In October, we published Redemptive Diets, our 2021 food and drink macrotrend. Here, we examined why global citizens are becoming aware of the need for all industries to have a positive impact on people, planet and profit, transforming how we eat and who we eat with. As a result, Redemptive Diets explores future-fit food systems that will support changing social values, protect precious resources and secure supply chains.

‘Global brands, producers and marketers are required to rectify the vast, negative impacts of their production, exploring how the less impactful solutions of old can be enhanced through technology,' explains Martin Raymond, co-founder of The Future Laboratory. Not only will these more resilient food systems allow us to define our cultural identities and fulfil our broader human needs, they will combine traditional and ancestral approaches with science to mitigate past problematic behaviours and create culturally and environmentally enriching experiences.

As we enter 2022, brands will need to refocus from mass production to catering for niche communities, identities and diets, realising how customers themselves are aligning their beliefs and hopes for the future with what they ingest and imbibe.

In 2021, multiple sectors took the plunge into metaverse environments, inviting consumers to interact with brand offerings virtually. Using this new platform is Canadian whisky brand Crown Royal, whose video campaign, It’s a New World of Cocktails, presented a miniature fictional world, created using 3D printing.

This physical neighbourhood was supported by a ‘fully immersive platform’ in which 3D models enjoy Crown Royal's ready-to-drink cocktails while gaming with friends, playing basketball and socialising at a rooftop party. Understanding the opportunity for consumers to interact with the brand and each other across digital spaces, Crown Royal demonstrates how companies can build immersive branded worlds in order to engage and reach different audiences.

While the spirits sector is traditionally associated with heritage and provenance, this campaign highlights how modernising marketing strategies by applying familiar gaming aesthetics can introduce younger audiences to the world of whisky in an accessible and playful way.

In the spring we shared news of dessert bar Pudu Pudu, created by food brand Dr Oetker as an experiential and tech-friendly food hangout for Generation Z.

Designed to bring young people together in the inter-Covid period, the space opened in Los Angeles and was developed by retail design agency UXUS to be an emotive and immersive dining destination where visitors could seek indulgence as well as social connections. With pastel-coloured interiors and graphic backdrops suited to social media sharing, George Gottl, co-founder and chief creative officer at Uxus, notes: 'The space is designed to celebrate puddings as works of art by focusing on the making process and creating contrasts and balance between each visual element.'

From outdoor seating to table graphics that frame pudding bowls and immersive dessert-making sessions, Pudu Pudu maximises the role of dessert parlours as culturally significant meeting places for young people. Looking ahead to 2022, brands can take cues from such hangout spaces that blend food and entertainment.

Now that you know what shaped 2021, discover what’s on the horizon. Download our Future Forecast 2022 report comprising 50 new trends across 10 key consumer sectors, insights from our analysts and interviews with global innovators.