Valio at leading startup event Slush with brand new dairy products, establishing new standard of "Purity"

SHANGHAI, Sept. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Valio, a Finnish dairy company with over 100 years experience, known for the  motto of "combining the great taste with innovative thinking", attended a leading startup and technology event Slush. Both Vailo and Slush come from one of the most innovative countries, Finland. The Slush event at Shanghai Automobile Exhibition Center unveiled a grand ceremony of startups, technology and investments. As an exclusive VIP partner of the event providing food and beverages, Valio which boasts a reputation of innovation, brought to the event its new pure milk and world-class master butter. The new products will also be launched on JD.com and other platforms for more Chinese consumers to experience the Nordic healthy life philosophy.

Since it was founded in Helsinki in 2008, Slush has been dedicated to building a startup cluster of global influence in the past decade. Now it is one of the biggest events for startup and technology companies in the EU. This year's event focused on the top 5 cutting-edge areas in the technology field and gathered over 100 leading actors, founders and top speakers to witness the birth of future technology unicorns.

Innovative Products with Nobel Genes

At the event, Valio set up a pop-up store at the interaction area, which attracted a lot of people. For closer interaction with consumers and a better environment of communication, Valio also set up a stylish Valio Milk Bar. Through the products and marketing innovation, Valio hopes to spread the idea of sharing nature's goodness with others.

There is always a long queue for popular products. Since the first day of the event, people have been queuing in front of Valio Milk Bar where they can have a taste of new Valio milk, innovative drinks made with new technology and an edible Milk Cup - an innovative limited-offer dessert made from Finnish master butter. Apart from this, following the way people share on the Internet about how they eat the Chocolate Milk Cups, visitors can also experience its extremely wonderful taste.

As a dairy brand with the largest market share in Finland historically, Valio has long been recognized as Finland's national brand. Since its establishment in 1905 until now, Valio has been dedicated to product innovation by extracting essence and inspiration from nature, spending 30 million euros annually on research and quality control. A leading figure of Valio's laboratory, Dr. A. I. Virtanen, invented AIV silage, which laid the groundwork for the production of high quality milk and butter which has a profound significance on the development of dairy industry. Dr. A. I. Virtanen was awarded the Nobel Prize, which also makes Valio the only dairy company in the world with a heritage of Nobel Prize winner.

Guided by the Nobel spirit of innovation, Valio provides better solutions for global health trends using its expertise and technological innovations with more than 100 new products every year. Valio now has about 350 patents in 50 countries, making it a leading innovator in the global dairy market, such as the world's first liquid ready-to-feed infant formula, the world's first lactose free products by patented Valio Eila® technology, and the LGG bacteria in Valio Gefilus® to strengthen the immune system. Valio is getting closer to its goal of becoming the world's most innovative dairy company.

Valio Quality Sets New Standard of "Purity" for Dairy

"Valio has been able to gain trust from the Chinese market in a relatively short period of time because we adopt a 'fresh, safe, and traceable' model worldwide," Valio's Asia-Pacific Managing Director Lu XIAO said. In Finland, milk farmers respect nature and follow the tradition of high quality production. Every cow has a name and we can trace the production of Valio milk from farm to spoon. All Valio products meet the requirements of ISO9001, ISO14001 and HACCP standards. That's why Valio is able to achieve "Happy Cow, High Quality Milk".

Meanwhile, a clean and green environment is also a guarantee for quality. Finland, also known as the "Nordic Milk Kingdom", is one of the greenest countries in the world and one of the few countries with no livestock infectious diseases, according to the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2016 of Yale University. The cool temperature at 60°N makes the place a natural cooler which preserves the authentic flavor of dairy products and ensures purity and cleanness. Because of this, French baking master calls Valio butter "winter butter" which won the first place among unsalted butter in the 2018 Chicago Master Cheese Maker Competition and earned the name the "Rolls-Royce in the world of butter".

An Extraordinary Dairy Giant of over 100 Years Experience

Vailo insists on technology innovation and sustainability of the dairy industry, in the hope of providing North Europe's pure and clean dairy products to more consumers and spreading the natural and pure life philosophy to everyone. So far, Vailo has 12 production bases worldwide and 3 factories abroad and the business is still expanding.

Vailo came to Shanghai this May and established the Retail Department and Food & Beverages Department apart from the Raw Material Department which already existed. The expanding landscape of the business also means that the Chinese market is becoming more important in Vailo's international strategic landscape.

Vailo believes that only by taking roots in the Chinese market and providing more targeted product groups will it fulfill consumer demand for food safety and high quality products in the trend of consumption upgrade. For example, the world's first and biggest lactose free product series was especially suitable for Asians who are more likely to be lactose intolerant. The lactose reduction rate is as high as 99.99%, but it still maintains authentic and fresh milk flavor. Since lactose free milk powder was launched last year, the re-purchase rate has reached 40%.

On September 9, Vailo's new pure milk was launched on JD.com and other platforms, which is another key product targeted at the larger Chinese consumers after lactose free milk powder. World-class master butter will also be launched soon in food service channels, which will bring surprises to Chinese food lovers.

Instead of traditional trading models, Vailo adopts a unique marketing strategy by providing Chinese food lovers with surprises and freshness through customization, be it innovative restaurants, pop-up stores for trial of new food and beverages, star chef classes, or experience tasting journeys from offline to online. Through such innovative ideas, Vailo hopes to attract young Chinese customers and build itself into an imported dairy brand with attitude.

"Vailo is reshaping the way it engages with Chinese consumers through experience and interaction in order to become a different imported dairy brand." We could see that with the debut of the 2 new products, Vailo will bring new challenges to China's dairy market.

SOURCE Valio