It’s that time of year when Q4 is well underway, and the industry sets its sights on evolving consumer demands. As we head into 2025, on the cusp of confectionery changes, brands and manufacturers explore their research and development (R&D) plans, marketing strategies and business goals.
Ahead of 2025’s arrival, market research company Mintel has revealed that one top trend set to shape sweet treats is being different, standing out from the crowd and rebelling against the rules. Rather than one-size-fits-all, the rule rebellion trend takes inspiration from personalisation and customisation trends where we see formulations, packaging and engaging experiences that showcase uniqueness.
In Mintel’s leading food and drink trend for 2025, the insights provider encourages manufacturers and companies to embrace consumers as their ‘perfectly imperfect’ selves. Consumers will be actively seeking brands that will help them rebel against the rules.
Breaking the invisible rules
In 2025, we can expect bolder campaigns and messaging that celebrate imperfections. While consumers plan and intend to eat healthy food, cook meals from scratch and keep to a specific shopping budget, there’s now more awareness and acceptance of the reality that these are not always possible.
As a sign that society is becoming more casual, consumers are accepting and championing their imperfections. Chocolate, sweet and gum brands can appeal to this awareness and embrace perfectly imperfect habits by leveraging novel experiences and formulations.
Marketers can now act to dispel these invisible barriers around confectionery consumption. Brands can develop products that embrace the reality that imperfection exists and is not something to avoid recognising in their conversations with consumers.
Rule rebellion: A core confectionery trend
With the rise of the permissible indulgence trend, sweet treats may already be perfectly positioned to take advantage of Mintel’s new-for-2025 consumer trend, which revolves around breaking the rules.
Rule rebellion is an evolution of several key trends that have revolved around pushing the boundaries. In 2017, the waste not trend emerged. As upcycling was on the rise, it focused on removing the stigma associated with imperfect produce. Then, in 2018, texture formulation came into focus with the new sensations trend, inviting brands to offer captivating, interactive and sensorial experiences.
Following the removal of COVID-19 restrictions for many consumers worldwide in 2022, shoppers wanted to get out of their comfort zones and experience confectionery enjoyment from all elements of the eating experience. Enjoyment everywhere became a key trend, with brands looking to elevate their flavours, colours, aromas and interactivity to appeal to shoppers.
2023’s unguilty pleasures trend saw consumers opt for moments of pleasure and indulgence. Shoppers expressed their desire for these enjoyable eating experiences and unwillingness to compromise on them amid global crises. However, rather than communicating ‘guilty pleasures’ in marketing, the trend gave brands the opportunity to encourage overwhelmed consumers to accept the freedom to indulge in products they wanted.
The confectionery industry has looked at edging beyond ‘norms’ through an environmental, sensorial and experiential lens. As we approach 2025, the rule rebellion trend brings all these elements together, encouraging brands to tap into consumer calls to celebrate the ‘perfectly imperfect’.
Imperfectly perfect habits
With the arrival of the rule rebellion trend, brands can leverage their existing perfectly imperfect habits. They can manufacture and market products that reflect consumers’ potential ‘wants’ for their food experiences rather than their ‘shoulds’.
“By supporting these rebellious tendencies, brands can help rule-breaking consumers feel more represented by the outside-the-norm food and drink choices available to them,” Mintel states in its 2025 Global Food and Drink Trends report.
Around the globe, consumers are opening up about their acceptance of themselves and perfectly imperfect habits. Almost three-quarters (73%) of consumers in the US agree it’s ok to be average. Nearly half (48%) of South Korean consumers asked by Mintel say they only occasionally eat healthily, while just over a third (34%) of German consumers eat something indulgent, such as a dessert or treat, daily.
Furthermore, there’s a sense that consumers are comfortable sharing their imperfections around their consumption patterns. In Thailand, a third of consumers say they don’t feel guilty after eating or drinking unhealthy options.
Bring on rule-breaking innovation
Over the next 18 months to three years, we may see new and novel collaborations, formulation choices and product launch campaigns as consumers are open to innovations that break the rules.
We can expect less conventional solutions on the physical and online supermarket shelves. Almost two-thirds (63%) of Chinese consumers seek new foods or flavours, prompting a potential wave of new sweet treats entering the market.
A slowdown in innovation combined with ongoing consumer calls for new and exciting flavours will see brand collaborations pop up too. Over a third (37%) of global food and drink launches were deemed ‘new products’ in 2023 compared to 50% in 2007. Companies can draw upon each other’s brand presence, products and positioning to formulate new sweet treats with sought-after tastes and textures. Over half (58%) of UK sweet consumers agree that sweets produced in collaboration with other brands would appeal to them.
Tackling social stigmas is another core area in this trend, seeing brands centre their efforts on addressing less familiar health issues. We can expect awareness to grow surrounding lesser-known and seen marketing messaging and on-pack claims. Clear, on-pack messaging will be essential for brands to connect with consumers embracing perfectly imperfect habits and looking for less conventional product varieties.
With the cocoa crisis ongoing, chocolate brands may focus on communicating their sustainability stances by developing products with new environmentally friendly cocoa varieties or cocoa-replacement ingredients and marketing these based on their taste and aromas. In Indonesia, 55% of consumers expect brands to initiate addressing environmental issues, indicating brands' role in communicating their eco-consciousness may grow to meet this consumer demand.
