#52: Hot Takes on Consumer Brands
Product form and Strava
Hot Takes is back! Today’s edition is on the consumer brand ecosystem. Like Hot Takes in AI (see here for Part I and Part II), I’ll hit you with a take and then humor you with my musings. Buckle up.
Hot Take #1: To build the next big consumer brand, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Just rethink the form of the product.
Take the supplement category, which has been completely upended by form factor innovation over the past few years. Grüns and Create Wellness have turned supplements that traditionally come in the form of powder (greens and creatine monohydrate) into chewable gummies. AG1 and Optimum Nutrition walked, so Grüns and Create Wellness could run.
I believe gummy supplements have taken off in the past few years as they solve the problem of convenience. Powder supplements don’t travel well. A tub and shaker eat up luggage space, and cleaning the bottle after is a whole process.
With gummies, you can pop them into a plastic bag, and they’ll conveniently fit into a backpack, purse, or carry-on luggage. No need to worry about a mess or another apparatus to consume the supplement in. Plus, you avoid the slim chance your creatine tub spills, and you have to explain to TSA why your bag is full of white powder. Gummies for the win.
Like Grüns and Create Wellness, Vacation sunscreen innovated on the form. However, instead of changing the form of sunscreen itself, they altered the packaging.
The Vacation Classic Whip SPF 30 looks and functions like a can of whipped cream. Their vintage font, color scheme, and text evoke a wave of nostalgia. Something that may cause older generations to double-take when they see it on store shelves. Moreover, it might pique the curiosity of kids as they walk through the aisles with their parents.
Also, spraying whipped cream is fun. I have memories of spraying more than enough whipped cream, not because I wanted to eat it, but because spraying was fun. I’m tempted to buy the Vacation sunscreen to relive childhood memories. Oh, and keep my skin protected from the sun.
Sometimes innovation is as simple as how you frame the familiar. Take notes and adjust your product launch strategy accordingly.
Author’s note: I personally use Create Wellness gummies and find them incredibly convenient for travel and delicious. They also evoke some nostalgia from childhood memories of eating gummy vitamins.
Hot Take #2: Strava is the next big social platform.
If you’re not familiar with Strava, it’s a fitness tracking and social networking app. You can record your workouts (i.e. running, cycling, swimming) with rather impressive GPS precision, join communities to participate in various workout challenges, and share your workouts with others in your community or anyone on the app generally. It’s basically “getting fitter through community”.
And that’s what Strava really sells: community. Their evolution has been fascinating to watch. What started as a running analytics app has grown into a social feed, community events platform, and the basis for content trends.
While Strava thrives on its own community, it also lets users post their workout statistics on other social apps like Instagram or X. Most social platforms obsess over keeping users on-app, so this approach would normally raise eyebrows. Yet that’s likely a feature of Strava’s business model, which skews heavily towards subscription revenue (and less on-platform advertising from brand partners).
For Strava, it’s the right call. Integration into key social networks has led to viral trends around creating entertaining and aesthetic videos that boast your latest workout. Check out a few viral examples here and here of Strava trends that took off on Instagram.
This is a clear example of growth through partnerships. Strava’s integration with other social platforms allows its users to do marketing for them. Why pay a bunch of influencers when you can give people the tools to do it on your behalf for free? So much earned media value.
Strava doesn’t disclose growth, but it’s likely that business is strong. Their recent acquisition of Runna suggests they’re leaning into growth mode
Strava has a few tailwinds at its back. First, running continues to gain in popularity each year. In fact, the 2025 NYC Marathon received a record-setting 200,000+ entries. Generally speaking, younger generations are drinking less alcohol. Out are the nightclubs, and in are the run clubs. Speaking from a macro perspective, Ozempic and food laws will likely push people toward healthier, more active lives. Say goodbye to Red 40 and hello to single-ingredient foods. Guess what? Whole-food eaters usually also value routine exercise.
Strava is well-positioned to take advantage of each trend. With 150M+ users globally (total users, not monthly active), Strava trails B-tier social platforms like Pinterest (578M) or Snap (900M). With that said, I must believe Strava is growing at a fast clip and will start to creep into the bottom range of B-tier numbers. Especially since it targets a niche: fitness.
Author’s note: I personally use Strava and although I’m a rather basic user (only leveraging the app to track running statistics), I find its data tracking helpful and its community challenges engaging.