Sodas receive a health-conscious overhaul with good-for-you nutrients
Implications - Realizing a growing desire for health over flavor, beverage brands are turning to health food ingredients to satiate consumer needs. Revamping traditionally sugar-filled drinks like sodas with antioxidants and superfoods, brands are seeking to provide health-conscious alternatives while still maintaining the familiarity of fun, youthful beverages.
Trend Themes
1. Healthier Alternative Sodas - Beverage brands are revamping sodas with healthier superfood ingredients while maintaining fun, youthful beverages. Disruptive innovation opportunities include developing more unique superfood ingredients in sodas and advertising that paints healthy soda consumption as a trendier and healthier lifestyle choice.
2. Functional Beverages - Functional beverages, including beauty-boosting sodas and drinks with probiotics, are becoming more popular as consumers look for drinks that offer added benefits. Disruptive innovation opportunities include developing new functional ingredients that appeal to specific consumer groups and offering a wider range of flavors for these types of products.
3. Thc-infused Drinks - THC-infused sodas and sparkling beverages are emerging as an alternative to traditional marijuana-infused edibles. Disruptive innovation opportunities include developing new flavors and marketing to a wider audience beyond regular marijuana users.
Industry Implications
1. Beverage Manufacturing - Beverage manufacturers have an opportunity to develop new products with healthier superfood and functional ingredients, as well as to experiment with THC-infused drinks. Healthier sodas also give soda brands the chance to market themselves as trendier and appeal to health-conscious consumers.
2. Functional Food - The trend of functional beverages also applies to the food industry, which can create more products that offer added benefits beyond basic nutrition. Disruptive innovation opportunities include creating functional snacks and desserts that offer added nutritional benefits.
3. Cannabis Industry - As the legalization of marijuana spreads, the cannabis industry offers new possibilities for developing innovative THC-infused drinks, including sodas and sparkling beverages. Disruptive innovation opportunities include developing new flavors and expanding marketing efforts beyond traditional marijuana users.
