New packaged goods launches in the US are running 6.5% ahead of 2004's tally through October 31, 2005. As the calendar turns to 2006, there are several up-and-coming trends in new products that figure to ring in the New Year including these top picks:
Get ready
for superfruits
We all know that fruit is good for us, but within the fruit world
some fruits have better health credentials than others. At the
top of the heap is a Brazilian rainforest fruit called acai.
Renowned for its high antioxidant content, acai is nearing breakout
status, buoyed by new product launches like Bossa Nova Acai Juice
in the USA. Other up-and-coming "good for you" fruits
to watch include pomegranate, guarana, noni, mangosteen, goji
berries, blueberries and even black currants.
Do-it-yourself
health and body care
Plastic surgeons may have more fun, but who needs them when you
can buy off-the-shelf microdermabrasion kits, chemical peels
and myriad intensive skin care treatments? Not to mention the
proliferation of tooth whitening products and medical test kits
(including a new kit designed to identify the gender of your
baby before birth called the Baby Gender Mentor Home DNA Gender
Testing Kit), you can be a doctor in your own home or at least
pretend to be one with today's new generation health and body
care products for home use. Product examples include a new Botox
alternative called Face Lift Freeze Cream Injection Free Line
Relaxer Anti-Wrinkle Complex from Irvine, CA-based University
Medical Products along with Olay Regenerist Thermal Skin Polisher
from Procter & Gamble, the latter said to be more gentle
than a chemical peel.
Energize
Me!
While there may be some dispute about whether or not an energy
crisis exists, there is no disputing the fact that consumers
could use more personal energy. Good thing that a growing number
of packaged food and beverage products are there to help this
personal energy crisis. From energy drinks and energy bars to
energizing jellybeans like Jelly Belly Sport Beans Energizing
Jelly Beans and alcohol drinks such as Anheuser-Busch's Tilt,
the variety of products that seek to revitalize the mind and
spirit continues to grow. Expect the energizing trend to reach
out to a broader range of food and beverage markets in 2006.
Chocolate
is shaping up as the "new coffee"
Move over Starbucks, sweet-tooths from around the world agree
that chocolate could be the next big thing in beverages. But
this isn't necessarily kids' stuff. A growing number of "drinking
chocolate" products that are made with gourmet chocolate
and are beginning to hone in on coffee's turf. Challengers include
new products like Schokinag European Drinking Chocolate in a
new German Chocolate Cake Flavor. Chocolate contains caffeine
for an extra shot of energy and it is high in antioxidants that
can enhance the immune system and prevent heart disease.
Sexual
enhancers go mainstream
Maybe it's a delayed effect from all of those ads for Viagra,
Levitra, Cialis and similar products. Attitudes toward sex appear
to be changing if recent product launches are any indication.
Looking ahead to 2006, fear is out and fun is in. On the fun
side, Church & Dwight's new Elexa Premium Latex Condoms come
with a vibrating ring while Johnson & Johnson's K-Y Touch
Body Massage Oil aims to heat things up slowly and gently. Even
candy makers are getting in on the act with the Chocolate Thong
from Tom & Sally's Handmade Chocolates as well as the Spencer
& Fleetwood Candy Bar from Gasworks of Oakland Park. FL.
Both are aimed at mainstream audiences in mass-market sales channels.
