Innovation

Brämhults’ constantly improves their product development. They have recently tested 100% plant-based materials for their bottles and now look forward to the near future for the complete convergence. For the current time being, their bottles have evolved from unattainable and rather flawed designs of long-necked glass bottles to now a more compact and ribbed PET bottle.

Inspiration

We interviewed Stina Haglund who has worked with Bramhults for 15+ years. We asked her why she chose to stay for so many years, working her way up the ranks through sales support, assistant brand managers, brand manager and currently active marketing manager and Nordic brand manager. Stina is in charge of keeping the brand intact, brand positioning, making the groundwork clear for the local markets and ensuring they align throughout the Nordic region. She said the most difficult yet enjoyable challenge she faces in her position in maintaining the alignment and considering the different opinions throughout the region.

Overall impact

Innovation development is a goal that they strive to make part of their future story. According to (Lins; Ouchi; Steger; Salzmann & Inoescu-Somers, Corporate Sustainability 2007,page 10) the transparency of health and safety standards and traceability of products is a major sustainability issue within the food and beverage industry. Traceability is a key aspect of sustainability for companies in this industry. From the interview, we learned that Brämhults has a quality manager at their production facilities, whose responsibility is to monitor the hygiene of the bottles and smells.

Business benefit

By taking the fruits that are in season, they are producing a fresher juice that is consumed closer to harvesting and higher in its nutritional value such as that the Vitamin C in oranges decline when stored for a long time. Not to mention, drinking seasonal fruits reduces hot houses and radiation that harms the environment and leads to global warming. This makes their juice healthy and suitable for the company’s health sustainability goals. According to Bob Willard who has done extensive research about the financial value of sustainability inside organizations, he concluded that the companies that consider sustainability increases the company's revenues, productivity, and reduces risks of environmental scandals. Since Brämhults production process starting the packaging to what fruit picked for consumption is based on an environmentally-friendly mindset. This improves the brand’s image which further increases the company's profits and improves its Return On Investments.

Social and environmental benefit

Society constantly consumes, and almost everything we purchase has packaging. The innovation of a 100% bio-degradable bottle would benefit the environment because it would lead to less garbage in landfills and in oceans. Society would benefit from an open patent for a recyclable bottle this way every beverage industry can utilize it.

Interview

Stina Häglund, Nordic Brand Manager