(N4) Prelaunch Industry Board Newsletter: Monthly Innovation & Insights

Author

Narek Vardanyan
October 09, 2025

Dear Industry Board Members,

Hope you’re doing great.

We’ve had some amazing months at Prelaunch.

I’m thrilled to share that Prelaunch won Silver for Breakthrough Innovation Research Methodology at the ESOMAR Awards! 🏆

Our collaboration with Ducati was recognized by top experts worldwide, a proud milestone for our team and community.

From day one, our mission has been clear: help brands innovate with confidence, grounded in real customer behavior.

The Consumer Markets Industry Trends for 2025 report by PwC explores how AI is reshaping the enterprise sector. Companies are now moving beyond small AI tests toward an AI-first mindset, with many boosting cloud budgets to make it happen. 

It also explores how AI is driving efficiency, smarter M&A decisions, and stronger cyber resilience.

The consumer appliances space is getting smarter and greener.

AI, energy efficiency, and sustainability are driving innovation, while smaller, affordable gadgets are winning over cost-conscious shoppers.

Samsung confirms ads are coming to its smart refrigerators. 

Yes, really. Samsung’s premium Family Hub fridges in the U.S. will now display ads on their touchscreens.

A sign that the digital ad ecosystem is expanding… right into our kitchens. 😄

The next step for smart AI fridges?

Ordering your groceries automatically with just your consent.

Mixed reality glasses are booming; I bet they’ll be the hit innovation of 2026.

Meta is becoming a way more innovative hardware company than Apple. 😎

At Meta Connect, they revealed three new smart glasses:

  • Ray-Ban Display Glasses: paired with a Neural Band that detects muscle signals before you even move.

  • Oakley Meta Vanguard: built for athletes with Garmin integration, water resistance, and 9-hour battery life.

  • Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2: 8-hour battery life, 3K Ultra HD video, and improved audio for conversations in noisy places.

Key Trends in Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG)

Eco-friendly design is slowly becoming a trend.

Brands are adopting seaweed films, mushroom mycelium, and sugarcane fibers to reduce waste, plus mono-materials for easier recycling.

Refillable systems are gaining serious traction, reducing packaging waste and driving repeat purchase behavior.

Functional & Health-Driven Product Launches

  • Danone Oikos Fusion: high-protein yogurt for GLP-1 users, supporting muscle preservation. Danone targets consumers taking weight loss drugs with new drink.

  • Pepsi Prebiotic Cola: Soon after PepsiCo purchased Poppi functional sodas in May, the company introduced Pepsi Prebiotic Cola. It combines prebiotics, fruit juice, and apple cider vinegar to create a low-calorie soda with no more than 5g of sugar per serving.

  • Wandering Bear launches 11g-protein cold-brew latte, as a Whole Foods exclusive in the U.S.

AI is Also Shaping The Product Packaging.

A growing number of consumer packaged goods companies are using AI in their packaging design processes. Leaders like Nestlé and Colgate-Palmolive are using GenAI for material discovery, simulation testing, and faster prototyping. 

The global Apparel Re-commerce Market is set for explosive growth, projected to go from an estimated USD 139.5 billion in 2025 to a staggering USD 1.2 trillion by 2035. Wow. 🤯

The surge is primarily driven by consumers' increasing desire for affordable fashion, sustainability, and the convenience of online platforms. 

Lululemon is placing big hopes on AI to drive its next phase of growth. 

They appointed their first Chief AI & Technology Officer to accelerate product development and personalization. The CEO admitted U.S. performance has been challenging but emphasized AI as key to faster turnaround and better product-market fit. Let’s see if AI can help them. Let’s see…

Future Forward Factories is a five-year initiative led by Fashion for Good, supported by the H&M Foundation. 

The project is creating the first-ever blueprints for scalable, regionally tailored factories of the future. It will support manufacturers in transitioning to near-net-zero operations that are environmentally responsible, socially just, and economically viable.

Innovation Impossible Podcast

This month’s episode features Olivier Houpert, Chief Innovation & Product Officer at Altria and former global R&D leader at P&G.

From launching healthier Pringles to leading smoke-free innovation, Olivier shares the real stories behind bold decisions and smart failures.

💡 Topics you’ll love:

  • Why innovation can’t come from inside.

  • How to test bold ideas with “Frankenstein prototypes”.

  • The real health risk in smoking – and what innovation is doing about it.

  • Using AI to spark ideas that no human would think of.

Whether you're in FMCG, pharma, or tech, this episode is packed with real-world advice for innovators, product managers, insights leaders, and R&D pros.

🚀 What’s New at Prelaunch.com

Remember the WhatsApp conversation-based research tool we mentioned last time?

It’s now evolved into one of the world’s most advanced AI conversation platforms.

Our AI interviewers can now talk to customers via WhatsApp, voice calls, or video calls, and they’ve been trained on 650,000+ real conversations.

They can run hundreds of interviews simultaneously and instantly generate deep insights on your dashboard.

We believe this is a true leap in how insights teams can scale qualitative research.

Would love to get your feedback. I’ll reach out soon for early access testing