FMI, GMDC to Co-Produce Health and Wellness Conference

ORLANDO, Fla. — Food Marketing Institute and Global Market Development Center said Tuesday the two associations plan to partner in offering a comprehensive conference in 2013, focused on health, beauty and wellness.
 

The announcement was made during FMI’s 
second annual Health and Wellness Conference here, March 18-21, drawing some 300 attendees, according to FMI.

Next year’s FMI and GMDC event will take place May 31-June 4, 2013, at the JW Marriott Hill Country in San Antonio, which was to be the site of GMDC’s annual HBW Marketing Conference.

Cathy Polley, FMI’s vice president for health and wellness and executive director of the FMI Foundation, told SN that both FMI and GMDC have been growing their separate conferences and are now at the point were collaboration allows the organizations “to combine resources and offer food retailers and wholesalers a stronger integrated conference.”  

The meeting will bring food retailers and wholesalers, health and beauty suppliers, pharmacists, dietitians and other health related professionals together to explore solutions to meet the broad spectrum of health and wellness needs of consumers.

“In every aisle, the focus is on how can we have an integrated approach and strategy that we can help our members strategize on and deliver on for their consumers,” she said.

Polley noted that the focus of discussion coming out of this year’s conference is on how retailers can help individualize health and wellness for their shoppers. “We’re hoping to give attendees inspiration and ideas to create new programs that really speak to their customers,” she said.

The last time the two organizations partnered was in 2009 when the FMI Pharmacy Conference was co-located with GMDC’s HBW Marketing Conference here.