Interview with Neslihan Utkan

Neslihan Utkan, Head of Consumer Care North America at Clariant
Clariant

Congratulations on the opening of your new Consumer Care Innovation Center in New Jersey, USA. How does this center fit into Clariant’s global strategy and why North America? 

The opening of our new Consumer Care and Innovation Center (CCIC) in New Jersey is an important part of our global growth and innovation strategy and what that really means is that it is all about our customers, designed with their needs in mind to meet the challenges arising from convenience lifestyle trends, the growing awareness of sustainability and the desire for luxury. We feel that by expanding Clariant’s position as an inspirational thought leader in Consumer Care, close to the source of leading trends and innovations, we can support our customers in the region with the formulas and services required to capitalize on them. Our Business Unit Industrial & Consumer Specialties will play a significant part in advancing this, as we further accelerate its transformation into a leading supplier with a focus on optimizing our portfolio of ingredients to have high performing, sustainable alternatives and by improving our global supply chain. And why North America? Simply, the region is one of the global innovation powerhouses in Consumer Care, influencing, challenging and revolutionizing the industry worldwide. For example, we’ve seen the Indie brand revolution originate here, as well as new laundry product formats in Home Care. So, with our focus on sustainabilty and innovation this market is important for our success by accelerating product, application and market development. CCIC will be part of our network of global innovation and technical competence centers and will regularly exchange information with them on our latest developments, solutions and offerings. 

What can your customers expect at this center?

To support our Consumer Care customers, and to ensure we are successful together, we are intensifying our connection on a local level and nurturing innovation that balances technological and market-driven needs. More specifically, that means we will be introducing more concept driven innovation tailored to local trends – what we call “winning concepts” - with substantiated claims that give the market a reason to believe. The New Jersey innovation center is a sister site to our firmly established regional innovation center in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area and we are so excited by its potential, from the collaboration and product co-creation spaces and state of the art application and claim substantiation laboratories, to a salon for consumer testing. This new location provides us with proximity to customers, and speed to market, to meet the rapidly changing trends defined by consumer preferences and driven more and more by influencers on social media. Our goal is to share expertise with customers, and to work together on ideas from concept to consumer testing, delivering  the next generation of innovation in cosmetics. The CCIC gives us capability to work jointly with customers on targeted needs and to quickly produce solutions with substantiated claims that differentiate their brands.

At California Suppliers Day you launched ReMAGINE. Can you tell us more about this?

Absolutely, as it was conceived here by our team and is a great example of what the Personal Care industry can expect from the CCIC! ReMAGINE is the first winning concept to be developed at this center and presents a line of novel formats for skin and hair care that touch multiple trends affecting many North American consumers, where demand for new and convenient experiences to fit busy lifestyles meets the call for more sustainable products. The concept proposes ingredients selected for their mildness, performance and sensory combined into innovative solid single-dosage formats ideal for product refills, an alternative to single use plastic packaging. It really speaks to consumers showing an interest in sustainable and convenient product formats providing both inspiration and concrete solutions to help consumer care brands capitalize on these trends.

Is this launch focused on the North American market only? How strong is the North American Market?

We are so proud that the ReMAGINE concept has our local stamp! It was ‘made in New Jersey’ - designed in North America for North America. But it also has global relevance too because of the influence that the North American market has on Consumer Care innovation and trends around the world. It’s hard to think of another market that has so much of an influencing, challenging and revolutionizing role globally. So, our investment in North America, and initiatives such as ReMAGINE, are strategic steps in expanding our local, and global, position in Consumer Care. North America is set to become the second largest market for Clariant, having contributed 20% to the FY 2018 sales and we will continue to deploy resources to strengthen our presence here, as well as in China and Asia, where we also see good potential to achieve above market growth.

ReMAGINE concept website: http://www.clariant.com/remagine