Voodoo Brands

What if one of the best studies in global brand design isn't happening in the grocery aisle but on the the sports fields? In his latest article, Voodoo Brands Creative Director Jay Hilburn explores an unexpected source of design insight: World Cup kits. Looking beyond sport, Jay examines how national team jerseys have become a masterclass in strategic design language, balancing heritage, culture, authenticity, performance, and modern relevance within a single visual system. His observation is both simple and powerful: As the world becomes more connected, the strongest brands aren't becoming more alike. They're becoming more themselves. The best World Cup kits don't chase universal appeal. They draw strength from cultural specificity, regional identity, and a clear sense of place. And that's a lesson consumer brands should be paying attention to. For CPG leaders, packaging designers, and brand builders, the implications are significant: - How do you modernize without losing your identity? - Which heritage assets should be protected, and which should evolve? - How do you build a scalable brand system that still feels authentic and human? - What does cultural relevance actually look like in design? At Voodoo Brands, we believe great design isn't decoration. It's strategy made visible. The strongest design systems don't just help brands look better. They help brands communicate who they are, what they stand for, and why consumers should care. Jay's piece explores why the future belongs to brands with the confidence to design from their truth, not from the latest trend. Read the full article: What World Cup Kits Reveal About Global Design Language and the Future of FMCG Branding Image Rights: Adidas News: Kit Release - 5 November 2025 #DesignLeadership #BrandStrategy #PackagingDesign #DesignSystems #FMCG #ConsumerBrands #BrandIdentity #CreativeLeadership #StrategicDesign #VisualIdentity #CPG #BrandBuilding #VoodooBrands #GlobalDesign #DesignThinking

Packaging just got a $23.8 million valuation. Most people will see the recent Van Leeuwen Ice Cream trade dress ruling as a trademark case. I see it as a signal of where brand value is headed next. For the last decade, brands competed for impressions: → Clicks → Views → Followers The next decade will be about something far more valuable: Recognition. Think about: • Liquid Death's tall black cans • Oatly's irreverent typography • Fishwife's collectible illustrated tins/packaging • Graza's bright green squeeze bottles These aren't just packaging choices. They're memory systems. As AI makes content and design increasingly abundant, distinctiveness becomes scarcer—and therefore more valuable. Our prediction: The strongest brands of the next decade won't have the biggest advertising budgets. They'll own the strongest cognitive assets. The colors, shapes, illustrations, typography, and packaging cues consumers recognize before they even read the logo. The future brand wars won't be fought in advertising. They'll be fought in memory. We explore why the Van Leeuwen ruling could be the beginning of a major shift in brand strategy, retail, and competitive advantage in my latest Substack. Link in comments Thoughts? Image created by AI. Ironic, right? #BrandStrategy #CPG #ConsumerBrands #RetailInnovation #BlueOceanStrategy #PackagingDesign #BrandBuilding #MarketingStrategy #VoodooBrands #FutureOfRetail #DistinctiveAssets #Innovation #BrandGrowth

Protein isn't dead. It's just become boring. Remember when slapping "HIGH PROTEIN" on a package felt like a strategy? For a while, it was. It signaled health. It signaled performance. It justified a higher price. Today? It's more like having a nutrition facts panel. Consumers expect it. That's the challenge we're seeing across CPG right now: brands are still trying to win with claims that consumers have already absorbed as table stakes. Protein. Probiotics. Hydration. Adaptogens. Clean ingredients. They're all valuable. They're just not a reason to choose on their own anymore. The brands pulling away aren't asking: "How do we get another gram of protein?" They're asking: "How do we make this part of someone's life easier, better, or more meaningful?" The conversation is shifting from ingredients to occasions. From features to outcomes. From products to systems. The winners won't be the brands with the most claims. They'll be the brands that own a role in consumers' lives that competitors can't easily copy. Curious... What category do you think is next to make the jump from differentiator to expectation? Hydration? Probiotics? Functional mushrooms? Something else? #CPG #BrandStrategy #FoodAndBeverage #Innovation #ConsumerGoods #BrandBuilding #MarketingStrategy #VoodooBrands

America didn't become the world's innovation capital because everyone came here with the same ideas. It became the world's innovation capital because they didn't. Walk through any grocery store and you'll see the American story unfolding in real time. Mexican-American family recipes become category-defining brands. Sichuan flavors become pantry staples. Ancient fermentation techniques become billion-dollar beverage categories. Greek yogurt transforms breakfast. West African ingredients reshape personal care. Nordic wellness traditions inspire entirely new wellness routines. What's remarkable isn't where these ideas originated. It's that America created a place where they could collide, evolve, and become something bigger. Brands like Siete Foods, FLY BY JING, Chobani, Sanzo, GT's Living Foods Kombucha, Bachan's, Alaffia, SheaMoisture, Four Sigmatic, Momofuku, and Kevin's Natural Foods all tell versions of the same story: > Different cultures. > Different traditions. > Different perspectives. > One marketplace. The result isn't a melting pot where everything becomes the same. It's an innovation engine where new ideas emerge because different experiences are brought together. That's the real American advantage. Not that we all come from the same place. But that we're willing to learn from each other, build on each other's ideas, and create something the world hasn't seen before. In our view, that's what has always made America great, and what will continue to drive the next generation of category-defining brands. We are curious. What brand introduced you to a flavor, ingredient, or tradition from another culture that you now can't imagine living without? #Innovation #CPG #BrandBuilding #Entrepreneurship #FoodInnovation #ConsumerProducts #AmericanInnovation #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #VoodooBrands Read .Diana Fryc.'s thoughts at the article below...

The “Good Brand” Advantage Is Gone Product Performance Is Now the Price of Entry For the last decade, brands could win on: - Strong purpose - Clear values - Compelling storytelling Even when the product was only good enough. That model is breaking. This signal has been becoming clear for years: consumer behavior is tightening, not loosening. The gap between what people say and what they buy is widening. And in that gap, performance wins. THE CORE SHIFT Old question: “Is this a brand I feel good about?” New question: “Does this product outperform what I already buy?” WHAT ACTUALLY DRIVE GROWTH NOW In CPG, the gate hasn’t changed—it’s just less forgiving: - Taste - Function - Price–value - Repeat purchase These are no longer differentiators. They are minimum requirements. Everything else? Table stakes. WHERE BRANDS BREAK Most brands don’t fail because the strategy is wrong. They fail because the product is: - Slightly off - Slightly compromised - Slightly underwhelming That middle ground is where: - Velocity stalls - Margins erode - Distribution pulls back WHAT WINNING BRANDS DO The brands gaining share right now follow a different order of operations: 1. Build products that win on their own 2. Create experiences that make switching feel obvious 3. Layer brand, story, and values after performance is proven They don’t rely on narrative to carry the product. They use narrative to amplify it. THE STRATEGIC REALITY for GROWTH TEAMS If your product cannot: - Drive switching on performance - Sustain repeat behavior Then no amount of: - Brand investment - Creative - Paid media will fix the problem upstream. Full POV Below #BrandStrategy #CPG #GrowthStrategy #ProductWins #ConsumerBehavior #BrandBuilding #VoodooBrands David Lemley

Most companies treat leadership change like an org chart event. The best treat it like a stress test of strategic integrity. Because when a new leader arrives, the truth shows up fast: - Is the strategy actually codified? - Does the system align—or fracture in market? - Is innovation creating advantage, or just activity? If the answers aren’t clear, transitions don’t create risk. They expose it. Leading CPG brands don’t rely on leadership continuity to stay on track. They engineer it: Codify the core Align the system Activate for advantage Not to preserve the past— but to protect what creates value and unlock what’s next. If you’re navigating a leadership shift, this matters. Read David Lemley’s latest: Link Below > Leadership Transitions Don’t Break Brands. Unfinished Strategies Do. #CPG #BrandStrategy #Leadership #GrowthStrategy #VoodooBrands #Risk #DavidLemley

What happens after you solve the category? Most brands would protect it. Refine it. Ride it as long as possible. David Protein did something else. They turned a product into a system that has to keep working. From a near-impossible bar— 28g protein, 150 calories, zero sugar, to something far more dangerous: A governing rule applied everywhere. - Gold = discipline - Bronze = permission - Ice cream = indulgence - Cod = extremity Same idea. Different contexts. No shortcuts. Because once you stop selling products and start proving a worldview, the question changes: NOT “does it work?” BUT “does it hold up everywhere?” That’s a harder game. And a much more interesting one. Most brands never get there. And if they do, they blink. This one didn’t. If you're building more than a portfolio, this article is worth a read. https://lnkd.in/gBsPaq2b At Voodoo Brands, we help companies build systems, not just brands—ideas strong enough to scale across formats without breaking. If that’s the game you’re playing, we should talk. #DavidLemley #Strategy #CPG #DavidProtein

If you need constant promotions to hold volume, that’s not “smart trade.” That’s your brand telling you something: The value equation isn’t holding. Price increases don’t create that problem. They reveal it. In this piece, we break down the three places margin leaks and what the best operators fix first so pricing becomes a reflection of value, not a fragile assumption you have to prop up every month. Margins don’t die from one decision. They die from unclear value: https://lnkd.in/giKYTyaR #CommercialStrategy #CPG #RetailStrategy #BrandStrategy #MarginPressure #Margin #Profitability #VoodooBrands

Incrementalism is not innovation. It’s just busy work wearing a new label. If your “innovation pipeline” looks like: New flavor. New claim. New size. New look. …that’s not a growth strategy. That’s a treadmill with better typography. At Voodoo Brands, we’ve been obsessed with one question for 30+ years: What makes a brand a market of one.... not one in the market? Here’s the trap we see founders and owner/operators fall into the minute a product starts working: > They “feed the beast” with line extensions > They widen the portfolio before they deepen belief > They chase distribution before they earn repeat That’s how you get more SKUs… and less momentum. Real innovation is an operating system. Not a department. It’s the courage to make one clear bet, build a following, earn velocity, and scale what people actually crave. If you’re an owner/operator and you’re feeling: “we’re shipping constantly but nothing is compounding”… you’re not alone. You’re just playing the old game. We wrote a new piece on this (and what to do instead): CPG Innovation Is Stalling — Here’s How To Build Real Scalable Growth >>> https://lnkd.in/gM_b_Efm #CPG #Entrepreneurship #FounderLed #Innovation #BrandStrategy #VoodooUniversity

Founders. CEOs. Every CPG business hits a moment where the choice isn’t obvious. You can protect the quarter… or protect the brand. You can move faster… or move right. At Voodoo Brands, we’ve seen this moment play out hundreds of times. And the pattern is clear: Ethical decisions aren’t a side conversation. They are a growth decision. They show up as real trade‑offs: > Margin vs. ingredient integrity > Clever claims vs. earned trust > Speed to scale vs. values‑aligned partners Most brands don’t lose because of one big mistake. They lose by making a series of “reasonable” shortcuts that quietly erode trust. In our latest leadership piece on Voodoo University, we break down: > Why compliance isn’t the same as integrity > Why ethics fails when it lives in marketing instead of operations > And how consistency has become a true competitive advantage in modern CPG If you’re navigating a launch, a pivot, or a scaling decision—and the stakes feel real—this is for you. Read the full piece on Voodoo University: https://lnkd.in/gjh858dY Subscribe for thinking designed for operators, not observershttps://lnkd.in/gTGdUwsy This is the work that builds brands investors back, retailers trust, and consumers stay loyal to. #CPGLeadership #BrandStrategy #ConsumerBrands #BusinessEthics #GrowthStrategy #BrandTrust #ExecutiveLeadership #BrandBuilding #InnovationStrategy