Convenience, function and indulgence are changing breakfast rituals. So how can brands lean into visual cues and packaging design to tap this trend? Principals’ Michael Callan and Elmira Gaynullina explain.

Considered by many the most important meal of the day, breakfast has been through more modern-day evolutions than its counterparts, lunch and dinner.

From the 1920s in the US, when public relations expert Edward Bernays convinced Americans that the best way to start the day was a heavy breakfast of bacon and eggs, to 1950s England, when sugar was considered an essential source of energy to kickstart the day, and the 1970s, when the backlash against sugary cereals kicked off, it seems the breakfast times are always a changin’.

Today, breakfast is going through yet another shift. Families are no longer sitting around the breakfast table, and the first meal of the day is organising into six territories: physical nourishment, sustained energy, minimal preparation, gut health, ritual wellness and emotional reward.

With that shift, the branding, packaging and visual cues of breakfast are changing, too.

Over in the cereal aisle, the once unabashed ploy for pester power with mascots like Tony the Tiger and his Frosted Flakes, the Kellogg’s Cornflakes cockerel and the unavoidable splash of milk are making way for premium disruptor brands or health-conscious products that push back against long-established visual cues.

So now, as we step into the next era of breakfast, what design signs and signals should brands be adopting to drive success?

Let’s take a look at the six key territories to find out.

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