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Selling plant-based diets to Gen Alpha

KiddiWinks, US

New York – New plant-based milk brand KiddiWinks understands that selling to Gen Alpha primarily means selling to their parents. The balance of appealing visuals, nutritional information and educational storytelling is crucial.

Created by Brooklyn-based Young Jerks, with website design by London creative agency Wildish & Co, KiddiWinks’ eye-catching branding identity and packaging system features an illustration-led design system, placing playful typography and cute animal characters at the heart of the brand.

‘We wanted this to feel natural and cool – to have kids want to drink a non-dairy milk, but also to get parents to choose this non-dairy milk, because it’s something they feel they can trust,’ says Kelly Thorn, senior art director at Young Jerks.

KiddiWinks is initially being sold online in the US and the brand typifies the next progression for plant-based diets, which is tailoring them for kids, as we explore in our Design Direction, Pliable Playscapes.

Strategic opportunity

The alternative foods market for younger generations is ripe for innovation, yet marketing food and drink products to younger generations must hit the intersection of sustainability and health – both key drivers in parents’ purchasing decisions

Onward app tackles finance for divorced parents

US – As family finance app Onward raises £7.9m ($9.7m, €9.2m) in Series A funding this autumn, it highlights a market for products that target less traditional family structures.

With about 37% of US marriages ending in divorce, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics, Onward founder Jacklyn Rome hopes the app will take some of the heat out of divorce, co-parenting and finance. Its mission is focused on ‘improving the lives of co-parents and creating happier homes for the next generation’.

The app aims to reduce friction in communication between co-parents, and makes it easier to see who owes whom and to pay one another back. It also keeps a record of all expenses history for children, pets and other shared expenditure.

Onward wants to build a strong and uplifting consumer brand to empower co-parents in their next stage of life. ‘We’re determined to continue to build products that reduce friction in their lives and deliver social impact by enabling them to be better parents to the next generation,’ adds Rome.

Photography by Pixabay

Strategic opportunity

Onward’s approach to reframing the often stigmatising narrative around divorce is positive and optimistic. It is much needed in an underserved market, as we highlight in our focus on Uncoupled Living

Muslims’ faith increasingly affecting personal spending decisions

Photography by Cottonbro

Southeast Asia – Resurgent Muslim faith is transforming consumerism in Southeast Asia, according to a recent survey by Wunderman Thompson Intelligence and VMLY&R Malaysia.

Muslims of today believe they are more religious than their parents were at their age, with just 21% saying they are less observant than their parents, and 45% saying they are just as devout. Some 91% say their relationship with God is very important in their life, on a par with health (91%) and family (89%). Wealth, passion and fame were low on the priority list.

The purpose of the study, however, was not only to highlight the evolving narrative on religion, but also to demonstrate the effect it has on purchasing habits. ‘Muslim consumers are increasingly overlaying their religious beliefs on purchase decisions, and how they do so is constantly evolving,’ says Chen May Yee, Asia-Pacific director for Wunderman Thompson Intelligence. While categories such as beauty and fashion have started to pay attention to a quarter of the world’s population, there are still various industries that should be considering this audience. ‘New technologies bring new questions – for example, is the metaverse halal?’ says Chen May Yee.

Strategic opportunity

Think beyond conventional categories that cater for Muslim audiences and consider how evolving industries could adapt and react to the needs and desires of this population.

This week: Future Forecast 2023

Victoria Ling for The Future Laboratory

Launching this Thursday, our new Future Forecast 2023 collection will highlight the top 50 consumer trends for 2023. The report and webinar collection, featuring a PDF report and 30-minute webinar, explores how businesses can use the trends that will shape consumer behaviour in the coming months, and discover unexpected areas of growth. It covers 10 sectors:

: Beauty

: Health & Wellness

: Food

: Drink

: Travel & Hospitality

: Luxury

: Fashion

: Retail

: Media & Technology

: Youth

Innovation through turbulence and uncertainty can be used to take on the challenges that are designed to make tomorrow different, but crucially, to make it better and more regenerative.

Stay tuned

Stay tuned for the launch of both the report and the webinar on Thursday 8 December. We hope that the collection inspires you to continue to make a better future happen