Food Trends Come True

Our annual food trends report comes out next month, and it prompted us to go back and look at the last two annual food trends reports. You can view 2017 here, and 2018 here. We started to spot a few similarities between trends we noted and subsequent client projects. Here are a handful of trends that have been elevated by our clients. 

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Consumers are on a health kick, and both food and beverage span a range of health and wellness needs. When we talked about this trend in 2017, we were looking at no-sugar beverages, tonics and shrubs, and non-alcoholic seltzers but teased that vitamins, minerals and supplements would be the next big thing. And then they were.

Nature’s Way: Brand strategy, packaging design and segmentation strategy for a leading wellness brand. See the project here.

Natural Elevations: Packaging design for a new line of CBD tinctures and bars. See the project here.

CAULIFLOWER

Cauliflower is still hot. We’re starting to liken it to the coconut trend, where every last food and beverage type leverages it. Okay, maybe not beverages in cauli’s case. In 2017, Nielsen reported cauliflower could be found in 36 different categories across the grocery store and sales had doubled in one year to $17 million. Today, it’s expanded into ice cream.

Farm to Spoon: Brand creation and package design for a new line of vegetable-based frozen desserts. See the project here.

S’MORES

S’mores are not news but its revitalization is. We initially teased it as a fall out trend from glamping and a renewed love of camping from Xennials, but it’s so much more than a by-the-fire-at-the-KOA dessert. Take a spin around Pinterest and the new seasonalization of “Autumn” and you’ll see more s’mores than you’ll know what to do with.

Hershey’s S’mores Campaign: A seasonal multi-platform campaign for Hershey’s S’mores. See the project here.

BOTANICALS

Used in both food and beverage, botanicals add health and flavor to a broad range of products. It plays to the health and wellness crowd with superfood stars like ginseng; it also adds a unique twist for the taste buds of mixologists and foodies.

Twisted Shrub: Branding and package design for a new apple cider vinegar drink mixer. See the project here.

PURPLE FOOD

Purple lined up nicely last year with Pantone’s color of the year (Ultra Violet) and Fig named as the flavor of the year. Purple sweet potatoes, yube, purple tea and elderberry have all given purple a pretty good reputation nutritionally (those antioxidants!) and pictorially (see Instagram). We recently worked with Cascadian Farm on their redesign and in the launch of their fruit infused bars, noted their use of purple carrots and beets.

Cascadian Farm: A beloved organic cereal brand moves their design from farm-forward to food-fantasy. See the project here.

PROBIOTICS

Last year, we highlighted the confusion over probiotics: What does it do to the microbiome? Are they all the same? Do we need prebiotics and probiotics? We were thrilled to work with the Fortify Probiotics team on not only updating their branding, but tightening their communication to help shoppers in the aisle make sense of this category.