Convergence

Trend - Cheddar is becoming a popular ingredient in desserts--combining sweet and savory flavors for consumers with relatively adventurous palettes. Brands are offering novelty products like cheese-flavored ice cream, or they're creating cheddar dessert snacks that would appeal to more consumers.

Insight - Social media has made more consumers branch out of their comfort zones, including in what they choose to eat and drink. As people are introduced to interesting cuisines, ingredients, and "hacks," they're more open to trying flavors and combinations that were previously unknown to them. Brands that combine novelty with universally loved flavors are able to appeal to more consumers.

Trend - New startups are launching generative AI-powered platforms for language education. These platforms improve on previous language education services by delivering more advanced feedback, streamlined lessons, and reduced costs for consumers.

Insight - The largest and most successful language education platforms focus on short-session, asynchronous learning models. These consumers prioritize flexibility, choosing platforms that fit into their busy lifestyles. However, many platforms with flexible lessons are less effective than real-time, scheduled, human-led lessons. Brands are now mixing the convenience of asynchronous platforms with the effectiveness of lessons curated by human teachers by using advanced generative AI to power educational platforms.

Trend - Brands in the several consumables industries, such as cosmetics and food, have begun using containers made out of sugarcane bagasse. This is a pulpy, fibrous material gained from drying and crushing sugarcane. This is affordable, food-safe, biodegradable, and temperature-resistant.

Insight - Some of the industries most affected by the push for sustainable packaging are foodservice and food retail. Consumers prefer when these products are fully sustainable, as there is no need for foods, particularly CPGs, to be packaged or individually wrapped with single-use plastics. However, these consumers are still drawn to more affordable products, and do not want to pay a large markup. This creates pressure for brands to find low-cost sustainable food-safe packaging solutions.

Trend - Brands in the home appliance space are launching smart fridges with UV light-controlled crispers that mimic the sun cycle. These fridges extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables and ensure the foods retain as many vitamins as possible. This technology saves consumers money and time.

Insight - As North American consumers become more interested in personal health and wellness, these consumers incorporate this lifestyle into their daily routines. This includes healthy eating, exercise, and other wellness products. However, as natural, organic foods often retail for more than the regular alternatives, these consumers aim to reduce costs and preserve their foods for longer. This created a space in the industry for smart storage appliances that extend the life of foods.

Trend - Startups are combining multiple artificial intelligence (AI)-based services into comprehensive platforms that generate custom advertisements. These use image, video, and text-generation to create entire marketing campaigns, streamlining the process for clients, and saving on time and budget.

Insight - Brands are often tasked with creating marketing campaigns with heavily limited time and budgets, leading to less-than-ideal outcomes in order to deliver on time. These brands desire more efficient services in each aspect, as increasing the ROI on advertising is a top priority for marketing departments. However, these brands cannot sacrifice decision-making control, margin of error, or quality, creating a demand for low-cost, customizable, quick marketing services powered by AI.

Trend - Brands in the kitchenware and appliance industries are creating compact, low-power alternatives to large utilities such as dishwashers and microwaves. These are designed to be portable cost-saving measures, requiring less resources to operate while also being suitable for multi-homes.

Insight - Many consumers choose not to use large, power-hungry appliances in the home, for example, choosing to do dishes by hand rather than with a dishwasher due to rising hydro bills. Each additional appliance takes more space out of the kitchen, with ovens, dishwashers, microwaves, and more, taking up the majority of the floor and counter space. This creates a demand not only for smaller, more compact appliances, but also for those that are more energy-efficient and portable.

Trend - Brands are launching new focus-enhancing technology designed to help students better concentrate on their work in remote or hybrid learning environments. These products and features help immerse students in their school work, showcasing the benefits of technology in the classroom and eliminating procrastination and potential distractions from outside sources.

Insight - The rapid rise of remote learning, in hybrid classes, or in busy environments has posed issues for some kids. Distractions in these environments, and/or varying learning styles, can make remote learning a challenge for some students. As a result, parents and educators are becoming interested in technological resources that promote concentration, which helps ensure their students receive the same quality of education without external factors interfering. Focus technology helps students refine their fine motor skills while filtering out background noise, which is especially important for kids under 10.

Trend - Brands are creating ultrasonic purifiers that extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. These purifiers use ultrasonic waves to kill bacteria that grow on food during spoilage significantly more effectively than washing with water, saving customers money and reducing food waste.

Insight - With food prices rising at sharp rates due to inflation and other economic factors, the average consumer can not afford to have food spoil before it is eaten. These customers want food to be readily available for cooking, meaning they do not want to freeze food to extend its life. As a result, these customers turn to technological solutions that can preserve foods for longer without requiring extra prep time or work when the food is needed.

Trend - Brands are tapping into nostalgic soda flavors, reimagining these drinks as health-positive products filled with probiotics.
These items satisfy nostalgic desires for hearty, classic sodas while simultaneously boosting consumers' gut health.

Insight - Many consumers remember the joy of drinking soda as a youth. However, far fewer customers continue to drink soda in adulthood for health reasons.
These consumers desire to recapture these flavorful, youthful experiences, but not to the detriment of their own health. Therefore these
customers place pressure on brands to create better-for-you products that appease nostalgia.

Trend - While many consumers are familiar with traditional forms of sanitation, such as alcohol-based cleaning products, the pandemic caused more people to get familiar with contactless, electrostatic sprayers for disinfection. These are advanced tools that create barriers against harmful bacteria

Insight - The pandemic caused more importance than ever to be placed on sanitation. From hand sanitizer to medical masks, consumers are now more familiar than ever with critical sanitization practices. With lockdowns creating the perception that the home is a clean, safe sanctuary, many customers have researched new ways to maintain home cleanliness without investing too much time or money. Brands are responding to this by repurposing industrial sanitization technologies for the home.