CPG Radar

Are Your Branded Ingredients Pulling Their Weight? Picture this: a brand is deciding between two options for their next formula. The generic ingredient: cheaper, reliable. The branded version: more expensive, backed by science. The science looks great, but here’s the real question: Will that branded ingredient actually help you sell more product? Because at the end of the day, there are only two questions that matter: 1. Are the branded ingredients they're already using pulling their weight? 2. Is the branded ingredient they're considering worth it? That’s why with CPG Radar Signals, we look beyond the science and track the commercial power of branded ingredients across 35+ categories, measuring: Price – Can it support a premium that justifies the higher cost? Hero Focus – Does it unlock stronger claims and differentiation on shelf? Sales Impact – Does it impact positive consumer sentiment and sales? When all three trend positive, the case is clear. OmniActive Health Technologies enXtra, for example, shows a +83.61% price premium versus products that contain generic Alpinia galanga, almost 50% more claims and over 99% positive sentiment. Quite the ingredient! That’s science and storytelling translating into commercial impact. And that’s only part of the picture. Signals also tracks a whole host of other metrics like consumer sentiment that include the branded ingredient, how it compares to other branded and generic options and a breakdown of how it's featured in various delivery formats. When you connect the dots across all these dimensions, you don’t just see if an ingredient has science, you see whether it has staying power, differentiation, and real commercial upside. For ingredient companies, going beyond the science story and bringing the commercial value of your ingredients to life can be the difference between a brand saying "interesting ingredient" and "ok let's figure out how to bring this into our portfolio." If you’re ready to see how your branded ingredients are performing in market, and how to turn that into a compelling, three-dimensional story, drop me a line or check out https://lnkd.in/giRmkfAw I’m happy to walk you through what we're seeing with your ingredients!

Over the past year, we’ve been building something we’re really proud of with our Signals platform. I walked NutraIngredients and Stephen Daniells through the new Signals platform to show him exactly how we're turning millions of data points not just into actionable insights, but more importantly, into helping brands and ingredient companies drive strategic decisions and revenue growth. Check out the video interview to see how Signals brings innovation to life! For ingredient partners, we help answer: Where does my ingredient actually win in-market? What claims, formats, and combinations give me an edge? How do I show up differently in front of brands, not just as another supplier? What's going on in the category? How are competitor ingredients stacking up to us? For brands, we help answer: Where is the real whitespace, beyond the noise? What ingredients and claims are actually converting? How do we build products that are not just new, but commercially viable? Is there actual science behind a specific claim? Are consumers even aware that an ingredient has a specific benefit? What’s been exciting is how this comes together in practice: We’re seeing ingredient partners use Signals to reposition their story and unlock new BD conversations We’re seeing brands use Signals to de-risk innovation and move faster with confidence And when both sides are aligned around the same data, something powerful happens: - Better conversations - Faster decisions - Stronger products in market That’s the real unlock. This isn’t about more data. It’s about clearer direction. Appreciate NutraIngredients for the feature, and even more appreciative of the partners who are building with us. If you're interested in learning more about Signals, drop me a DM! https://lnkd.in/gd9FrJHF

Yesterday during our webinar on Formulating for the GLP-1 Journey, we asked a simple question: Which GLP-1 consumer “need state” is currently the highest priority for your brand’s development pipeline? Here’s how the audience responded: • Muscle mass preservation (Transformation phase) — 29.17% • Metabolic support & appetite regulation (Maintenance phase) — 27.08% • Digestive / anti-nausea support (Titration phase) — 16.67% • Not currently developing a GLP-1 specific line — 16.67% • Hair, skin & nail health (Transformation phase) — 10.42% A few things stand out. First, the focus is already shifting beyond early-stage side effect management. Digestive support during titration is real, but what brands appear to be prioritizing is what happens after the initial adjustment period, when body composition, metabolic health, and sustainability become the dominant concerns. Second, nearly 30% of respondents are prioritizing muscle mass preservation during the transformation phase. That aligns with what we’re seeing at CPG Radar, where concerns around lean mass loss, physical strength, and metabolic adaptation show up consistently in both search behavior and real consumer conversations. In other words, brands aren’t just thinking about helping GLP-1 users lose weight. They’re thinking about what they might be losing along the way. Finally, ~17% of attendees said they’re not currently developing a GLP-1 specific line at all, which suggests that despite the noise, many teams are still deciding where (or whether) to play across initiation, titration, transformation, maintenance, and discontinuation. GLP-1 isn’t a single product opportunity. It’s a multi-phase consumer journey, with very different jobs-to-be-done at each stage. Understanding which need states matter when is what separates credible companion products from trend-chasing. If you’d like to see how we’re mapping these need states across search behavior, real consumer experience, and clinical research inside our Signals dashboard, feel free to book a quick demo here: https://lnkd.in/giRmkfAw or drop me a DM And if you didn't get a chance to check out the webinar, you can still watch a replay of it here: https://lnkd.in/gZD5nrkc

This visual shows how we at CPG Radar triangulate the true value of an ingredient through our Signals platform. We use True Benefits to answer a deceptively simple question: What benefits does an ingredient actually deliver, and where is the opportunity being missed? The heatmap brings three signals onto one map: • Science: what clinical evidence supports • Claims: how the market is positioning it today • Perception: what consumers are actively seeking Red doesn’t mean “best.” Red means where the signal is concentrated. The real insight comes from the misalignment. In this Ashwagandha example: – Stress & Mood shows clear triangulation. Science supports it, brands lead with it, and consumers seek it. That’s validated value. – Men’s & Women’s Wellness shows disproportionate consumer demand relative to claims. That’s hidden opportunity. – Sports Nutrition has scientific support but little consumer pull. That’s unrealized value that requires education, not reformulation. This is how we move teams from “interesting data” to actionable decisions. True Benefits doesn’t just show what an ingredient can do. It shows what the market is ready for, what it’s ignoring, and where the next smart move lives. When science, claims, and consumers are viewed together, opportunity stops being theoretical. It becomes obvious. And it goes beyond just a chart, for each benefit area we share links to the relevant clinical science, verbatim consumer sentiment and how brands are actually making claims around the ingredient If you want to explore what this looks like for ingredients your exploring, drop me a DM and I'm happy to walk through it.

In recent work CPG Radar has done analyzing the full GLP-1 consumer journey, one pattern consistently stood out. The analysis looked at the market through three lenses: – How consumer needs evolve across the GLP-1 timeline – Where search behavior signals unmet demand – Which challenges are clinically substantiated versus anecdotal – Isolating the highest-impact opportunities where consumer needs remain unmet The defining feature of the GLP-1 market isn’t adoption. It’s what happens after initiation. Nearly 65% of users discontinue GLP-1 therapy within one year. When they do, clinical data shows they regain roughly two-thirds of the weight they lost. That shifts the opportunity away from starting GLP-1s and toward supporting users through titration, maintenance, dose reduction, and discontinuation. Strategically, this turns GLP-1 from a single product opportunity into a portfolio strategy problem. The brands that treat this as a portfolio decision, not a single SKU bet, will be the ones that still matter once the first wave of GLP-1 products commoditize. The simplified framework below is drawn from a deeper GLP-1 journey report we recently completed.

You’ve seen the headlines around GLP-1. This is the part most coverage skips. We analyze where consumers struggle across the GLP-1 journey, which challenges are clinically substantiated, and where supplements can play a defensible role.