LSN : Daily Signals : Can lab-grown cocoa butter save the chocolate industry?

PJL positions showjumping for the fandom economy

PJL branding by Not Wieden+Kennedy, UK

UK – Branding agency NOT Wieden+Kennedy has developed the visual identity and launch campaign for the Premier Jumping League (PJL), a new global equestrian jumping league.

Designed to elevate showjumping, the identity shifts focus away from heritage prestige and sponsor visibility toward emotional storytelling, signalling how niche sports are being reframed to compete within a broader landscape.

The branding uses messaging such as ‘Not all athletes are human’, speaking to what makes the sport ‘truly unique’ – the relationship between horse and rider. A launch film captures rarely seen close-range angles of riders guiding 600kg horses over 1.6m jumps.

As emerging leagues compete for attention, sports branding is increasingly tasked with building fandom through spectacle, storytelling and cultural accessibility. You can read more about how fandom is evolving in our Game-Changers: The Future of Sports Fandom report.

From Baller League to E1, our Next-Gen Sports report spotlights the emerging sports formats that are accelerating fan engagement and attracting significant investment.

Strategic opportunity

Look beyond legacy sports audiences and identify overlooked passionate communities. Build brand partnerships around niche leagues, ritualised viewing moments and athlete storytelling to access highly engaged fandoms

Can lab-grown cocoa butter save the chocolate industry?

Chocolate bar made with cell-cultured cocoa butter, Celleste Bio and Mondelēz International, Israel and US

US, Israel – Mondelēz International has produced a dozen milk chocolate bars using cell-cultured cocoa butter developed by Celleste Bio, signalling a step towards commercial-scale adoption of lab-grown ingredients.

Israeli start-up Celleste first produced chocolate-grade cocoa butter in 2025. It aims to scale production within two years and reach 50,000 tonnes annually by 2035 – around 5% of the 2m tonnes required by the global chocolate industry.

Cocoa butter, which underpins chocolate’s texture and melt, accounts for nearly half of the sector’s £12bn ($16bn, €13bn) annual spend on cocoa ingredients (source: Food Dive). Celleste’s version is bio-identical, allowing manufacturers to integrate it without altering recipes or processes.

In Is Cocoa Past Its Sell-By Date? we unpack the cocoa industry’s supply chain volatility and the rise of cocoa-free alternatives. Celleste, however, positions cell-cultured cocoa as a supplementary solution that stabilises supply while preserving the taste, texture and familiarity consumers expect.

Strategic opportunity

As climate volatility disrupts supply chains, FMCG brands should identify high-risk ingredients and partner with bio-innovation partners to create alternative solutions that future-proof their businesses

Stat: AI boosts productivity but fuels job anxiety

AI imagery by The Future Laboratory, UK

Global – A new survey of 81,000 users of Anthropic’s AI model Claude highlights a growing tension at the heart of the AI economy: rising productivity paired with deepening concern about job security.

Conducted by Anthropic, the survey reveals that one in five respondents express fears about AI-driven displacement, with anxiety highest among workers in roles that are most exposed to AI automation and those who are early in their careers: for every 10-percentage-point rise in AI task exposure, the perceived job threat increased by 1.3 points.

At the same time, users reported strong productivity gains, with most people saying that because of AI they are ‘substantially more productive’. In addition, 60% of early-career workers indicated that they personally benefit from AI, and 80% of senior professionals.

Launching next month, our newest Communities report, The Tech-Resisters, introduces a growing cohort of consumers who are rethinking their relationships to technology and are taking back control in an increasingly automated world. Sign up here to be the first to know when the report launches.

Strategic opportunity

Move beyond productivity narratives to design for worker agency – embed transparency, upskilling and human override into AI systems and position your AI tools as a co-pilot for careers rather than a catalyst for displacement