Beer Marketer's Insights - FUTURE SMARTS: Harnessing Alpha Diver Insights, Modi Sees Consumers Rejecting 'Flavor Intensity' for Milder Palate Notes, Among 4 Key Shifts

Cincinnati-based Alpha Diver uses AI to sift thru social media conversations in order to plumb consumer psychology for corporate clients that it lists on website as including bev players Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Bacardi, Tropicana, Corona Extra Beer and Grey Goose. At recent Future Smarts conference hosted in NY by Beverage Digest newsletter, RBC Capital Markets' Nik Modi shared insights Alpha-Diver has uncovered into behavioral shifts that are likely to influence what 2026 will bring. Nik pointed to 4 key shifts. Most novel of them, to our eyes, is a rejection of "flavor intensity" in favor of "sensory softness." What does he mean by that? "The next beverage frontier is not louder flavor&mdash;it's gentle flavor," as he noted. That's being seen in brands like Spindrift and Hint that are positioned with phrases like "lightly flavored," "just a hint of . . . ," "soft sweetness," "light fizz/gentle carbonation" and "clean finish." Per analysis, it reflects a backlash by consumers who feel they're overstimulated and overstressed and are trying to avoid harshness, spikes, burn and "syrupiness." One subset of these consumers may be on medications like GLP-1 weight-loss drugs of ADHD meds that make them more sensitive to assertive flavors.Among other 3 shifts, Modi noted a shift from more energy to managed energy as consumers try to avert spikes and crashes in favor of sustained focus, emotional evenness and physical calm. Driving trend has been GLP-1 usage, rising anxiety and fatigue stemming from hybrid work setups. Bev biz will respond in coupla different ways: with energy-stabilizing entries that smooth out peaks and valleys, as well as nervous system drinks that purport to offer calm, grounding and "de-spiking." As examples, analyst cited Kin Euphorics canned entry and Magic Mind shots.Then there's rise of bev as "micro-ritual," serving various key occasions with pre-work clarity drink, 2 PM reset drink, evening calm transition drink and post-activity repair drink. In other words, rather than being keyed to occasions like mealtimes, as in past, bevs increasingly will be built around "timed rituals," "beverages built for moments, not demographics." Modi offered as examples Recess Mood magnesium-rich drinks and Moon Juice's Magnesi-Om powdered supplement.Modi also pointed to what Alpha-Diver views as a blurring line between bev and supplement categories. Bev behaviors more and more are drawing from adjacencies like supplements, wellness routines, tinctures, powders, hydration stacks and adaptogen rituals, in his view. A bev may look indulgent on the surface "but act mechanistically" via precise ingredients and micro-dosing, he indicated, citing likes of AG1 (formerly Athletic Greens) powder brand and Dose For your Liver shot.

FUTURE SMARTS: Harnessing Alpha Diver Insights, Modi Sees Consumers Rejecting 'Flavor Intensity' for Milder Palate Notes, Among 4 Key Shifts

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