Lisa Barnett sees a crowded future: more brands, more noise. “It’s going to be expensive for you to get customers, so how do you get people to care?” she says. She is cofounder and president of Little Spoon, a DTC startup that makes meals for kids and babies, and that word care is big to her. For a brand to stand out, Barnett says, it needs to inspire passion — and that means it should treat itself like a movement. “It’s rooted in a mission, and in solving and changing a reality you’re not happy with,” she says. Here’s how to make consumers feel that there’s something at stake:
