Each complement model obsesses over what goes into the bottle. Far fewer assume exhausting sufficient about whether or not clients will nonetheless be opening or repurchasing it months later.
An awesome formulation does nothing from the again of a cupboard. Glanbia’s Designing Smarter Supplementation marketing campaign makes the case that format, taste, and the technical work behind them determine whether or not individuals hold taking their dietary supplements.
That second query is the place routines disintegrate. In Glanbia’s client analysis, 1 in 10 individuals who stopped taking dietary supplements mentioned “boredom” was the explanation. Mintel knowledge in the identical marketing campaign supplies provides that the majority shoppers battle to maintain greater than three pill-based merchandise at a time. Every new capsule makes the entire routine simpler to drop.
Designing Smarter Supplementation: Half One among Two Methods to Win
Glanbia constructed its second-half 2026 marketing campaign, Designing Smarter Supplementation, round that drawback. The marketing campaign runs on two tracks. One covers benefit-led merchandise designed round a selected client want, which we’ll dig into after SupplySide International. This text covers the opposite: the gummies, chews, powders, and taste programs that make individuals wish to take their dietary supplements, plus the technical work it takes to ship them with out wrecking the dose.
It picks up the place our latest have a look at Glanbia’s Customized Premix Options left off. That article lined the nutrient programs beneath these merchandise. This one begins from the buyer’s facet of the counter.
Be taught Extra at SupplySide International 2026 Sales space 6152
Heading to SupplySide International in Las Vegas? Glanbia can be at Sales space 6152 throughout expo corridor hours (October 28 by 30), with samples from its prototype lineup. Extra on these on the finish.
Efficacy Will get the Trial, Expertise Will get the Refill
A robust formulation remains to be the worth of entry — the times of low-cost proprietary blends are lengthy gone. Analysis-backed doses, high quality elements, and a clear label are actually desk stakes to get a product into the cart. However whether or not it stays in somebody’s routine relies on how effectively it suits into an abnormal day.
That match will get more durable as routines develop. Shoppers usually begin with a multivitamin, then add merchandise for vitality, magnificence, sleep, or immunity as their targets shift. Each addition means one other bottle, one other capsule to swallow or drink to eat, and typically one other time of day to recollect.
For many individuals, swallowing is the primary impediment. In a survey of 1,051 main care sufferers, 37.4% reported problem swallowing tablets or capsules, with the issue extra frequent amongst ladies and youthful sufferers.[1] Of these affected, 9.4% reported being non-adherent. Word that these have been German main care sufferers on long-term medicines and never complement consumers. However nonetheless, if individuals battle with tablets their well being relies on, it is simple to guess how an optionally available vitamin fares!
Boredom piles on high of that friction, and Glanbia’s lapse knowledge exhibits it may finish a routine by itself. Efficacy might win the primary buy. The expertise earns the refill.
One in 10 lapsed complement customers blame boredom, and capsule fatigue units in past three pill-based merchandise.
The Format Menu Retains Rising
Gummies and tender chews moved from the youngsters’ aisle to the middle of grownup supplementation as a result of they really feel extra like a deal with than a job. Prepared-to-mix powders and stick packs turned dietary supplements into drinks, and effervescent tablets made a glass of water a part of the routine.
The experimentation retains going. Innova’s December 2025 complement innovation knowledge factors to photographs, dissolvable strips, chocolate bites, lollipops, purees, and even gelatin truffles as rising supply codecs worldwide.
Pictures, strips, chocolate bites, lollipops, gelatin truffles, and purees all chase the identical aim: a day by day complement that appears like one thing you’d select anyway.
Format Is a Improvement Choice
It is tempting to deal with format as a packaging alternative made after the formulation is locked. In apply, format units the principles for all the pieces else:
Gummies have a dimension ceiling that limits how a lot lively ingredient suits in each bit. They’re additionally cooked sizzling and usually acidified, circumstances that degrade many nutritional vitamins and botanicals earlier than the product leaves the plant.
Mushy chews use a distinct matrix (Glanbia’s chew prototypes are constructed on sugars, coconut oil, and gelatin), so overages and ingredient conduct must be labored out for that particular composition and course of.
Prepared-to-mix powders must circulation by filling gear, dissolve shortly, and style proper in resolution, the place off-notes have nowhere to cover.
Glanbia’s North American complement work facilities on precisely these three codecs. And the shoppers pushing hardest for them skew younger.
Youthful Shoppers Are Ditching the Capsule
In keeping with Glanbia’s 2023 US client examine, Gen Z and Millennials are practically 5 instances extra seemingly to decide on gummies, chews, and different pleasing codecs over conventional tablets and tablets.
Amongst 18-to-25-year-olds, chews, lozenges, and lollipops alone outpaced tablets and tablets by roughly 5 to at least one because the type of their most up-to-date complement. Gummies drew broad enchantment in all ages bracket, although. Drugs and tablets climb sharply after 45, peaking within the 56-to-65 group.
Youthful shoppers additionally need various things from their dietary supplements. Each technology makes use of nutritional vitamins and minerals for normal well being and immunity, however Glanbia’s 2026 Pulse survey throughout the US, UK, and China discovered that Gen Z over-indexes on sleep assist, muscle well being, stress and temper, magnificence, and cognitive well being. These wants map neatly onto codecs that slot right into a day: a relaxing chew earlier than mattress, a magnificence gummy with breakfast, or a spotlight stick pack dropped right into a water bottle at work.
Novelty solely buys a trial, although. Somebody would possibly seize a lollipop vitamin as soon as for the enjoyable of it. Repeat use takes good style, a texture that holds up from the primary piece within the bottle to the final, and a dose that does what the label says.
Gen Z and Millennials are practically 5 instances extra seemingly to decide on gummies, chews, and different pleasing codecs over tablets and tablets.
Style Is the Repeat-Buy Engine
If one quantity explains the gummy increase, it is this: 52% of gummy customers say “tastes good” is a attribute they search for in dietary supplements, in contrast with simply 16% of all vitamin, mineral, and complement (VMS) customers. For gummy consumers, style tops the listing, forward of value.
The remainder of the information is revealing too. Gummy customers are extra seemingly than the common VMS shopper to need an inexpensive product (37% vs. 32%) and high-quality elements (25% vs. 19%). They need candy-shop taste, a clear ingredient listing, and a value that does not sting. That is a demanding listing, as a result of each masking agent, overage, and reformulation provides price.
Shoppers additionally choose a gummy in opposition to actual sweet and a drink combine in opposition to no matter’s of their fridge. “Fairly good for a vitamin” not cuts it.
Why Nice Style Is Laborious
The elements benefit-led merchandise want are sometimes the toughest to cover:
Minerals like iron and zinc deliver metallic, astringent notes
Caffeine is very bitter
Thiamine and different B nutritional vitamins can carry sulfurous off-notes
Choline sources lean fishy
Ashwagandha is bitter and earthy (its Sanskrit title roughly interprets to “scent of horse”)
Amino acids and proteins add bitterness and lingering aftertastes
Sugar-reduced and sugar-free variations increase the issue, since sugar is likely one of the most nice masking instruments obtainable. Taste groups must stability sweetness, acidity, aroma, texture, colour, and aftertaste, then ensure that the product tastes the identical on the finish of its shelf life because it did on day one.
That is the job of Glanbia’s two taste homes, Taste Producers and Foodarom, which we first lined in our Pleasure with Goal breakdown. Glanbia pitches them on off-note masking, a pure and natural taste portfolio, and hands-on software and sensory assist.
Style is the highest attribute for gummy customers, at 52% versus 16% for VMS customers general.
Taste That Indicators the Profit
Masking is just half of taste’s job. The fitting profile can inform shoppers what a product does earlier than they learn the label. Glanbia teams the flavors gaining traction in dietary supplements into 5 households, every matched to the advantages it reinforces.
Useful Fruits
Pink guava, Korean pear, white peach, pomelo, and calamansi go well with magnificence, immunity, and vitality merchandise. They’re acquainted sufficient to really feel approachable and international sufficient to really feel elevated.
Floral-Ahead
Lychee rose, jasmine berry, orange blossom citrus, and honey lavender match leisure and wonder. Floral notes cue self-care and a premium expertise, which raises perceived worth.
Tea-Impressed Rituals
White peach honey matcha, blackberry citrus inexperienced tea, and elderberry mint pair with focus, cognition, and vitality. Tea is already a day by day ritual with a better-for-you fame, so these flavors really feel acquainted on the primary strive.
Trendy Indulgence
Vanilla chai, brown sugar milk tea, toasted coconut, and raspberry rosemary are constructed for temper merchandise. Glanbia’s view is that indulgent profiles drive buy intent and adherence as a result of they really feel rewarding and permissible on the identical time.
Tropical Retreat
Pink guava, dragon fruit, passionfruit, and coconut citrus match hydration, magnificence, and vitality. They evoke freshness and escape, and so they naturally reinforce the hydration story behind electrolyte drink mixes.
What the Social Information Says
Glanbia additionally constructed three idea merchandise round Tastewise social-conversation knowledge from June 2026.
Glow & Radiance magnificence gummy (Blueberry Honeydew): Honeydew melon is the second-fastest-rising taste in magnificence conversations, up 128% yr over yr.
Day by day Protection immune assist chew (Mandarin Orange Lemongrass): Mandarin orange is the fastest-rising taste in immunity conversations, up 136%, and lemongrass is up 99%.
Calm & Readability temper and focus drink combine (Bitter Apple Ardour Fruit): Bitter apple is the fastest-rising taste in temper conversations, up 327%, with ardour fruit second at 273%.
Deal with social chatter as an early sign reasonably than a gross sales forecast. It nonetheless offers a product crew a concrete motive to decide on one taste over one other. Glanbia’s ideas even account for seems, with EdiSparklz® edible glitter including colour with out taste, sweetness, or energy.
Glanbia’s 5 taste households, every matched to the advantages it reinforces.
Constructing It: The place Format, Taste, and Formulation Meet
All the things above suits neatly on a slide. Turning it right into a gummy that tastes like sweet and nonetheless carries its labeled dose by cooking, curing, and a protracted shelf life is the place merchandise disintegrate.
Unbiased testing exhibits how usually it occurs. In 2023, researchers led by Pieter Cohen analyzed 25 melatonin gummy merchandise bought within the US.[2] Measured melatonin ranged from 74% to 347% of the labeled quantity. Twenty-two of the 25 merchandise have been inaccurately labeled, and solely three landed inside 10% of their declare. One contained no detectable melatonin in any respect, however did include 31.3mg of CBD! The furthest off beam, at 347%, was a multi-ingredient “sleep plus immune” gummy.
The examine had limits (one pattern per model, gummies solely), and the researchers did not discover why most merchandise ran excessive. However gummy makers have lengthy protected label claims by including further lively up entrance to cowl what processing and shelf life destroy. Get these overages fallacious, or mix inconsistently, and the dose drifts. That is why the associate behind a gummy issues as a lot because the formulation on its label.
Coating the Actives
Eight nutritional vitamins, three minerals, a botanical extract, and a sweetener mix. Almost all from completely different suppliers. One late cargo and your manufacturing run stalls. Glanbia’s Customized Premix Options flip that complete listing right into a single examined ingredient.
We lined Glanbia’s TechVantage® Functionally Optimized Nutrient Applied sciences in depth within the premix article: NutraShield® microencapsulation, GranulPlex® granulation, and UniTrit® trituration. For gummies and chews, NutraShield does the heavy lifting. A skinny ethylcellulose coating protects delicate vitamins from warmth and acid throughout processing, and Glanbia says it may lower required overages by half or extra. Smaller overages imply extra predictable doses and fewer uncooked materials per batch, which issues when your purchaser needs premium style at a good value.
Glanbia additionally tackles the testing drawback head-on. Coated vitamins include recognized analytical challenges, so the corporate developed its personal testing methodology, which it shares with manufacturers and their third-party labs.
Encapsulation Doubles as a Style Instrument
That is the place the technical and sensory halves of the story join. TechVantage® lists taste and style among the many issues it solves, alongside stability and homogeneity. And the NutraShield® coated-ingredient listing reads just like the off-note roster from earlier: caffeine, choline bitartrate, zinc, copper, iron, thiamin, and ashwagandha, plus L-theanine, vitamin C, folic acid, and nutritional vitamins A and D3.
A coating can restrict how a lot of an lively dissolves on the tongue, and the flavour system masks the remaining. Glanbia’s prototypes present the pairing at work:
EnergiFuel Chews (Watermelon Splash) ship 50mg of NutraShield® caffeine per chew, with a pure watermelon taste mix and a separate masking mix.
ZenGems Gummies (Berry Bliss) carry 300mg of NutraShield® KSM-66® Ashwagandha per gummy, with pure blueberry acai taste and a masking mix.
GlowUp Effervescents (Pineapple Ardour) mix 1g of Collameta™ collagen with NutraShield®-protected beta carotene, nutritional vitamins D3 and E, and selenium, plus a vitamin taste masker.
Each Format Wants Its Personal Playbook
Glanbia’s software groups strategy every format in another way.
Gummies: overages tuned for warmth, pH, and shelf-life claims, expertise with gelatin and pectin programs, sugar-reduced and sugar-free choices, and pilot-lab testing plus co-manufacturer relationships for scale-up
Mushy chews: overages tuned to the chew’s composition and course of, with prototyping and ingredient testing forward of launch
Prepared-to-mix powders: GranulPlex® granulation for higher instantization and solubility, V and paddle mixing, and sachet pouching know-how
Glanbia is not a co-manufacturer, although. As defined on Episode #199 of the PricePlow Podcast, it really works as an ingredient home that connects manufacturers with the proper contract producers. Deliver your personal, or lean on Glanbia’s community.
Mushy chews want their very own overage math, taste masking, and prototyping earlier than they scale.
Style It at SupplySide International: Sales space 6152
SupplySide International runs October 26 to 30 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, with the expo corridor open October 28, 29, and 30. Glanbia can be at Sales space 6152, and it is a sales space price visiting hungry.
Together with EnergiFuel, ZenGems, and GlowUp, count on samples from Glanbia’s prototype lineup, together with:
ImmunWell Gummies (Berry Pomegranate Elixir): 100mg of Immunel™ colostrum per two-gummy serving, plus the All N® Immunity Premix Accelerator with NutraShield® vitamin C, zinc, and elderberry extract
Collagen Peach Citrus Gummies: made with Collameta™, Glanbia’s marine-based, 50% tripeptide collagen (lined in our Glanbia Energy Platform article)
Immunel™ Prepared-to-Combine Immune & Hydration Powder (Ardour Fruit Yuzu): 100mg of Immunel and 1.5g of the All N® Electrolyte Premix Accelerator, with 0g of sugar
Immunel™ Orange Cream Pill Chew: 100mg of Immunel in a chewable pill
Every prototype pairs a profit platform with a format and taste constructed for it, which is the Designing Smarter Supplementation thesis in a single chunk. We’ll break down the complete lineup, together with the benefit-led facet of the marketing campaign, in our post-show follow-up.
The Finest Formulation Is the One Folks End
Brad Meyers, VP of Useful Proteins and Snacking at Glanbia, breaks down the meals science behind better-for-you protein merchandise, from fixing the protein bar hardness drawback to designing the revolutionary OvenPro platform for high-protein baked items on Episode #199 of the PricePlow Podcast.
Product groups spend months perfecting a label. Shoppers then determine whether or not that product earns a everlasting spot of their routine, and Glanbia’s knowledge exhibits what they’re judging. Gummy customers rank style above all the pieces else. Youthful shoppers are transferring away from tablets. And tedium alone is sufficient to finish a routine.
Assembly these expectations takes greater than a enjoyable format and a trending taste. It takes coated actives that survive processing, masking programs constructed round particular off-notes, format-specific manufacturing expertise, and a approach to confirm that the dose on the label made it into the product. The melatonin knowledge exhibits what occurs when these items are lacking.
That is the case Glanbia is bringing to Las Vegas. If you happen to’re growing a gummy, chew, or drink combine for 2027, Sales space 6152 deserves a spot in your SupplySide schedule.
Join Glanbia information alerts under, and we’ll let you recognize when our post-show have a look at the benefit-led facet of the marketing campaign goes stay:
