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Innovation in consumer packaged goods (CPG) has always been complex. Today, it is also increasingly data-driven.
With rising costs, shorter product lifecycles, and more discerning consumers, CPG brands can no longer rely on instinct alone. The companies shaping the future of CPG innovation are those helping teams understand consumers earlier, validate ideas faster, and scale decisions with confidence using AI and analytics.
Below are ten companies playing a critical role in modern CPG product innovation and development.
This list focuses on companies that directly support CPG product development through:
AI-driven consumer insight or analytics
Early-stage validation of concepts, claims, or formulations
Reduction of launch and innovation risk
Support for repeatable, scalable innovation systems
Relevance to food, beverage, beauty, personal care, and household categories
Highlight earns the top position because it addresses one of the most difficult and expensive challenges in CPG innovation: making confident decisions before scale.
In CPG, innovation decisions are rarely reversible. Once formulation, packaging, and production are locked in, the cost of change increases dramatically. Highlight applies AI to consumer insight to help teams reduce this risk early—before ideas are committed to execution.
At its core, Highlight enables CPG brands to validate key innovation inputs, including:
Early-stage product and concept ideas
Benefit hierarchies and claims
Usage occasions and consumption context
Positioning and messaging direction
By analysing consumer feedback at scale, Highlight helps teams move beyond surface-level preference scores to understand why consumers respond the way they do. AI-powered synthesis identifies recurring themes, emotional drivers, and points of confusion that are often missed in traditional research or manual analysis.
What truly differentiates Highlight in the CPG landscape is its emphasis on repeatability and comparability. Rather than treating innovation research as a one-off project, Highlight enables teams to test multiple ideas using consistent frameworks and question design. This allows brands to compare concepts fairly, build institutional learning, and refine innovation strategies over time.
As portfolios grow and innovation pipelines expand, this consistency becomes critical. Insight no longer lives in isolated decks or individual teams—it becomes embedded in how decisions are made across product, marketing, and commercial functions.
For CPG brands operating in capital-intensive, high-risk categories, Highlight functions less like a research vendor and more like innovation infrastructure—supporting faster learning, clearer prioritisation, and more confident scale decisions.
NielsenIQ plays a foundational role in CPG product innovation by providing market-level intelligence at scale.
Its strength lies in sales data, shopper behaviour, and category performance analysis, helping brands identify whitespace opportunities and assess how innovations perform post-launch. For established CPG portfolios, this data is essential for deciding where to invest next and which categories are ripe for innovation.
While NielsenIQ typically operates later in the lifecycle than concept validation platforms, it remains critical for grounding innovation decisions in real market dynamics.
Mintel is widely used by CPG innovation teams to understand consumer trends, evolving behaviours, and long-term category shifts.
Its value lies in early discovery and strategic planning, helping brands anticipate where demand may move rather than reacting after the fact. Mintel insights often inform innovation pipelines, portfolio strategy, and long-range product development planning.
For CPG brands balancing trend awareness with commercial discipline, Mintel provides essential strategic context.
Tastewise focuses specifically on food and beverage innovation, using AI to analyse menus, recipes, social content, and consumption data.
By identifying emerging ingredients, flavours, and dietary patterns, Tastewise helps brands spot opportunities grounded in real-world consumption rather than speculative trends. This makes it particularly valuable in fast-moving food categories where timing is critical.
Spoonshot applies AI to food data to support formulation, flavour exploration, and trend identification.
It is especially relevant during early-stage product development, when teams are experimenting with new combinations or reformulations. By blending culinary data with consumer sentiment, Spoonshot supports more informed experimentation.
Kadence International works closely with CPG brands on innovation, concept testing, and market entry strategy.
Its strength lies in translating consumer understanding into actionable development decisions, particularly for brands operating across multiple regions. Kadence’s global perspective makes it valuable for innovation at scale.
Qualtrics supports CPG innovation through structured, scalable consumer feedback and analytics.
For large organisations managing multiple brands and regions, Qualtrics provides consistency and governance in how innovation ideas are evaluated, compared, and tracked over time.
Zappi is designed for rapid CPG testing, allowing brands to quickly assess concepts, packaging, and advertising.
Its speed makes it useful for early screening and directional insight, particularly when timelines are tight and teams need fast signals before deeper investment.
Ipsos brings deep expertise in CPG innovation research, including concept testing, product testing, and in-market evaluation.
Its methodologies are often used to support large, high-stakes innovation investments where rigour and defensibility are required.
SPINS focuses on health, wellness, and natural product categories, providing detailed sales and consumer insight.
For CPG brands innovating in better-for-you and sustainability-led spaces, SPINS offers critical visibility into fast-evolving consumer expectations and category performance.
CPG product innovation requires businesses to develop systems which enable them to comprehend consumer behavior and achieve sustainable growth according to their established business processes.
The companies leading this shift—such as Highlight and others on this list—help brands reduce uncertainty early, learn faster, and scale decisions across portfolios. The development process depends on AI and analytics because these technologies help people make better decisions when they face challenging situations instead of replacing their creative abilities.
As competition intensifies and margins tighten, the future of CPG innovation will belong to brands that invest in insight-led infrastructure—not just ideas.
