GLP-1: the New Gluten-Free?
GLP-1: the New Gluten-Free?
Finnish juices, tequila popcorn, yiayia and friends
We’re on Fast Company discussing talking water wars, the vice-fication of water with brands like Not Beer and Natural Spirit, why no one cares about water from Fiji or the Alps anymore, why we're seeing a repeat of LaCroix Water positioning and why PepsiCo and Coca-Cola can't come close to Liquid Death.
What we’re discussing in this issue—
Will Starbucks de-ethnicize boba tea?
GLP-1 is the new “gluten-free”
Exploring Brand Universes v.2
Spoonful of News
Will Starbucks de-ethnicize boba tea?
Starbucks announced it would be launching their “boba” inspired drinks over the summer—the drinks come in raspberry, blueberry and blackberry flavors and will be using “raspberry flavored pearls.” As opposed to traditional boba (made from tapioca) SBUX 0.00%↑ is using what is know as “popping boba”—though Starbucks had been testing iterations of drinks featuring tapioca back in 2021, a year which also saw Dunkin’ Donuts give it a try. Though most of the reactions online are seemingly welcoming, Starbucks baristas seem to be dreading it and as well as some brands like Bobabam, are calling them out. The brand claims Starbucks announcing this during AAPI-Heritage Month is a major miss, ‘skirting the questions around boba’s cultural heritage and saying “boba-like” or “boba-inspired,” Starbucks isn’t paying homage to boba’s Taiwanese roots - especially during AAPI-Heritage month.’ Furthermore, Bobabam is launching a campaign to demonstrate demand for real boba to Starbucks, you can sign the petition here, asking for traditional boba to be on the menu alongside “flavored pearls” —what they are referring to as “fauxboba.”
Isn’t this just Starbuck’s playbook—is it really possible to “de-ethnicize” something like boba? In a LinkedIn post, Dr. James Richardson, author of Ramping Your Brand (best practices guide for founders and investors in early-stage CPG space) he notes—
“Starbucks is a marketing machine that truly has the power to de-ethnicize a Taiwanese drink category (Boba). Yes, they do. That's the power of fast food capitalism in the modern world.
Taking a foreign term, "boba," and simply anglicizing it will absolutely help mainstream the boba experience well beyond America's Boba shops.
Then, slowly, what will happen? Perhaps nothing. If this line fails.
Or...a new beverage category will emerge...
"pearl soft drink" or "pearled beverage"
OR "with pearls" will become a standard beverage modification like "light" or "with pulp" (less impressive)”
It wouldn’t be the first time Starbucks is able to pull something like this off—one need only to look at the ubiquity of matcha in the US, which can be traced back to Starbuck’s green tea latte (skirting around culture) introduced almost 2 decades ago (2006)—a decade later, it would be taking the US by storm. The same can be said about hibiscus, introduced via their refreshers that were launched more than a decade ago (2012)—you can check out our deep dive into the rise of the ingredient, and like clockwork, 10 years later, The New York Times would declare hibiscus as the “flavor of the year” for 2022. Is this a weird CPG version of tragedy of the commons?
Do we think in 10 years from now boba will experience a similar boom?
Is GLP-1 becoming the new gluten-free?
Look we hate to say “we told you so” —but we did? While every media headline was creating panic in CPG with incendiary headlines around Ozempic and the impending doom for snacks and meals, we reminded you that not only does this industry have deep pockets, but they have also survived every health wave from atkins, to sugar-free, to carb-free, to gluten-free, keto and so forth. We told you that we would see these food giants pivot into creating GLP-1 friendly meals and Nestlé has now made that a reality—debuting their new line Vital Pursuit, frozen meals that consists of portion foods with high protein as well as a good source of fiber, to be companion to those on semaglutides.
Earlier this year Daily Harvest launched their GLP-1 friendly meals and Nutrisystem launched their GLP-1 friendly kits. Though it is starting to feel that this will ultimately become a new buzzword—similar to how Oreo began to tout itself as “vegan” —and how ultimately organic became devoid of meaning.
The World of Yiayia and Friends
Before you continue reading this section—we suggest you refer back to our piece on building brand universes. This is the second installation of mapping out our favorite brand worlds, our first one was obviously Ghia’s. If you do enjoy these visualizations—leave your favorite food and beverage candidates in the comments below to see if we map it out next!
Yiayia and Friends was founded and developed by Beet Root Design 7 years ago, an homage to simplicity, tradition and culinary comfort—through beautiful visuals and storytelling using their main character “yiayia” or grandmother in Greek. Similar to great childhood characters like “Strega Nonna” —Yiayia holds an air of mysticism, her friends both human and animals that help her grow, cook and share her food. Like we mention in “Process of Creation” every brand universe must first start with a strong core—which develops a natural gravitational pull, at the core of Yiayia’s universe—culinary comfort, familiarity, home, tradition, re-introduced to newer generations in a format that is equal parts aesthetic and Disney-style IP building.
The brand started with olive oil, late rexpanding into snacks and dry goods, and eventually homeware covering more of the pantry and kitchen space as it’s grown. The brand also features several characters, who themselves serve as the face of each expansion—further adding to their lore.
Their website is an interactive storybook, their flagship store and cafés are physical manifestations of yiayia’s home—filled with knits, embroidery, irreverent colors and tchotchkes and knickknacks galore. Home goods reinforce the feeling of comfort from tableware, to plushies, even one of yiayia herself, pillows and aprons, tote bags and bookmarks, anything that is reminiscent of a grandmotherly presence.
A strong brand has an ever expanding universe, with every addition reinforcing its core, the gravitational pull remains the same.
Foxtrot’s US bankruptcy court letter adds salt to the wound.
Former employees and vendors all received the same “sowwy we can’t pay, we broke” letter. Thanks to all who shared and express their discontent particularly around line 8…
Are people really switching McDonald’s for Sweetgreen?
Bloomberg tries to argue that but it’s clearly out of touch with reality because people are doing family meal style hacks to feed their families using fast food because they can’t afford groceries, both Wendy’s and McDonald’s are introducing value menus over the summer as it’s forecast that consumers are gonna be pulling back, good luck to everyone else, Chipotle will be fine of course.
Liquid Death is giving away a jet, for real this time.
New campaign mocks Pepsi’s failed attempt back in the 90s when they did NOT honor their promise. The jet itself costs $400k, and comes with 6 months of free hangar space.
Target is following in Walmart’s footsteps and lowering prices.
Biden is taking credit for it, he wishes!
In news that I wish was AI, Rudy Giuliani launches coffee brand.
This electric spoon enhances flavors without the salt.
It’s supposedly healthier because it increases the umami flavors without having to add more sodium to meals. Fascinating.
Iowa joins Arizona and Florida in regulating alternatives.
Known as the “Iowa Meat Integrity Bill,” which mandates specific labeling requirements for lab-grown and plant-based imitation meat and egg products sold in the state.
Effective July 1, products that include lab-grown meat and plant-based meat alternatives will need to be labeled with terms such as “fake,” “lab-grown,” “meatless,” “imitation,” or “vegan.”
WeStock is taking their rebate program to next level with Doordash.
Bowl Cut is expanding into cooking sauces.
The bottles look insanely sexy, can;t wait to try.
May I introduce you to boozy popcorn?
NGL, I’m invested in that tequila lime flavor.
New wave of Yassified Italian brands.
I was going over a catalogue of products from an Italian product distributor, as one does on a Wednesday afternoon, and to my surprise I found a few yassified Italian brands, Millennial blanding is a global epidemic, truly.
Amazing new work for Finnish brand Valio, by illustrator Eija Vehviläinen.
Re boba, can we 1st blame S’bucks for everyone saying Chai Tea, before we let them dumb down another bevvy category?
The electric spoon from Kirin is truly fascinating. It sounds like science fiction with just enough science to make you wonder. I'm still not going to buy his lickable TV however, lol