March 10, 2015

Expo West Day 2 Recap

After walking the “hot new products” section Thursday, we spent Friday visiting among thousands of new products, including quite a few Hatch clients. The samples attempted to overrun us but determination and sheer will prevailed.

Simple Mills

Simple Mills baking mixes are made from almond flour−delicious, nutrient-rich, gluten-free, wholesome and did we say delicious? Hatch worked with Simple Mills to redesign their portfolio of products, from a bright new logo, and vis ID to packaging and line extensions, and this was the big reveal. They had an adorable booth, and were baking yummy pizzas, chocolate chip cookie pops and focaccia bread pops. And we were excited to hear they were getting lots of love from buyers. More Simple Mills to go around.

Simple Mills_Expo West

Goddess Garden

Goddess Garden’s natural sunscreens are chemical-free, biodegradable and no compromise. Expo West was the first public reveal of their Hatch-redesigned portfolio of products. With their iconic new hummingbird icon and elegantly simple new vis ID, their booth looked clean and modern. They, too, had many buyers flocking to their booth to let them know this was the year! Now you can go safely soak up some sun.

Goddess Garden_EW

Krave Jerky

With their recent acquisition by Hershey’s, Krave were the rockstars of the show. And it was nice to be with the band. Hatch has been part of Krave’s journey since the beginning, with a holistic brand design and activation creative that has disrupted the meat snacks category with its personality-packed brand idea. Their artisanal flavors attract health-conscious consumers, snack-seeking parents, sophisticated foodies and traditional jerky lovers who are looking to shake up their snacking routine! Satisfy your Krave-ings.

 Krave Jerky_Expo West

Modern Table Meals

Modern Table takes you from stove to table in 15 minutes with meal kits featuring pasta made from beans. These healthy and yummy flavor combinations are perfect for our modern life and good to know, they’re being picked up by tons of retailers. It’s time to eat meals for human beans.

Modern Table Meals_Expo West

Observations

    • Vis Id Re-do: Lots of brands were unveiling new packaging at the event−Go Raw, ECOS and Dessert Essence were just a few.
    • Line Extensions: Mary’s Gone Crackers, Sahale and Clif have new category products. Great innovation from Mary’s into pretzels, grahams, and other cracker types. Sahale into bars and Clif with new organic energy food pouches.
    • Emotional Brands: We were inspired to “do it now”, find “bliss” and “feel” from TruVibe Organics, Earnest Eats and Feel Natural Energy.
    • Chef-inspired: Chobani was really interesting. They made a big push sampling yogurt as an ingredient brand vs just a snack by itself. Think Mediterranean salads, savory and sweet dips−cucumber or pineapple with olive oil, herbs.
  • Bugs: We only saw one insect-as-protein product. Thank goodness.
TruVibe EXO-bugs Earnest_detox

Favorite product of the day: Frontier Snacks. A tasty 6 ingredient bite size healthy snack.

Runner up: Biena Foods. Possibly the most delicious roasted chickpea snack ever. Really robust flavors from savory to sweet−who knew cinnamon sugar and chickpeas would be sooo good. No joke, we could eat that stuff all day.

Least favorite: This once again was tough because we tasted a lot of not so yummy foods but we think the winner here goes to a buzzing lip balm. This all natural product uses special ingredients like high amounts of cinnamon to create a vibrating feeling on your lips. Great branding for their booth but not sure our lips are ready for that kinda action.