Influencer Advisory™New categories - innovate don’t compete as a commodity
Founder · August 24, 2026 · 15 min read
| Category | How it’s different | What it competes with |
|---|---|---|
| Focus gum | Makes energy something you chew, anywhere | Coffee, energy drinks, focus pills |
| Greens gummies | Turns daily greens into a snack-like habit | Greens powders, multivitamins |
| Prebiotic soda | Adds a gut-health pitch to a familiar soft drink | Regular soda, probiotic supplements |
| Protein water | Offers protein in a light drink instead of a thick shake | Protein shakes, bottled water |
| Calm drinks | Gives people a drink for winding down | Evening wine, calming supplements |
| Mushroom coffee | Builds functional ingredients into the morning coffee habit | Coffee, mushroom capsules |
| Sleep chocolate | Turns a bedtime supplement into a small treat | Sleep gummies, bedtime tea |
| Electrolyte ice pops | Makes hydration a frozen snack | Sports drinks, electrolyte powders |
| Functional candy | Uses sweets to deliver ingredients such as fiber or vitamins | Candy, supplement gummies |
| Oral probiotics | Brings the microbiome idea into mouth care | Mouthwash, breath mints |
| Drinkable skincare | Moves the beauty routine into drinks or supplements | Collagen powders, parts of the skincare budget |
| Potential category | Product idea | How it’s different | What it competes with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily nutrition crunch | A single-serving pack of vitamin-fortified crunchy toppings for salads or bowls | Makes daily supplements part of lunch | Multivitamins, croutons, salad toppers |
| Gut-health parmesan | A savory, cheese-style topping with added prebiotic fiber | Adds fiber through something people already sprinkle on pasta | Parmesan, nutritional yeast, fiber powders |
| Performance spreads | Single-serving nut-butter or chocolate spreads containing creatine | Builds the supplement into breakfast | Creatine powders, gummies, breakfast spreads |
| Nutrition finishing blends | Measured seasoning sachets combining flavor with selected nutrients | Season your meal and add nutrients in the same step | Seasoning blends, daily supplements |
| Protein brewing bags | An oversized tea-style bag designed to release soluble protein alongside tea | Makes getting protein a brewing ritual | Protein shakes, tea, collagen drinks |
Influencer angles for the new categories, and what worked
What worked across all 16
- The winners put the new thing inside a habit people already have. Coffee: Everyday Dose went into 1,500 Target stores. Soda: Olipop hit $400M in 2024 and poppi sold to PepsiCo for $1.95B. Tea and coffee: Super Coffee's protein line passed $10M.
- Health claims are where brands got sued. poppi paid $8.9M over gut claims, Create was sued over creatine gummies, Goli was sold in court, Feel Free settled, and a UK regulator pulled a collagen wrinkle ad.
- When a read works, the brand books the same creator again. JUST TRISH did 15 Olipop videos, Thomas DeLauer 33 for Create, DEAD Talks Podcast 8 for NeuroGum, and one Recess creator posted 6 times. Olipop, Everyday Dose and Create got 68%, 79% and 76% of their YouTube videos from creators they booked again, while Grüns and Magic Spoon cast a wide net at 42% and 47%.
- On Instagram the biggest paid posts sell a moment or a deal, not the ingredient. poppi's 7-Eleven 2 for $5 post had 1,565,411 views and Recess's solo night 949,054.
The 11 categories that exist today
1. Focus gum
Sell the afternoon slump: chew this instead of a second coffee, no sugar and no crash, read by the same podcast host again and again.
NeuroGum has 37 sponsored YouTube videos, and 51% came from channels it booked again. DEAD Talks Podcast read it 8 times over 279 days and The Tim Dillon Show 6 times over 217 days. Of 28 NeuroGum reads, 17 say no crash and no sugar, 13 set it against another coffee and 11 name the afternoon crash.
| Angle | The pitch | Proof | Call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Another coffee is the problem | Skip the second coffee, chew this | The brand kept paying: three shows booked again, 5 to 8 videos each | Worked |
| No crash, no sugar | The reassurance line after the problem | Said in 17 of 28 reads we heard | Worked |
| Fuel your training | A trainer chews it during workouts (Run Gum) | The brand kept paying: a standing ambassador program with exclusivity. Run Gum ambassadors | Worked, smaller brand |
| Sale ends soon | Short TikTok Shop posts with a countdown | Outside estimate: $26.3M sold on TikTok Shop since January 2024. Tramicheck | Sells, but builds little |
| A famous person brings it up for free | Joe Rogan kept mentioning Neuro, unpaid | Reported only. Wikipedia | Luck, not a plan |
- Avoid: Selling caffeine gum where kids can see it. Wrigley pulled its Alert Energy gum weeks after launch in 2013 once the FDA looked at caffeine in gum. Confectionery News
Nobody is doing yet: Studying for exams, long road trips, and quitting nicotine.
2. Greens gummies
One gummy instead of a cabinet of pills and a greens powder you hated, spread across hundreds of ordinary channels with a deep first-order discount.
Grüns has at least 286 sponsored YouTube videos, and 42% came from channels it booked again. Its most watched ran on RAWWFishing (2,518,886 views), not a health channel, and most descriptions say only the discount. On Instagram one dietitian posted for Grüns 6 times at under 1,200 views a post.
| Angle | The pitch | Proof | Call |
|---|---|---|---|
| One pouch instead of many pills | I hate taking a handful of pills every day | Views only: the read above | Worked |
| It tastes like candy | They taste so good I ate a week's worth | Reported: Unilever deal said to be about $1.2B, not confirmed by Unilever. The Food Stack | Worked |
| A busy mom's morning | Behind the scenes of a school morning | Views only: Rachel Zoe, 384,221 views | Worked on reach |
| A dietitian recommends it | As a dietitian, I love these | The brand kept paying: the same dietitian, many posts, small views | Kept for trust |
| Shrink your stack on GLP-1 | One pouch instead of pills on your GLP-1 | Views only: a few thousand a post | Weak so far |
- Avoid: Burying the #ad at the end of a normal-looking post. Bloom's creators were called out for exactly that. Daily Dot
Nobody is doing yet: A doctor explaining it, and a straight swap for your multivitamin.
3. Prebiotic soda
A soda you can feel good about, sold on taste, nostalgia and a store deal, with the same creators kept on for a long run. The gut claim went quiet after the lawsuit.
Olipop has 84 sponsored YouTube videos, and 68% came from channels it booked again. JUST TRISH PODCAST read it 15 times over 366 days. Where Olipop's copy names the soda, 48% point to a store, most often buy 2 cans and get one paid back, and 9% mention the gut. poppi's 28 Instagram creator captions sell a store deal 10 times and name the gut 2 times.
| Angle | The pitch | Proof | Call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy 2 in store, get one paid back | Grab two cans anywhere, we pay you back for one | The brand kept paying: JUST TRISH, 15 videos | Worked |
| Tastes like the soda you grew up with | Tastes like the ones we grew up on | Hard result: Olipop revenue doubled to $400M in 2024. Food Dive | Worked |
| The same creator, as a running joke | poppi again, obviously (Jake Shane) | The brand kept paying, per an agency write-up. GOAT Agency | Worked |
| A fun moment, not a health lesson | A Spider-Man can, a taco truck, a new flavor | Views only: 1M to 2M views a post | Worked on reach |
| It's good for your gut | Soda that gives your gut things it loves | Hard result, the wrong way: poppi paid $8.9M over gut claims. ClassAction.org | Risky |
| Send famous people a vending machine | Look what poppi sent me | Backlash: called wasteful, poppi changed course. Marketing Brew | Failed |
- Avoid: Stating gut benefits as fact.
- Avoid: Big gifts to people who are already famous.
Nobody is doing yet: Swap your kid's soda for this, aimed at parents. Every creator push we found targets young adults.
4. Protein water
Protein that drinks like water, not a heavy shake, aimed at people on GLP-1 drugs or high-protein diets as well as gym people.
| Angle | The pitch | Proof | Call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tastes like water, not a shake | Clear and light, easy to finish | Hard result: Protein2o passed 7,500 stores in 2025, sold as clear protein hydration | Worked |
| Protein that doesn't sit heavy | Hitting my protein number without the bloat | Buyer data: GLP-1 households spend 9% more on protein water (Numerator) | Promising |
| An athlete drinks it | A champion wrestler trains on it | The brand kept paying: ambassadors at Protein2o, four creators for Isopure's UK launch | Mixed |
Nobody is doing yet: A swap for a soda at the checkout, and cost per gram against a shake.
5. Calm drinks
Your end-of-day wind-down, poured in a wine glass: replace the evening drink as a ritual, keep it fun, never promise a buzz.
Of Recess's 20 Instagram creator captions, 6 sell winding down at night (median 343,490 views) and 7 sell a drink without alcohol (median 139,596 views). One creator posted for Recess 6 times. Kava Haven, a kava drink, has 53 sponsored YouTube videos, and 53% came from channels it booked again.
| Angle | The pitch | Proof | Call |
|---|---|---|---|
| My night wind-down | Solo night, my fun relaxing drink | Views plus the brand kept paying: the same creator posted twice | Worked |
| My evening drink, without the alcohol | The thing I miss most is my evening drink | The brand kept paying: Brix Fitness is one of Kava Haven's repeat channels | Worked |
| Skip the nightcap, stay part of the fun | No alcohol, still at the party (Ghia) | Hard result: Ghia made $2.5M in year one and reached 2,850 stores. Food Republic | Worked |
| A joke or a giveaway | Don't stress, take a recess | Views only, and giveaway views are bought attention | Reach only |
| A legal buzz instead of alcohol | A mocktail that can actually get you buzzed | Failed elsewhere: Feel Free settled a class action and added a habit-forming warning. ABC7 | Avoid |
- Avoid: Promising a buzz, or selling kava and kratom as a healthy alcohol swap. Poison center reports about kava rose 383% from 2010 to 2025. CDC
Nobody is doing yet: Swapping the mom wine habit, next-day anxiety after drinking, and replacing late-night scrolling.
6. Mushroom coffee
Keep the coffee ritual, lose the jitters, told as a 30 day swap. That hook is crowded; the open ground is sleep and saying the dose.
MUD\WTR has 193 sponsored YouTube videos and Everyday Dose 77, and 63% and 79% came from channels each booked again. 101 of 122 mushroom coffee reads talk about jitters or a crash. Everyday Dose booked Sleep With Me Podcast 13 times in 64 days and Michael Knowles 10 times. Of 22 MUD\WTR reads, 19 open on coffee making them jittery, 41% bring up sleep and none say the dose.
| Angle | The pitch | Proof | Call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coffee makes me jittery, this doesn't | I'd crash and feel anxious, now I don't | The brand kept paying: 63% of MUD\WTR's videos came from repeat channels | Worked, now crowded |
| Keep your morning ritual | Add it to the coffee habit you already have | Hard result: Everyday Dose went into 1,500 Target stores with no trial run, citing 60%+ repeat buyers | Worked |
| I swapped for 7 or 30 days | Here's what happened after a month | Reported: Ryze built a self-serve creator program around this format. Saral | Worked |
| It protects your sleep | Drink it all day and still sleep | Our data: raised in 41% of MUD\WTR reads, in none of its 78 ads | Open ground |
| It still tastes like real coffee | You'd never know the mushrooms are there | Everyday Dose's whole position; 73% of rival reads in our MUD\WTR set | Worked for Everyday Dose |
Nobody is doing yet: The dose in milligrams, who made it, and the night before as its own occasion.
7. Sleep chocolate
The last step of my night routine, a treat and not a pill, with no melatonin in it.
| Angle | The pitch | Proof | Call |
|---|---|---|---|
| The bedtime ritual | The last step before I get into bed | The brand kept paying: MoonBrew runs a standing TikTok Shop affiliate program | Worked |
- Avoid: Chocolate or candy with melatonin in it that kids could reach. Melatonin swallowed by children and reported to poison centers rose 530% from 2012 to 2021.
Nobody is doing yet: A sleep tracker score before and after, and a sleep doctor explaining the ingredient.
8. Electrolyte ice pops
The grown-up recovery pop, for after a night out or a hot workout, not a kids' treat.
| Angle | The pitch | Proof | Call |
|---|---|---|---|
| The hangover fix for adults | These bring you back after one too many | The brand changed course: Pedialyte aimed at adults after John Mayer posted about the pops unpaid | Worked |
| A nightclub accessory | Hydration delivered in the club (Magnum Hydro:ICE) | Unilever launched it in August 2025, no results yet | Too new |
Nobody is doing yet: Against Gatorade for athletes, and hydration on GLP-1 drugs.
9. Functional candy
The candy you already eat, with the sugar taken out: a swap, not a health promise. Celebrity pushes and fads here rose fast and fell hard.
| Angle | The pitch | Proof | Call |
|---|---|---|---|
| A celebrity's daily gummy | I take this every morning instead of a vinegar shot (Goli) | Hard result, both ways: $438M in 2021 sales, then a court-supervised sale in 2024 over lawsuits | Worked, then failed |
| A TikTok trend turned into a product | Freeze-dried candy, now in a bag (Sow Good) | Mars and Ferrara copied it, while Sow Good's stock fell from $22.56 to $1.02 | Trend won, brand lost |
- Avoid: Health claims on gummies. Goli's lawsuits are the warning.
Nobody is doing yet: A low-sugar claim for people with diabetes, and a kids' lunchbox swap.
10. Oral probiotics
A dentist or hygienist tells you why, as one extra step after you brush.
| Angle | The pitch | Proof | Call |
|---|---|---|---|
| A dentist explains it | As a hygienist, this is what I recommend | The brand built on it: BioGaia prints a professional recommendation on its own page | Worked |
| The dentist founder's story | He made it for his own daughter's bad breath (TheraBreath) | Hard result: Church & Dwight bought TheraBreath for a reported $580M in 2021 | Worked |
| A quiz and a before-and-after | Take this quiz to see your teeth transform (ProDentim) | Failed: 1.9 out of 5 on Trustpilot, refund and billing complaints | Failed |
- Avoid: Advertorial quiz funnels with big before-and-after promises.
Nobody is doing yet: A get-ready-with-me beauty format, and anything for kids.
11. Drinkable skincare
I have used this every day for years: a real long-time user shows it in their routine, with no wrinkle promises.
| Angle | The pitch | Proof | Call |
|---|---|---|---|
| A real long-time user | I've used it every day for years (Jennifer Aniston, Vital Proteins) | Hard result: Aniston became chief creative officer in 2020, Nestlé completed its buy of the US collagen leader in 2022 | Worked |
| Our 28-day test | 95% said their skin looked brighter (Dose & Co) | The brand's own study of 79 people | Mixed |
| It removes wrinkles | Plumps fine lines, reverses aging | Failed: the UK ad regulator ordered a collagen drink ad down in 2019. NutraIngredients | Failed |
- Avoid: Anti-aging and wrinkle claims.
- Avoid: Celebrity gummy lines under legal review (Lemme, 2024).
Nobody is doing yet: A dermatologist explaining it, and a treat angle.
The 5 ideas that don't exist yet
12. Daily nutrition crunch
Launch it as a recipe: a new way to eat the salad you already make.
Closest thing on shelves: Cottage cheese recipe hacks and protein cereal.
- Good Culture planned 35% growth in 2023 and grew 80% once cottage cheese took off on TikTok. Modern Retail
- Magic Spoon, protein cereal sold as the cereal you remember, has 256 sponsored YouTube videos, and 47% came from channels it booked again.
Risk: Nutrient maxing trends draw expert warnings about overdoing it. CNBC
13. Gut-health parmesan
The fiber you're missing, shaken on dinner, explained by a dietitian, with a GLP-1 angle.
Closest thing on shelves: Supergut fiber, and nutritional yeast.
- Supergut's sales grew 172% in 2024 on a GLP-1 booster pitch, and it hired the former Vital Proteins CEO. AgFunderNews
Risk: Too much fiber at once is the warning attached to the fibermaxxing trend.
14. Performance spreads
Your creatine, hidden in breakfast, with independent batch testing printed on the pack.
Closest thing on shelves: Creatine gummies (Create).
- Create has sold 250 million creatine gummies and raised $20M in March 2026. NutraIngredients
- Create has 62 sponsored YouTube videos, 76% came from channels it booked again, and Thomas DeLauer read it 33 times over 754 days.
Risk: Lab tests in 2024 found creatine gummies short on creatine, and Create was sued over it in April 2026. Water breaks creatine down, which a moist spread would face too. Creators now bring it up themselves, as in the second read.
15. Nutrition finishing blends
It goes on everything, watch what I put it on next, under a name you can own.
Closest thing on shelves: Momofuku chili crunch, Liquid I.V. sachets, and organ-meat seasoning.
- Momofuku Goods raised $29M and sold $50M in a year off chili crunch. Nosh
- Pluck, an organ-meat seasoning, has 52 sponsored YouTube videos, and 87% came from channels it booked again.
Risk: Momofuku ended up in trademark fights over a generic name.
16. Protein brewing bags
Upgrade the tea you already drink instead of adding a shake.
Closest thing on shelves: Protein coffee (Super Coffee PROTEIN+, Javy) and collagen creamer.
- Super Coffee's PROTEIN+ passed $10M in shipments, its fastest line ever, launched as protein coffee took off on TikTok. BevNET
- Javy has 31 sponsored YouTube videos, and only 13% came from channels it booked again.
Risk: Protein that clumps or tastes chalky in hot water would break the ritual it depends on.