LSN : News : Foresight Friday: Fiona Harkin, director of foresight

Liquid Death and Van Leeuwen launch hot fudge sundae flavoured water

Hot Fudge Sundae Sparkling Water by Liquid Death and Van Leeuwen, US

US – In a bold crossover, water brand Liquid Death has teamed up with ice cream maker Van Leeuwen to launch a limited edition Hot Fudge Sundae Sparkling Water. The tagline, Don’t be scared, captures the unique nature of this product, which is available in chocolate-brown tallboy cans.

Priced at £3.58 ($4.59, €4.19) and with only 10,700 eight-packs produced, this 20-calorie, clear sparkling water aims to surprise palates with notes of ice cream, fudge and a hint of cherry.

‘This was exciting for us to step out of the ice cream space for a minute,’ said Ben Van Leeuwen, co-founder of the New York-based company.

Liquid Death’s Creative VP Andy Pearson compared the flavour to the imaginative treats in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: ‘You’ll get a lot of different flavours in there.’

In the Better Than Water insight in our Functional Feasting macrotrend report, we dive into how consumer demand for fun and functional ingredients is driving creative growth in the water market.

Strategic opportunity

Create hype around your brand by releasing exclusive, small-batch products with new and novelty flavour combinations, enticing curious consumers and raising brand awareness

Minecraft and Lush release game-inspired bath collection

Minecraft and Lush, UK

Global – To celebrate Minecraft’s 15th anniversary, the gaming company has teamed up with cosmetics retailer Lush to release a collection of 12 bath products inspired by Minecraft’s blocks, mobs and tools.

The Minecraft x Lush range has also made its way into the gaming world, with players able to craft and use bath bombs within the game via a free add-on in the Minecraft Marketplace.

‘We hope fans enjoy crafting a moment of calm, whether it’s in the real world with the new Lush collection or within the Minecraft game via the bath bombs add-on,’ Hanna Willis, director of US consumer products at Minecraft, commented in a press release.

Bridging the physical and virtual worlds, the collaboration allows Minecraft to bring the fun and creativity of the game into the real world at bath time. For more innovations and creative brand collaborations, head to our Gaming topic.

Strategic opportunity

Gaming collaborations are a great way to engage younger consumers. Create limited edition products with digital twins or virtual collectables that can only be unlocked through product purchases to tap into this tech-savvy audience

Foresight Friday: Fiona Harkin, director of foresight

AI imagery by The Future Laboratory

Every Friday, we offer an end-of-week wrap-up of the topics, issues, ideas and virals we’re all talking about. This week, director of foresight Fiona Harkin highlights how Gen X women are calling out their invisibility.

: In this hot Brat summer, filled in places with both Olympic joy and the pervading stench of racial hatred – the latter no doubt pushed from simmering to boiling point by the uncertainty of a year packed with global elections – there’s an emerging collective voice I’d like to flag. It’s only a murmur at the moment but as we predicted in our Generations: Now & Next report published earlier this year, there’s a generation of women beginning to put their hands up and ask, ‘Can you see us?’

: When founder of The Resilient, Ozlem Tuskan, posted on Linkedin about our deep-dive into Generation X women, the comments were both a rubber stamp on our insights here at LS:N Global and also a clarion call to businesses and brands. ‘Wow – I’ve always wondered why no one talks about us,’ said one commenter. ‘The opportunity is staggeringly big! It never ceases to amaze me how brands are scared to go deeply into this amazing cohort,’ said another. ‘We are most definitely bridges. We are incredibly powerful with wisdom, insight and the finesse to cross barriers and heal rifts. We are badass!’ said another.

: It’s this view of Gen X women as the tough battlers that is gathering pace. Once labelled as the ‘slacker’ generation of romantic nihilists enjoying social media-free hook-ups before sunrise in Vienna (IYKYK), it was Gen X women who ditched the angsty navel-gazing pretty swiftly and got down to business (see Winona Ryder in 1994 film Reality Bites). We spoke to Kate Spicer from The Independent about this emerging view of Gen X women as wilful, Kamala Harris-like don’t-give-a-damn-ers ready to sweep away those Boomers and their hold on positions of power and influence. LS:N Global members can read more about this in our Gen X Now & Next: From Ambiguity to Advocacy report.

Quote of the Week

‘Known as the ‘sandwich gen’ we stand in the shadow of Boomers and Millennials who busy themselves with fighting out the culture wars. But we’re there. Quietly watching. And we’re laughing, because while we are treated as not important and seen as the Forgotten Generation, we’re now in charge. Forget us at your peril’

Kate Spicer, journalist, The Independent

Stat: Gen Z’s changing driving habits pose challenges for auto industry

Domenico Formichetti PDF SS24

US – A comprehensive analysis of hundreds of thousands of survey responses by Morning Consult Audience data reveals that Gen Z adults are driving less frequently compared to the average US adult.

This trend is largely attributed to their urban lifestyles and reliance on technology. Their initial enthusiasm for electric vehicles (EVs) has also diminished: interest in owning an EV among Gen Z has dropped by 10 percentage points since June 2022, bringing it in line with the general population. In contrast, Gen Z is significantly engaged with transportation services, such as ride-sharing and meal delivery.

Although car ownership among Gen Z is expected to rise as they age, several macroeconomic factors, such as higher car and gasoline prices, may impede a full adoption of car ownership. Additionally, the significance of car culture has diminished, particularly for younger generations, making the automotive industry’s challenge more complex.

The shift in Gen Z’s transportation preferences underscores a potential long-term impact on how vehicles are marketed and sold in the future, with innovative strategies required, as revealed in our microtrend Not Your Parents’ Car.

Strategic opportunity

Electric vehicles are no longer enough to capture Gen Z’s attention. Car manufacturers must innovate with new technologies such as AI and personalisation and ensure new car models are visually distinct from the ones their parents drove