I love you, Ilona Maher (And Innovating for The Strength Era)

Ilona, if you're seeing this — I love you.

I don't know why you'd be reading the LinkedIn musings of some businessperson you've never met, but if you're here — let's have a glass of wine? Because you changed my life. You changed a conversation. And I think you're about to change a hell of a lot more.

Enter the Strength Era

For those of us who grew up in the 90s and 00s — the era of Diet Coke and SlimFast and Kate Moss — Ilona landed like a correction we'd been waiting decades for. She didn't just win fans by being brilliant at rugby (though she is), she won them by being visibly, unapologetically strong – and treating that strength as something to celebrate rather than apologize for.

We are entering The Strength Era.

It's arriving because of changemakers like Ilona Maher, but also in part as a counterforce / progression of GLP-1s — the genuine medical breakthrough that is transforming millions of lives (but that is also a tailwind amplifying the thinness ideal). As smaller portions and lighter formulations sweep back through the innovation pipeline, the brief has quietly become, once again: help them get smaller.

But as powerful as the GLP-1 trend is, I’m much more fascinated by the countertrend it carries inside it: strength —

• Women are deadlifting on TikTok, looking to redefine their PRs, flaunt gains, and flash muscle. And the focus on weightlifting is growing (myself included!). For instance, women aged 21–25 are the fastest-growing demographic in competitive powerlifting, increasing participation at an average of 13.3% per year – nearly double the 7.2% rate for men in the same age group. (Powerlifting in data)
• Creatine – once a men's weight room staple — is one of the fastest-growing female supplement categories. My most active group chat has had two separate requests in the last two weeks: ‘Does anyone have a creatine they like?’ And at GNC, women now account for 30% of all creatine purchases, up from 18% in 2020. (MedicalXpress)

The pure physicality of it is thrilling, but the emotional benefits are what get me jumping out of my seat. Ilona’s sentiment in 2024 captured it well: “For me, it's showing how powerful and how important it is to be strong physically and mentally.” Strength training has been linked to reduced anxiety and depression — 30 to 60 minutes done 3-4x/week was found to be the most effective type of exercise to improve depression and anxiety (Frontiers in Psychiatry) — which may explain why so many women are embracing strength as the pathway to a different feeling and a different outlook. An aspiration to feel stronger, calmer, and more powerful.

So the question is shifting, for a growing cohort, from "How do I get smaller?" to "How do I get strong—and feel strong—for the next forty years?" Posing durable innovation opportunity for those brands that are willing to step up to the plate.

The gap between consumer and market is enormous

The product infrastructure to support The Strength Era hasn't caught up. Walk any grocery aisle or sports nutrition outlet and count how many products are designed to help someone get stronger instead of lighter or leaner. The shelves are thinner than you'd expect… pun intended.

Instead, food and beverage is still organized around restriction, around counting nutrients in instead of calories out. But that gap won’t stay empty for long… and as an innovation expert now piously subscribed to the Ilona Maher school of badassery, I vow it.

Four opportunities worth building toward

Recovery as ritual. Beauty built a billion dollar industry on the ritual of preparation. There is an opportunity to make the next high-value ritual: all about post-performance sleep, muscle repair, nervous system recovery, hormonal support. The innovator who builds a recovery ecosystem as emotionally resonant as an evening skincare routine – and as scientifically grounded as sports medicine – will have found something significant for the new Strength Era audience.

Performance data as the new reward loop. For decades, wellness rewards were aesthetic… the before-and-after, the dress size, the scale. The strength-focused consumer has a different reward system. Their HYROX time dropped by three minutes. Their sled push got heavier. Their resting heart rate improved. Their deadlift went up. Capability is becoming the new status symbol. How can brands adapt?

Intrinsic rewards > monetary rewards. For decades, rewards have been something brands give to consumers, often as an incentive to purchase something else (e.g., airline miles, shopping points, etc.). But The Strength Era consumer is rewarding themselves by gaining strength and confidence - a more genuine, empowering reward. How might brands move from extrinsic or monetary rewards to intrinsic, confidence-boosting rewards?

Rewrite the nutrition brief from less to more. The last few decades of health and BFY consumers looked for promises of less on their labels: less fat, less sugar, less oil, etc. But The Strength Era consumer is about optimizing more.

Think: added protein, added creatine, healthy fats. These consumers are focused on fuelling performance upward instead of managing intake downward, and the next generation of BFY products should be looking to hop in line.

The Strength Era is here and growing, thanks Ilona. The question is whether brands are going to pull their weight.