The best trends reflect deeper, lasting shifts in how we shop, eat, and behave. If you want to understand which trends are gaining real traction, and what they mean for your brand and business, this sneak preview of the year ahead is especially for you.

Megan Lynberg is Senior Vice President of Client Strategy at Datassential, the world’s leading intelligence platform tracking the most relevant trends. Her work predicts what will impact consumer categories from restaurants and CPG to personal care and beauty.

Megan shares how Datassential helps the best restaurant, retail, and CPG companies translate consumer insights into ideas, evaluate new concepts, and find white space earlier. And she explains how you can plan, prioritize, and innovate with confidence.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

✨ How Datassential uses AI (and has before it was cool) to forecast top trends with 98% accuracy to inform and inspire ideas across industries

✨ Why more approachable or incremental, brand-inspired innovation often outperforms chasing short-lived trends

✨ The biggest macro shifts shaping 2026 and how brands distinguish meaningful, lasting trends from fleeting fads

✨ How brand leaders vet new ideas and validate concepts before investing time, money or operational upgrades

✨ Why collaboration between operators, manufacturers, marketers and insights teams is the new superpower for innovation

A must-listen (or watch) for brand leaders who want to transform data into clearer brand direction to get ahead in the New Year.

Megan’s creative inspiration:

Book: Atomic Habits by James Clear

Brand: Buc-ee's

Beverage: Boulevard Beer

Songs: “Glorious” by Macklemore and “Rosalita” by Bruce Springsteen

If you’re trying to spot new opportunities earlier, build best-in-class brands faster, and think bigger for ideas that define complete categories, you’re in the right place.

Jack Gibbons, CEO of FB Society (creator of Velvet Taco, Whiskey Cake, Sixty Vines, Haywire, Mexican Sugar, Legacy Hall and more), shares how he and his team turned a portfolio of new-to-world concepts into a true powerhouse.

Jack pulls back the curtain on how breakthrough ideas are sparked, shaped, protected, and scaled with soul. He also shares how his rise from server to COO to CEO fuels the creative risks behind FB Society’s continued success.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

✨How to think bigger by intentionally carving out time to break away from the day-to-day and discover new possibilities

✨How multi-unit, multi-brand operators (“MUMBOS”) can win by centralizing what ensures efficiency and safeguarding what creates distinction

✨The exact DNA framework FB Society uses to keep their concepts unique and growing, year after year, even through industry headwinds

✨Why execution is the real indicator of success, and how to use traffic, reviews, and constant feedback loops to keep brands moving forward

✨How to apply the same brand-building systems to inform and inspire your wellness journey, including Jack’s now-famous 40-pushup club

A must-listen for any brand builder who wants to grow their business faster, spot white space earlier, and unlock bigger ideas.

Jack’s creative inspiration:

Book: The Wealth Money Can’t Buy by Robin Sharma

Brand: Hillstone

Beverage: Tequila reposado on ice with an orange slice

Song: “More Than a Feeling” by Boston

What does it take to communicate with clarity, confidence, and creativity so that you move rooms, mobilize teams, and communicate ideas worth spreading?

Briar Goldberg, one of the world’s most sought-after communications coaches and the force behind hundreds of the most iconic TED Talks, shares the essential skills today’s leaders need to break through noise, complexity, and shrinking attention spans.

As the Head of Speaker Coaching at TED, Briar has coached CEOs of Meta, Ford, and Levi’s; Nobel laureates; Oscar and Grammy winners; founders and executives. In this episode, she reveals what the best communicators do differently, and how everyday brand builders can apply the same tools for campaigns, board meetings, and more.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

✨ Why “audience before content” (the ABC rule) is the fastest path to clarity, influence, and trust

✨ The art of shaping a single powerful idea and why most messages fail from the very beginning

✨ How to prepare for high-stakes presentations (and why rehearsing in your head won’t cut it)

✨ Why humor, humanity, and specificity will separate compelling communicators in the AI era

✨ The behind-the-scenes stories of coaching top scientists, innovators, and leaders shaping the future

A candid, practical conversation about courageous, audience-first communication from the coach who helps the world’s best speakers inspire action, and how you can, too.

Briar’s creative inspiration:

Books: Humor, Seriously by Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas; Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini and The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Brands: Midi Health, TUSHY

Beverage: Paper Plane

Song: “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” by John Denver