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Here are this week’s headlines:

P.S This week Angelique looks at the rise of Starbucks and its most powerful marketing tool, the experience. It proved that authentic culture, lived from the inside out, can outperform even the best campaigns.

C.Will

When did buying groceries become so complicated that even defining food feels up for debate?

Is it what comes from the Earth, or what's optimised in a lab? Is "processed" a red flag, or a signal of performance, ethics, or innovation?

We're in a moment where labels are blurred, meanings are subjective, and facts alone don't settle the argument. What's "good" for one person might feel wrong for another, and the same ingredient can be viewed as nourishing or unnatural depending on the narrative.

A lab-grown burger patty may be scientifically sound, but to some it may be off-putting. A honey-sweetened snack might be just sugar, but it still feels right because it reads as "clean."

The Power of Storytelling

The world is confusing enough without the grocery aisle confusing us even further. In this climate, the power lies in storytelling.

It's about how we label it, categorise it, and, most importantly, tell its story. As the same product can feel radically different depending on the story told around it.

Just look at Savor's Climate Butter: made from CO₂ and microbes, it's a hyper-engineered product by any definition. But by telling a story of climate action, they've reframed the synthetic as sustainable and turned unfamiliar ingredients into a badge of purpose.

Consumers aren't just decoding labels; they're looking for cues that help them feel good about what they eat. Brands that offer emotional clarity, not just ingredient clarity, are cutting through the chaos to make consumers' choices easier.

So let's look at the brands taking the lead and navigating this space head-on...

So what happens next? That's still unfolding. But as more brands stake a claim on what's 'good', 'natural' or 'processed', the ones to watch are those who understand what resonates with their consumers.

No matter how the regulators interpret this, 'perception is reality,' which means you have to make your story as clear as your ingredients. Don't try to be right; just start helping people feel right about what they eat.

The winners in this space won't be those with the best nutritional profile or the cleanest ingredient list; they'll be the ones who help consumers navigate the emotional complexity of modern eating, without losing the joy of why they're eating it in the first place.

P.S. Go look at Wild Type's website, it's a great example of storytelling in this space.

Uncover what’s next before the competition with 1,000s of inspiring signals and actionable innovation opportunities for only £95 per year.

How do you make lab-grown delicious? How can plant-based meat be positioned as pleasurable? And can cell-based anything create desire? As these new alternatives muscle their way into the mainstream, the battle isn't just in the kitchen, it's in the marketing.

With nearly half of Gen Z open to eating lab-grown meat, according to a recent Ipsos report, brands are shifting their messaging to meet a new kind of appetite: one that's future-curious, ethics-driven, and culturally attuned.

Let’s look at how brands are telling stories in this space.

No Clucks Given

Upside Foods ran a full-page New York Times ad addressed solely to chickens, framing their cultivated meat as a future where animals are no longer part of the food chain, appealing to ethics over appetite.

Mock Meat, Real Sass

Vegan chicken brand VFC launched a bold "troll campaign" by highlighting and mocking hate comments it received online, turning criticism into defiant clout.

This Changes Everything

THIS’s “This Changes Everything” campaign uses absurd disclaimers and deadpan humour to spotlight cultivated meat, mocking overblown brand promises while making future food feel fun and relatable.

Bacon Without the Oink

For World Vegan Day, plant-based bacon brand La Vie launched a cheeky ad takeover across the UK, using bold, playful copy like “Makin’ Bacon without the Oink” to grab attention and charm meat-eaters with a mix of humour, rebellion, and irresistibly crispy visuals.

Plated to Be Craved

BlueNalu’s digital campaign puts eating with our eyes front and centre. Showcasing beautifully plated, lab-grown tuna to tap into our instinct to eat with our eyes, and reframe cultivated fish as craveable, premium, and planet-friendly.

When watercress farmer Tom Amery saw a crop-spraying drone on Instagram, he didn't just see a gadget but the future. Now, his team at The Watercress Company is investing £80,000 in high-spec DJI drones to cut fertiliser use, map crops with multi-spectral imaging, and improve staff morale. "It's about staff retention," he says. "We'll pay the operators more… with more pay, staff are more likely to stay." The innovation is even bringing in younger workers to the farming industry by, dare we say it, making it cool.

It is no longer seen as just cold automation; it's an emotional uplift that provides optimisation, giving workers innovative tools, new skills, and moments of joy. The drone becomes more than a machine. It's a morale booster. It is a badge of cool, a high-tech reframing of one of the world's oldest jobs.

Progress feels better when people feel part of it.