PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2011

PREFORM PRODUCTION 38 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 10/11 www.petpla.net The Editour from Germany to Azerbaijan and back Go to Brau Beviale by Alexander Büchler Nuremberg Ljubljana Sofia Istanbul Izmir Bucharest Brasov Oradea Budapest Zagreb Beograd Go to Brau Beviale May 2011: The idea is born A camper van is an expedition vehicle pure and simple. The idea of using a holiday home as a fact-finding bureau came to us over lunch at our favourite Italian restaurant round the corner from our offices. What could we possi- bly do that would be simply extraordinary? With the Brau Beviale Fair in Nuremberg in mind, we thought “let’s criss-cross Europe and find out what is really going on in the various mar- kets”. And thus was born the idea of the camper van. The “we” in this case consists of Alexander Büchler and me, Kay Krüger. True to the motto “How far can we go?“, we jointly devised an interesting route taking in Nuremberg, home of the Brau Beviale and far- away Baku, Azerbaijan, then returning to Nurem- berg via a different route, just in time for the start of the Fair. We estimated we would prob- ably need five weeks in total for this, inclusive of visits to several PET bottlers in the eleven different countries we would be crossing. Wasn’t there something about Azerbaijan? Of course – the Azerbaijani duo Ell and Nikki won the Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf in mid-May 2011, thus securing the next contest for Baku in 2012. “How about arranging an interview to ask them about which beverages they prefer in PET? It would certainly be a highlight of the tour“, we thought to ourselves and made a mental note to fix up a meeting. In the annals of PET- planet, this trip, if it succeeded, would be the most intense and formative we have ever carried out. And to round it off, we would then be pre- senting the material we have collected from all the PET companies we have visited, ready to present our findings on our stand in Hall 7A Stand 720 at the Fair, both in text and product format. This will be in addition to the travel reports we will be putting on our blog as the tour progresses. I, Kay, have been appointed Project Leader. So, without further ado, let’s go! June 2011: Initial preparations The concept had been defined and the indi- vidual tour points roughly determined. Messe Nürnberg had been informed, they thought it a very good idea and announced that they would give us support on the marketing front. Now we were ready to embark on the first planning phase of the tour as such. We drew up list after list of all the things we would need for such a lengthy trip. The lists were endless. And pretty soon we were able to see from calcula- This is a new departure for PETplanet, as we prepare for and then undertake the most gruelling editorial trip in the history of PET- planet. Alexander Büchler and Kay Krüger have set an ambitious target of eleven coun- tries and some 50 company visits. Europe to Asia Minor – there and back again. Now, by visiting www.braubeviale.petpla.net, yo u will be able to follow us every step of the way and keep in touch as our journey pro- gresses. The history of the regional report goes back a long way to the time when it was still known by the name “growth market report“. Our first story, back in 2006, featured Turkey. And now, five years later, it is appropriate that we return to that country to see whether it has justifiably earned the title of “growth market“. The consumption per head of packaged beverages was, at that time, around 76l per year, and the industry was experiencing an annual growth of 10%. Turkey is only the start of our adventure. We begin our journey in Germany, pass through Austria, head- ing for our first appointments in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia before embarking on our return journey with an additional detour taking us through Bulgaria and Romania. We may not be able to conjure up a regional report from each