wastage is a goal we should all share and DEFRA’s guidance is a bold step in this direction, by removing stock rotation information that is of little use to consumers.  However, it appears there is still a big job to be done to make food labels crystal clear and meaningful to the end customer. It’s a challenge we communicators should rise to and not simply leave to the regulators.

Fast forward to Thursday morning and there I was, snuggled tightly between the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender society and the Live Music society, manning a stand at Freshers Fayre and reminiscing back to my own Uni days a couple of years ago (give or take a few years perhaps…).

The activity was for carpooling client BlablaCar, who is looking to engage the student community and get them using its brand new Campus page, where students can go online to book lifts throughout the UK and even Europe with other students at their Uni.

After much designing of games, signs and leaflets, we were all set to go. To be honest, the day didn’t get off to a good start: after a particularly stressful journey involving the M25, we finally arrived to find out the guest wi-fi was playing up. We weren’t to be beaten though so, armed with leaflets, promises of prizes to be won and a voice ready to cut through the noise, we walked out from behind our stand and began grabbing the attention the new student community.

We’ll soon find out if the event was a success but, in the meantime, here are my top tips for a happy Freshers Fayre:

Give something away
An on-stand competition where students don’t have to think too hard gives you the chance to get your point across.

Sweets are your best weapon
Most of the stands had some kind of shiny edible goody to hand to lure people in. A selection of lollypops, tin of roses or multi-pack of crisps will suffice, though a refreshing drink could be good too – checking out all the stalls is thirsty work.

Don’t just stand there
Lots of people were huddled behind their stands but those in front of the desk actively looking for recruits got the most people to check out their wares.

Be a high flyer
The brighter the better, flyers get people to take info away with them.

Check your power
If you’re bringing a laptop or iPad, double check you have power and that the wi-fi will definitely be working. Lesson learnt.

Elena Groothuizen from Innova Market Insights highlighted how ageing well is a priority for the estimated 2 million + people who will be over 65 years old by 2035. Consumers, and consequently food manufacturers, have identified the importance of healthy eating for healthy aging, and as many as 40% of consumers say they make food choices for health reasons.

Top of the list of concerns for the aging consumer is loss of physical health, including mobility and vision, followed by a decline in mental health and cognition. Food manufacturers have responded swiftly and the bone health market for food products and supplements is well-developed. Because the aging population wants to stay active, helping them to maintain mobility has been a key focus, whether it’s products aimed at the prevention and/or management of osteoporosis or osteoarthritis.

With a third of aging consumers also concerned about mental decline, products aimed at boosting mental sharpness e.g. enriched with omega-3, are fast entering the market.

Two interesting things are happening from a communications perspective:

• We are witnessing the merging of food and pharmaceutical products as a two-way process. Specialised products which once upon a time were aimed at a specific condition for example, are now being re-packaged, with very little change to the product formulation but with new claims, to appeal to the mainstream consumer looking to age healthily and gracefully. At the same time, mainstream food products are also being re-vamped to appeal to older adults seeking a particular age-related benefit.
• And of course, food manufacturers are facing growing regulatory pressure for proof of efficacy. Because ‘proven’ on the packet is so powerful for the end consumer, regulators are now more than ever scrutinising the scientific basis of claims.

‘Senior nutrition’ food products present a huge global opportunity for the food industry with demographics firmly on its side. What we now need are more clinical trials for ingredients and products that aim to help people age well, delay debilitating age-related conditions and alleviate existing ones. Further insights into marketing challenges for healthy aging products will be covered at the Healthy Ageing 2011 Conference next month. Watch this space…

Whilst we remain the same business in the same premises with the same teams, our new independence highlights key attributes we feel bring a fresh perspective to communications’ challenges targeting consumers and businesses.

We’re impartial, whether advising on media choice or brand direction; self-sufficient, so no sub teams and silos to add complexity and cost; free thinkers, so great ideas flow and are encouraged; and now importantly self-governing so we’re able to offer a flexible approach to your PR and earned media budgets.

We thank all our clients, including Truvia®, Flora/ Becel, Cisco, CA Technologies, Unilever, mxData, Johnson and Johnson, Serco, and Elsevier, for their continued support and look forward to a successful future together.

When the heavens opened late afternoon, some of those less optimistic types may have been tempted to think the ‘Summer Sizzle’ may have turned into ‘Summer Drizzle’. But no, with a little help from

the gods – and from our incredibly versatile MD Rhodri Harries – the stage was prepared (and dry) for an evening not to forget…. and it didn’t disappoint.

Kaizo clients mingled with our friends in the media and distinguished colleagues from across the PR world and the occasional celebrity. The drink flowed more freely than Mel Gibson’s local boozer, while the platter laid on was a culinary delight that would have had Heston Blumenthal licking his lips.

Amongst the clinking of glasses, we were all treated to spectacular shows from a world class flairer (think Tom Cruise’s skills in Cocktail) and a magician who seemed like he’d just graduated from Hogwarts. While there was no such Hermione to offer us a magical pole dance, the end of the night drew to a close with guests leaving happy.

We would just like to thank everyone who attended and made it a fantastic night for all to remember. We all very much look forward to seeing you again next year!

Google yesterday announced its latest assault on the world of social and more specifically, Facebook. With Facebook’s massive user base and seemingly relentless desire to bring the entire internet inside Facebook, Google has for some time been looking for a way to address the threat to its bottom line.

The Google+ project, revealed yesterday with little fanfare via a blog post by Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice President, Engineering, is what Google hopes will be the answer to Facebook’s social dominance.

At the centre of Google’s premise is that “not all relationships are created equal” and therefore you might not want to share everything with everyone. As our online social networks have developed and we’ve become more switched on regarding what we’re sharing and with whom, we’ve increasingly become more selective about sharing. With Google+, Google is betting that we’d prefer to be selective within a single social platform rather than managing multiple social networks for different types of people e.g. LinkedIn for business, Facebook for friends and family.

Google is currently limiting who can access Google+ via a ‘closed beta’ so that it can quickly and easily react to user feedback. However, Google is hoping its range of new features will be too compelling to ignore:

+Circles – share different content with different social circles
+Sparks – find the content you (and others) love via an online sharing engine
+Hangouts – ‘hang out’ online, face-to-face with your friends (essentially an instant messaging/video calling application – watch out Skype!)
+Mobile – easily share pictures, experiences, your location etc wherever you are

As this is still day one and limited people have access to it, there’s no way of knowing if Google+ will be a success, let alone make even a small dent in Facebook’s dominant position. One of the key barriers to take up will be prising people away from Facebook and on to a new platform.

As for the impact on brands, well the jury is most certainly out. We’ll definitely be keeping a keen eye on developments though and advising clients as and when opportunities arise.

The event also marked Kaizo’s fifteen years as part of the partnership (we have a signed certificate to prove it!) and more markedly brought home just how much our industry has progressed over the last few years and as normal just how diverse PR is across the world.

From Korea we heard about using Facebook as a pre market product testing platform for brands, from Canada we learnt about the role our partner had played in one of the biggest crisises to hit the airport industry over the last few years, and from just about every partner we heard encouraging signs of market upturn.

The entrepreneurial spirit was clearly evident – all firms are independent, with most owned by the management not shareholders, but more than this a common commitment to share knowledge and experiences was everywhere.

We also were subject to a rigorous peer review by our partners Phillips Group in Brisbane and LF Channel in Barcelona, another aspect that sets Worldcom apart in that membership is subject to client and partner feedback. Luckily we impressed, no inquisition required…

Our own Steph Macleod was personally thanked by west coast partner McGrath Power, who we work with on a range of clients including tech alliance DLNA, for her role on a recent pitch in California proving it wasn’t just her Scottish lilt and renowned lexicon that wowed them.

New partners didn’t include the five bull fighters staying in our hotel nor the flamenco dancers that entertained one night.

Next year the conference is in Rio de Janeiro – the hardship eh…

He took the audience on a journey which lead us through his unusual upbringing, their teenage years – moving from ‘up north’ to London, and the start of the Red or Dead fashion label (named because Wayne is half Red Indian or, to be correct, a first nation Red Indian). This brought back memories for me of the late great fashion emporium, Kensington Market (sadly now a PC World) and London in the 80s and early 90s.

This was interwoven with anecdotes about how they kept thousands of pounds of cash in their loft, how Macy’s New York put in the first order for their collection, what drove them to make a political statement by banning the French in their early 90s LFW runway and what drives them now to save Britain’s streets and communities from turning into soulless desolate places. Respect.

Oh and of course they also are busy re-defining what a festival should be – check out what’s happening in July at the Royal Festival Hall!