In the 1990s, pet owners began to embrace the idea that their dogs deserved more than generic kibble and bland biscuits. Enter Beggin’ Strips: a cheeky, bacon-themed treat that leaned into the growing trend of “pet humanization.” With playful branding and a wink toward indulgence, it felt like the canine equivalent of snack food for people. But while the concept was fresh for its time, the product eventually ran up against shifting consumer expectations.

In the late 1990s, Frito-Lay promised snack lovers the impossible: all the flavor of fried potato chips without the fat. The result was WOW! Chips, a bold innovation made possible by olestra, a fat substitute that couldn’t be absorbed by the body. At first, the chips flew off shelves, hailed as a revolution in guilt-free snacking. But the very science that made them “fat-free” also sparked an infamous side effect—one that would haunt the brand and make WOW! a cultural punchline for years to come.

Some products arrive with a splash, only to fizzle faster than anyone expects. Pepsi Blue made its mark not with subtlety but with neon-blue soda and a berry-cola flavor that challenged expectations. It was bold, playful, and unmistakably different.

Before TikTok influencers were pushing pimple patches and Instagram ads were serving up personalized routines, there was one name that dominated the acne-treatment conversation: Proactiv. For over a decade, you couldn’t flip channels late at night without running into its infomercials, complete with glowing celebrity endorsements.

In today’s wellness-driven world, the boundaries between what we eat and how we care for our skin are rapidly dissolving. Consumers no longer view skincare and nutrition as separate categories; instead, they seek holistic beauty solutions that work from the inside out. This convergence has given rise to the booming category of beauty from within — where ingestible supplements and functional foods complement topical cosmetics to deliver visible skin benefits.

In today’s fast-moving world of food, supplements, and personal care, standing still is not an option. Consumer preferences shift rapidly, trends emerge overnight, and the competitive landscape evolves at lightning speed. For brand owners, the challenge is clear: how do you innovate quickly and effectively while minimizing costly missteps?

The answer lies in building an agile innovation pipeline — a flexible, consumer-responsive product development process designed to get winning products from concept to consumer faster and smarter.