That's why Jens Bode, responsible for trend scouting in the Laundry & Home Care business unit, and his interdisciplinary team of marketing, research & development and market research, regularly attend Anuga, the world's largest trade fair for the food and beverage industry. Trends and innovations such as new ingredients or formats that could be inspiring for Henkel products in some form are documented and then further developed in workshops. "In order to simply come up with new, fresh thoughts and ideas, it is important that we look at inspirations and trends in all markets and give our colleagues the opportunity to discover something new and render these found treasures into new solutions together," Jens explains.
The trends from the food industry can then be translated in various ways into dishwashing products and shampoos. Sometimes this even results in completely new products – for example the Fa Smoothie Collection, inspired by a food trend. Therefore, it is important that Jens follows the trends and the corresponding discussions closely to give an assessment. "A high degree of curiosity and the exchange with external experts are particularly important, but also one's own experience and a certain amount of gut feeling.", he says.