Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Dig In is your go to source for insights innovation. It's for anyone with a genuine interest in fostering brand and product growth, exploring groundbreaking innovations, and embracing the dynamic world of expanding businesses and brands.
Jess Gaedeke (00:00)
Hi everybody. Welcome to the inspiration episode. This is where I get the benefit of talking to one of my Dig colleagues about the episode that dropped last week. And last week I talked with Tracy Halama who shared a lot about and
protein and fiber. was a really big topic. So I thought who better to bring to chat with us than one of our VPs of our Future Strategy and Innovation Group, Shelby Walsh. So Shelby, thank you so much for joining today to chat about this.
Shelby (00:26)
Yeah, thanks for having me. We've been having this conversation a lot lately, so happy to join.
Jess Gaedeke (00:31)
exactly. So we're going to hop right into it. I know you were able to listen to the Tracy. She talked a lot about how brands like Vital Protein, you know, they helped make once was like a very niche wellness benefit feel mainstream. I'm curious, what do you think today's equivalent is? What's the next ingredient, behavior, or health need that you think it's going to find its way from niche to the everyday?
Shelby (00:52)
Yeah, I think what's coming next, and honestly, this has already started now, is mental wellness through what we consume. So wellness has really been focused on those physical things, things like protein, collagen. ⁓ We continuously have the conversation health. These things are all still very important, still very top of mind for consumers. But what I think that next wave is, is really about how people feel on that day to day. Stress, anxiety, focus, emotional regulation.
And you're seeing this show up in ingredients like, adaptogens or nootropics, but I think more broadly it's showing up in how products are being positioned. So if you look at something like, you know, yesteryear of Red Bull being like high energy, now it's more about calm energy or focused energy. And I think that shift is really reminiscent of the times we're living in, right?
So, you know, Just Read the News Today, you know, people are more stressed out, there's cognitive overload, people are suffering from burnout. These are real problems that people are facing today. And I think they're looking for solutions that fit seamlessly in their lives, not just something that they take when there is a problem, but something that is
you know, a part of that daily ritual really. So in the same way that we've seen collagen become a part of an everyday beauty routine or protein maxing in the realm of food and CPG, I think we're gonna see mood and mental wellness become something that people are actively managing through what they eat and food and beverage on a daily basis. And I think that was on the episode too, is like food as that medicine. And I think that's really important. And I think we're seeing it push past just that physical
like emotional regulation as well.
Jess Gaedeke (02:26)
well I for one am happy about that. It's kind of an interesting world to think about if you can select a product that will fit your mood in the moment. So if you're shopping the beverage aisle in your favorite store and you just happen to be a little bit down that day or maybe you're feeling super optimistic and you want to keep it going, it's just interesting to think that we can select how to enhance our mood in the moment as well. That's kind of a cool futuristic at play now.
thing that really stood out from the conversation with Tracy is just how much education is required in certain categories. So whether you are talking about collagen or fiber or functional health. as consumers do get more ingredient literate, how do you think that changes the future of brand building and innovation?
Shelby (03:07)
Yeah, this is an interesting time to be having this discussion because I think, you know, consumer education has always mattered. It always will. But it's what's changing here is who controls that education layer. And brands have a lack of control right now, presenting both risk and opportunity. So we're moving from this world where, you know, there were experts. It was top down. We kind of had a monolith of culture. But now we're moving from maybe Google was that gatekeeper of information before. But now we live in a world of AI.
or where we search for that data also reaps or even personalize what we should be eating or consuming in our diet, recommendations from AI or chat GBT, TikTok, influencers, they're really shaping what people believe to be true in those systems. Just don't answer questions, they also shape how we think about wellness and what we're consuming as a whole. So I think the opportunity is really to show up in these ecosystems, whether that's AI search, whether that's
creator partnerships or communities, can actually shape how their category is understood by these types of partnerships and being participatory in these new kind of emerging ways that consumers are getting their information. The risk here, of course, as always, is fun where we always keep hearing misinformation, things like oversimplification, or even pay to play dynamics, which we're seeing seep into AI right now.
really, really interesting and could really shape the game of what that means for consumer packaged goods and nearly any industry really.
Jess Gaedeke (04:37)
Yeah, think that's such an interesting you know, Tracy made the point that certain brands win because they create in immediate felt benefit while others, like she talked about vital protein, those are things that take time for the person to realize the benefit. So they sort of have to build loyalty for things that are billed. What do you think about the future of innovation? Do you think it's going to belong more to the instantly felt products or the brands that have to be sort of believed before they're felt?
Shelby (05:07)
it's so hard to say, but I think the future doesn't exclusively belong to instant results. But what I will say is we live in a culture of instant gratification. We're in this era of compressed timelines. We can get same day delivery, sometimes delivery within a few hours, instant streaming. And now the mindset is really bleeding into the results that we expect from what we're purchasing, what we're putting in our bodies.
Even if you look at things like GLP-1 drugs, which you see a celebrity step out three months later and you're like, wow, they've dropped all this, this is crazy. They're now manufacturing GLP-1 drugs that can now help you drop not only more weight, but more weight faster within a matter of weeks instead of months. I think brands that win in the long-term are really getting a bridge between instant and delayed gratification. So they're giving you that kind of small immediate signal like.
Maybe that product tastes really good, you won't see the effect later, but I'm still getting that bit of indulgence and enjoyment right now where I'm having a great experience with it. And there are also brands that are reinforcing those long-term benefits through education, community, and rituals. So that's where what we talked about before comes in play. How are we educating about that? How are we making community around that? How's that part of my ritual to be like, I'm doing something for myself, whether that is indulgence or whether that is as well.
And I think ritual is a key thing here. It's a brand unlock. You how are we fitting into daily routines? How are we reducing the need for that constant proof point be a part of their lives in a meaningful way? So definitely think a bit about but instant gratification. I mean, that's that's the world we're living in today.
Jess Gaedeke (06:40)
if I can build on that, you talked about the immediate gratification, and it's just got me wondering, what's the future of patience? Because I've got two teenagers, and they can't even sit down and watch a movie. I mean, it's truly so different. so do you think is happening with our psyches and our ability to wait for any benefit to play out?
Shelby (07:00)
Yeah, I think about this a lot having a five-year-old daughter as well. Like we live in a world that's frictionless. She tries to scroll on a magazine to get to the next piece of content. She calls me when there's a commercial saying somebody changed my show. She has no idea of, you know, a family sitting down to watch a movie together and having to debate which channel we're watching today. So I think that, you know, this next generation
completely grown up in a frictionless culture. And I now think with agentic AI as well, that's even elevated. So I think those expectations are getting heightened that we can have those long-term results that we're building off of, but we want to see something right away. And those are the things that are also stickier in headlines, unfortunately, as well. When we talk about this influencer culture, when it relates to foods or other products, that's what people are talking about. Instant results, fast results, how they bought those. Of course,
over time and building on that is important as well, but we seem to be in the cycle of frictionless culture for better or for worse.
Jess Gaedeke (08:02)
speaking on that impulsivity, I'm going to throw one of the questions that I ask our guests. What's the last product you bought on impulse?
Shelby (08:08)
okay, so I was at the airport in Chicago. flight was delayed. This is a moment of weakness where I'm like, you know what, this extra three hours, what am gonna do with it? Ooh, I gotta have a treat. So I picked up a bag of, they're called peelers. So they're these gummy candies. I don't usually gravitate toward gummy candies, but love these because they're like a sensorial type of thing. They take a long time to chew, but you can actually peel them. They're two different textures in the middle and in the outside.
originated somewhere in Asia and they've just been picked up and gone viral. They have so many flavors just because they are such a unique experience. for me, I was like, I need some sugar. This will do me. I'm going to consider it as market research
Jess Gaedeke (08:48)
Totally, expense that, absolutely. I can't wait to try that. Thanks for sharing Get something new on my radar.
Shelby (08:52)
Thank
Jess Gaedeke (08:54)
So in the conversation, we heard a lot about how fiber, gut health, right? This broader shift from better for you toward food as medicine. So I'm curious from your perspective,
wellness trends have real staying power, but which ones might be getting more attention than they deserve.
Shelby (09:08)
Yeah, think wellness right now is really being transformed by the K-shape economy that we keep hearing about. So on one end, you have consumers that are really on that upper part of that K investing in premium at-home wellness. So think red light therapy masks, cold plunges, continuous health tracking and tech devices. These are replacing for these types of consumers clinic visits.
with convenience and control. So they can do this in the comfort of their own home when they want to do it at their own discretion and discreetly as well. So this is not something that's a short-term trend. We know that with this K-shaped economy, some consumers have more disposable income. So this is a structural shift where we're seeing people really investing in kind of clinical grade outcomes, but on their own terms and on their own turf. And I think when we look at something that's overhyped,
I think anything with a single kind of miracle ingredient. I think there's been a lot of hype around, ashwagandha or green powders, but I think the future is less about this one hero ingredient, more about holistic systems. So how am I solving gut health or metabolic health, hormonal health? think consumers, as you said before, are getting smarter about the ingredients they're active within their own bodies. And I think...
they're starting to look at products in terms of outcomes, not just those ingredients. So I think even the way that we frame them in retail stores, could there be a section for these sort of outcomes instead of type of product they are? So I think that that would be a really interesting future to live in. That's a plausible one as well.
Jess Gaedeke (10:38)
Yeah, love talking to you and anyone on your team. Every time I get to spend some time with you guys, I feel a little smarter. So thank you for sharing your wisdom and some of your perspective and hot takes on that conversation with Tracy. So I appreciate you taking time, Shelby. This is a great conversation.
Shelby (10:52)
Thanks so much for having me.