General Session, Awards, & Vibe Consumer Study

Session details:

Colleen McClellan, Chief Customer Office of Datassential, will kick off the General Session with her presentation, "Staying Ahead of Flavor Innovation."

The beverage landscape has shifted—hard waters, non-alcoholic cocktails, whiskey seltzers, dirty sodas, candy-flavored beers—and category lines have vanished. Flavor is the only thing that matters to the next generation of consumers. 

But here's the secret: Flavor trends we should be watching are not just happening with high-end mixologists, but in places we might not think to look like national retail shelves and drive-thru windows.

This session reveals how to spot flavor innovation before your competition does.

• Understand how to track beverage trends across the entire ecosystem—from cooler doors to menu boards.
• Learn to read consumer affinity rates, decode social media momentum, and identify which flavors have real staying power versus fleeting hype.
• Discover the menu adoption cycle that predicts what moves from early inception to ubiquity, and master the art of adapting retail and foodservice trends for on-premise beverage programs. 

Plus, join us for the Vibe Operator & Supplier Awards as well as the Vibe Consumer Study!