Feb 2, 2015
By: Leslie G. Sarasin, President and CEO, Food Marketing Institute

Midwinter Recap

If you didn't attend FMI’s 2015 Midwinter Executive Conference last week, you missed it -- 
  • Songster Karmin’s high energy welcome to Miami at the stunning Big, Bold and Bleu event – creating a riveting start for the event; 
  • Doug Stevens, the retail prophet, who seized our attention by first graphically showing all the ways the old retail world we have known is gone, but then also revealing the new retail possibilities surfacing for those with the eyes to see (I won't soon forget his bus stop metaphor, challenging us not to just keep doing things because they worked in the past, but to look closely at that which actually helps us achieve our goals and make it fun and appealing);
  • John Zogby’s clear description of the tribes making up the new America and the ways the American Dream is shape-shifting for them…and us;
  • Anthony Flynn, founder of YouBar, who took all of us on his very personal road to discovering the power of customization and explained how best to cultivate such a path; and
  • A Kevin Coupe-led panel of industry analysts that explored the costs associated with the innovations suggested by our other speakers and sought to determine whether the food retail industry can afford to pursue them, or better said, whether it can afford not to do so.

And through it all, woven between the presentations, panels of retailers, suppliers and industry observers, we were reminded - in very grounded ways – that the food retail industry doesn't exist simply to sell products; we are challenged to help create experiences.

But if you had the bad fortune to miss all this critical information, don’t panic.  You have a second shot to experience at least some of it.  See our coverage of the Midwinter Executive Conference presentations at www.fmi.org/blog/education or keep up with FMI news all the time by downloading the free FMI News app to your smartphone. Search "FMI News" in your app store. 

My thanks to Ed Crenshaw, CEO of Publix Super Markets, Inc., for his outstanding leadership as Chairman of this year's Midwinter event, as well as to our many Midwinter sponsors and industry collaborators, our participating members and the FMI staff for a most effective program and a glorious time at the historic Fontainebleau in Miami.  It was terrific!