Ogilvy Study: Consumers Expect All Brands to Provide Wellness Offerings

More analysts have agreed of late that COVID-19 is spurring a new reality: Every brand now needs to behave like a wellness brand, and wellness will increasingly no longer be the sole preserve of wellness brands. A new global survey (7,000 consumers in 14 countries) by advertising giant Ogilvy helps explain why. It asked consumers how important wellness is for them now and what actions…

COVID Trends: Business Travel Will Plunge, Permanent WFH, Behavioral Wellness Tech Surges

We have explored numerous economic, cultural and wellness trends that will rise from COVID-19 in past issues, including less meat, less oil, more activism, a fiercer US/China rivalry, and more EU integration. Here are three wellness trends that will reshape the future: (1) dramatically less business travel, (2) permanent working-from-home (WFH), and (3) a surge in “behavioral” wellness technology. There will be fewer flights forever:…

Must-Reads from the Wellness World (Week of October 20, 2020)

A dose of optimism, as the pandemic rages on–New York Times, October 12, 2020 Since he began covering the pandemic, the NYT science reporter has been consistently gloomy, but events are now moving faster than he thought possible, and he’s become “cautiously optimistic.” He now believes, like many experts, that the pandemic will be over far sooner than expected—possibly by the middle of next year…

Must-Reads from the Wellness World (Week of October 6, 2020)

Laughter may be effective medicine for these trying times —New York Times, October 2, 2020 Some enlightened doctors, nurses and therapists have a prescription for helping all of us to get through this seemingly never-ending pandemic: Try a little laughter. Studies show laughter releases nitric oxide, which reduces blood pressure, and people who laugh more have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and live longer.…

New Contest Calls All Innovators in Wellness Technology

The 2020 Global Wellness Summit (GWS), being held November 8–11 at The Breakers in Palm Beach, FL, will have an unprecedented focus on the tech innovations that are shaking up the wellness market. The GWS just announced the Call for Wellness Innovations contest, calling on all companies within the wellness technology space to submit their innovative ideas. Unlike other competitions, it will be judged by a heavy-hitter…

Must-Reads from the Wellness World (Week of September 22, 2020)

Are mushrooms the future of wellness?–New York Times, September 18, 2020 No, not another article on the booming magic mushroom research and market, but rather how that vast “other” world of fungi—whether reishi, lion’s mane or chaga—is one of the biggest trends in wellness. Eastern cultures and medical systems (including TCM and Ayurveda) have long used mushrooms to boost health, and this looks at key…