Novelty vs. Routine: Brutal Business of "Fun" Supplement Formats

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From the producers of Baby Reindeer comes Alice and Steve, exclusively on Disney+. I wish I was in love. You're my best friend. Anybody would be lucky to have you.

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Alice and Steve, a Hulu original series, exclusively on Disney+. 18 plus subscription required. T's and C's apply. Welcome back to the Joshua Shaw audio experience.

Firstly, thank you for giving me a bit of your attention. I'm honored you trusted me with it, and I promise to return the favor by giving you a ton of edutainment value back. In my latest podcast episode, I'll explain why I believe the next phase of CPG innovation will be defined by how well products packed with functionality aligned with real-world consumer behavior. But before we get started, I would love if you took 53 seconds out of your day to leave a rating or review whichever podcasting platform you're currently listening to.

This helps me out immensely in terms of extending the reach of my podcast, but more importantly allows me to make improvements based on your feedback. Thank you again. Now enjoy my newest podcast episode. How do you convince enough consumers to purchase a nootropic toothpick when they can walk into any convenience store, beeline towards the beverage coolers, and grab a Celsius energy drink?

Well, that's the strategic chasm facing today's most innovative wellness CPG startups, and the inspiration for this content piece. For basically the last century, the primary mechanism for delivering health optimization has been relics of 1840s industrial pharmacy, the compressed tablet, and two-piece hard capsule. Yet nearly 40% of today's adult consumers suffer from pill fatigue, which is defined as the physical struggle of swallowing bulky tablets or capsules combined with the psychological burnout of maintaining a complex multi-bottle daily ritual.

Therefore, next-generation wellness CPG brands are frequently abandoning the form factor entirely. Instead, they're pivoting towards a radical new philosophy I've dubbed frictionless wellness. By engineering direct-to-mouth water-free formats and merging functionality with existing sensory habits, innovative wellness CPG brands are attempting to turn health optimization from a sterile clinical chore into an effortless daily pleasure. However, as this market frontier expands, it inevitably faces a brutal strategic chasm.

Can these bleeding-edge form factors cross over from fleeting novelty into permanent consumer habits, or will they essentially get engulfed by ubiquitous wellness CBG formats like ready-to-mix powders, ready-to-drink beverages, and ready-to-eat snacks? Since today's wellness CPG market demands a dual focus of efficacy and consumption experience, the foundational pillar of the direct-to-mouth revolution is simple. Consumption experience is directly linked to performance. And that reminds me of strategic commentary shared by Alex Baker, senior R&D and innovation leader at TSI Group during our recent Spate webinar together.

Essentially, he went on to say something that I totally agree with, And that's if a delivery system is inconvenient or unpleasant, a wellness CBG product won't be used consistently making even the most clinically supported ingredients unable to deliver results But from a product development perspective it important to recognize that direct formats represent a convergence of formulation science, ingredient compatibility, and sensory optimization. And sometimes, usually through bypassing the gastrointestinal tract entirely, these next-generation delivery mechanics treat the mouth as the ultimate biological highway.

As an example, traditional pills must brave the harsh cauldron of stomach acid and navigate the liver's first pass effect, a taxing journey that routinely degrades fragile active ingredients, delaying the onset of action by 30 to 60 minutes. Now, before progressing any further, please understand that not all nutraceutical ingredients benefit from oral mucosa absorption, as many cannot effectively enter the bloodstream this way due to their size, chemical structure, or specific biological requirements.

Nonetheless, I'd like to focus primarily on a few central form factors driving this shift, targeting efficiency through oral mucosa absorption. And I'm only going to quickly mention modern oral pouches, mostly because despite them being arguably one of the most commercially significant right now, I've already analyzed that market comprehensively a few months earlier in a dedicated content piece. So if nicotine-free nootropic mouth pouches are your thing, I'd suggest checking out that deep dive next.

However, another trending direct-to-mouth form factor that has caught my attention, maybe due to always enjoying Pop Rocks and Pixie Sticks as a kid, is the convergence of fast melt technology, aka orally disintegrating powders, and effervescent microgranules poured right onto the tongue. I'd assume few remember these now discontinued products launched maybe seven years ago, but I really enjoyed the edible popping rock candy from G Fuel and C4 Energy. And while I haven't seen a ton of commercial activity more recently, that could change after early feedback has been strong regarding MuscleTech Effin, a product subline developed specifically utilizing Fizzr technology from the before-mentioned TSI group.

Likewise, another underutilized form factor also making a comeback is oral dissolving strips. And to be completely fair, I'm labeling the form factor underutilized today mostly because nothing can compare to the early 2000s glisterine breath freshening strips phenomenon. But these utilize clean polymer bases with ultra thin films melting against the inner cheek or tongue in seconds, releasing nutrients directly into sublingual capillaries for quick absorption. I know established women's health challenger brand Love Wellness has an entire Quick Melt Strips product subline, but also popular supplement brands like Mary Roots utilizes the form factor.

Moreover, it's hard to miss another supplement startup, Sleep or Die, a provocative brand that's strategically building around an oral dissolving strips product called Sleep Strip. Although a parallel direct-to-mouth product innovation movement is weaponizing the human oral fixation, recognizing that consumers already have deep-seated hand-to-mouth habits, wellness CBG brands are infusing familiar objects with nootropics, turning casual habits into human optimization. Now, just like modern oral pouches, despite chewing gum being the most commercially significant right now, as consumers have always enjoyed the mechanical action of mastication, I'm only going to quickly mention the form factor mostly because I've already analyzed that market comprehensively a few months earlier in a dedicated content piece.

So if you're fascinated by functional chewing gum, I'd suggest adding that deep dive to your next watch list. However, another trending direct-to-mouth form factor would be more broadly known as confectionary overhauls. Essentially, wellness CPG brands are executing a candification strategy and I been lucky enough to try just about every related product innovation over the last five to seven years from the creatine sweet tarts and various functional soft chews to the botanical lozenges But perhaps the best product weaponizing the human oral fixation would be Ollie's Focus Buddies Lollipops, which embeds cognizant citicoline within a slow-dissolving hard candy matrix that creates an extended window for saliva-driven sublingual uptake.

But speaking of cognizant citicoline, another wellness CPG brand, also infused the nootropic ingredient within one of the most unexpected yet deep-seated hand-to-mouth habits. Nutonic structurally overhauled the humble toothpick, turning the act of chewing a small, thin piece of wood into human optimization. Also, the addition of paracrest flower extract is a fun way to create a physical, tingling sensory cue on the tongue signaling to the user that the cognitive enhancers are actively crossing the oral mucosa.

Likewise, another let's call it bleeding edge approach to weaponizing the human oral fixation would be Roxy Supercube, a wellness CPG startup creating functional ice cubes. And while I'm personally included within this habitual chewing ice group, it reminds me of a recently updated YouTube shorts that should seamlessly transition us into the final strategic chasm portion of this content. Get the new fix and fall tariff from British Gas, where prices can only slide down. If energy prices climb up, no worries, you'll be fixed for two years.

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The Devil Wears Prada 2 is out now to buy or rent at home. We're all so thrilled. Critics are calling it a perfect sequel. I am the new feature's editor at Renly.

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Not bad. Available exclusively to buy or rent. That's all. Why complicated?

It's complicated, so pay attention. Oftentimes, I'll ask that question repeatedly when developing a product innovation strategy. While rethinking traditional product presentation, whether packaging or form factor can disrupt normal consumer behavior, effective strategy almost always lies in finding the simplest, most elegant solution that delivers the desired outcome. As an example, I recently came across Roxy Supercube, which created frozen, nutrient-dense functional cubes designed to make wellness as simple as putting ice into any beverage.

Novelty will certainly capture attention, and its social media shareability is undeniable. Although I'm unsure functional ice cubes offer a compelling enough reason to switch from the ubiquitous wellness CPG product formats like ready to mix powders and truly become embedded into today's daily routines. Now, before progressing any further, I want to take my work jersey off for a few seconds and explicitly say that as a consumer who deeply enjoys the wellness CPG space, all this form factor innovation is fun.

and I really hope we continually see entrepreneurs creatively pushing the limits on merging functionality with existing sensory habits. But my 15 plus years as a renowned strategist with deep domain expertise across these intersecting CBG categories cannot totally overlook that despite the brilliant industrial design behind any of these product innovations, transitioning from leading novelty into permanent consumer habits can be a treacherous business journey. And that because when a brand steps away from the traditional form factors it enters a dangerous competitive arena ruled by ubiquitous wellness CPG formats like ready powders ready beverages and ready snacks But if next-generation wellness CPG brands want to achieve permanent scale, their product innovations must overcome various severe strategic vectors.

And we can begin with what I mentioned in my previously uploaded YouTube shorts content, the fiercest competitor to the nootropic toothpick or an oral dissolving strip is that cold can of Celsius sitting in the checkout fridge across 100,000 plus retail locations. At this point, an energy drink or XYZ packaged functional beverage requires no consumer education and zero behavioral friction. But asking a consumer to sit with a wooden toothpick or lollipop in their mouth at a corporate meeting might introduce extremely high behavioral resistance.

Similarly, asking a consumer to manage a specialized freezer pack for functional ice cubes would be a nightmare. Also, product innovations that require flash-frozen raw ingredients, thus preserving volatile antioxidants and avoiding chemical stabilizers, might be nutritionally superior but trap the wellness CPG brand into prohibitively expensive cold-chain logistics. Therefore, it would severely limit e-commerce velocity and force startups into cutthroat battles for premium grocery freezer real estate against massive CPG conglomerates.

Next, it's important to recognize that every form factor, maybe outside of ready-to-mix powders, has a pronounced milligram ceiling. And what I mean by that is physics dictates that a modern oral pouch or a piece of chewing gum can only hold so much active payload before the format falls apart structurally or tastes completely unpalatable. That means direct-to-mouth water-free formats usually are incapable of delivering heavy macronutrients, thus preventing them from ever becoming an all-in-one replacement for functional nutrition.

Equally, to make functional hard candy, mint, and gummies palatable, wellness CPG brands often resort to high heat manufacturing and heavy flavoring matrices. However, extreme heat can degrade the very nutrients the product is meant to deliver. So wellness CPG brands are caught in the efficacy versus taste paradox where they can lower the nutrient payload to make the candy taste delicious or maximize the clinical dose and ruin the flavor. Although if consumers realize a functional candy is just an expensive sweet with negligible health benefits, the novelty quickly vanishes.

Most famously of late, this has been the ongoing conundrum facing creatine gummies. But I just wanted to end with some quick final thoughts. The form factors that survive into the 2030s will not do so merely by being fun. The survival playbook requires carving out undeniable, hyper-specific utility niches.

As an example, I can see a very real path where oral dissolving strips dominate acute, immediate need use cases like sleep induction, where sublingual speed outpaces any traditional pill format and occasion-specific reduction in liquids would be beneficial. Another example would be modern oral pouches capturing high-focus, maybe even slightly monotonous environments like long-distance driving, where satisfying an oral habit is as valuable as the active caffeine and nootropic payload itself.

Regardless, the dietary supplement of tomorrow won't look like centuries past medicine at all. Thus, the era of demanding that consumers swallow a handful of pills with a giant glass of water is arguably ending. Instead, the future belongs to wellness CPG brands that can seamlessly weave proven human optimization into the existing textures, flavors, and habits of everyday life. I hope you've enjoyed this podcast episode.

If you have any comments or questions about anything I discussed during it, Open the podcast episode notes and click on any of my social media account links to reach out to me directly.