With Special Thanks to Siemens for Sponsoring the Research and Interviews Required to Present This Innovation Special Section
With special thanks to Siemens for sponsoring the research and interviews required to present this innovation special section. GMA CENTENNI A L SPE C I A L Iss UE 2008 FORUM 111 A Survey of Astonishing Accomplishment To some naysayers today, “CPG What do you see? innovation” is an oxymoron, but in fact Everywhere you look, you –– we –– see CPG products that nothing could be further from the truth. make our lives easier, cleaner, lighter, brighter, safer, better nourished, more satisfying and, in so many ways, sweeter. The breadth, depth and variety of innovation in product, formulation, packaging, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, What did our grandparents see? Well? business process, collaboration and co-invention that has characterized CPG for more than a century –– and that is What is the difference? occurring inside hundreds of companies as you’re reading this –– is nothing short of mind-boggling. The difference is a century of explosively creative response to consumer needs. In a word, innovation. Why is it that this remarkable record –– this staggering difference between our choices and those available to our So, this year, 2008, the 100th Anniversary of the Grocery grandparents or great-grandparents when they were our age Manufacturers Association, we celebrate this astonishing –– doesn’t take our breath away? CPG century with a decade-by-decade overview of a barely representative few of the thousands upon thousands of remarkable THE CPG CENTURY Only, perhaps, because we are, as psychologists might say, CPG accomplishments over the past 100 years –– innovations that “habituated” –– we have lost our sense of wonder because we cover the CPG spectrum from products and advertising we recall Years of live with all these options every day.
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