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Interview
R&D: two billion Swiss francs
Celia Suzuki leads the management department of the Wellness Strategy Unit at Nestlé. Therefore, she is in charge of products development, communicating the brands and being in touch with the scientific community.
During an interview to Top Team, the executive states that a "highly amount of Brazilian consumers purchase products to improve health". She also comments about what Nestlé does in order to capture the attention of the consumers and highlights some curiosities: "the Brazilian consumer is also very interested in reading the products labels".
Check out the main parts of the interview below:
Top Team: Do you think Brazilian consumers look for nutritional products?
Celia Suzuki: Consumers are more aware of the direct influence of what they eat in their health. Demographic and life style aspects contribute to that. The increase of longevity and obesity are important factors for a better quality of life.
Top Team: In other countries, do consumers behave the same way?
Celia Suzuki: Absolutely. However, I´d say the Brazilian consumer differs from the global average when it comes to the importance given to this subject. A high amount of Brazilian consumers buy products to improve health, even higher than the global average. The Brazilian consumer is also interested in reading the label as well as keeping fit and other issues related to health, even more than foreign consumers.
Top Team: How can industries fulfill the consumer´s desires? What has Nestlé done concerning that?
Celia Suzuki: Nestlé continually invests in innovation and renovation in order to stand out and also to show their nutritional benefits and the good flavor of their products. Our concern is to offer products that may superior nutritional value that may fulfill the consumers´ desires. At the moment, we have invested around two billion Swiss francs. Thus, Nestlé provides a wide range of products for a person´s entire life cycle.
Top Team: Besides nutrition, which are the other nutritional trends of the food industry?
Celia Suzuki: The market tends to reduce everything that is considered negative in terms public health, like sodium, sugar, fat, etc. There is also a strong trend for functional foods, including "anything" that may have a positive impact on our health without forgetting the flavor.
Top Team: To wrap up, does the Wellness Strategy Unit exist in other countries? What are the main functions of such unit in Brazil?
Celia Suzuki: Probably not exactly named like that, but there is a global network with nearly 300 people, whose main responsibility is to lead nutrition strategy, health and wellness in the company. We directly work with the development of products and brands communication in order to help the consumer make good choices so that they can have a balanced life. We also communicate with the scientific community by enhancing the development of projects and research in nutrition, health and wellness. We support scientific events and develop tools of communication that may allow the constant update of the health professional.
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