Health is Wealth

The wellness market continues to boom. Consumers will keep spending more on products that improve their health, fitness, nutrition, appearance, sleep, and mindfulness.

Amongst economic unrest and global burnout, personal health is higher priority than for previous generations and consumers are looking to invest with the wellness economy predicted to reach nearly $7.0 trillion in 2025.

By 2030, health will be considered a key metric of personal wealth and success.
Global Wellness Institute

Consumers are engaging with brands that offer products and services across categories. Learning how to blur the rudimentary lines between digital, natural and personalised offerings is key for brands now and in the future. Whether that be in beauty, fitness, hospitality or fashion.

Wearable tech

Wearable tech is becoming less obvious – technological advancements are enabling luxury brands to enter the market. 2023 will bring further adoption of wearables and brand partnerships, such as:

Headphones developed for use as hearing aids and sound processors (e.g. Apple’s latest AirPods Pro).
Fabrics developed with monitors woven in, to track recovery and performance for optimised sporting success and rehabilitation.
Jewellery with in-built monitors and stimulators. 2022 saw the Gucci x Oura collaboration and this will accelerate more brands towards partnerships for technical jewellery. As consumers get used to monitoring their sleep, steps, menstrual cycles and more, now is the time for luxury brands to have an impact.

Wearable futures

Some developments are heading beyond the wearable. These are unlikely to be adopted by mass markets in 2023 but look out for further developments on the horizon:

We already have wearable app-linked insulin monitoring devices. The future will see tracking via ‘in-body chips’ swallowed or placed under the skin – these may be preventative for certain conditions, or to monitor the efficacy of a medication or surgical procedure.
Data-fuelled apps are popular across live events and hospitality. Hospitality-led wearables (such as Disney’s MagicBand) seem unlikely to take on mass appeal but might we be willing to adopt smart tattoos in the future?
Self-powering wearables use our body heat or movement to power the technology. Recent initiatives are using the natural perspiration from fingertips – a more consistent and higher net energy producer (300 millijoules of energy per cm² during 10 hours of sleep, which can be enough energy to power a small wearable).

Developments in medical technology will be vital for global healthcare. We have already seen the adoption of wearable health trackers and we expect advances in this technology to be at the forefront of preventative healthcare. We are currently trialling wearable neurostimulation devices which have the potential to be truly transformative for those who are struggling with mental health issues such as anxiety and insomnia or even metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes.
Dr Jason McKeown – CEO, Neurovalens

Data, AI and Personalisation

New technologies will lead to major quality-of life improvements and are already providing incredible data to power global healthcare R&D. We are moving towards billions of connected devices sharing information in real time, so the world can be measured and managed in a more intelligent, agile and sustainable manner.

Industry, regulators and politicians are already grappling with the interaction of healthcare with Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. Who is responsible for information security and how can global improvements be made without jeopardising personal health information?

On the horizon are even bigger questions:

Might you in the future be required to wear a device to qualify for medical treatment, or to determine your insurance premium?
Will employers consider productivity trackers, or offer health trackers as an incentive (and a way of tracking their employees)?

Considerations for brands that are entering the wearables market:

Do your customers prioritise personalisation and if so, how can this be achieved within the constraints of data protection rules? Personalisation could be via targeted marketing of specific products, or data collection enhancing the product.
The reputational damage associated with a brand partnership if your selected partner doesn’t align with your values on sharing of personal data (or if their infosec structure is lacking).
Wearables usually shift data processing to complex computer systems and algorithms. AI algorithms have been criticised for producing advice that is biased or discriminatory (including patient profiling over demographics).
Women’s health has been historically underfunded and under-researched. AI will need to be specific and targeted to encourage consumer confidence.
Further legislation and regulation is on the horizon – you will need to be aware of the legal and ethical constraints and be primed to act on changes to the landscape. If you are outsourcing the technical and data to a partner, choose wisely and ensure responsibilities are clear.

Medi-luxe

Wellness in the luxury hospitality industry is shifting to medical action. The sector will apply its core values of exclusivity and personalisation to the medical arena, blurring the lines of hospitality and medical healthcare.

The Global Wellness Institute expects to see a 21% annual growth rate in wellness tourism between 2021 and 2025. You can already receive poolside IV infusions (NutriDrips) at The Spa at the Equinox Hotel in New York, allowing luxurians to “re-energise with nutrients such as magnesium and taurine.” Closer to home, the Galgorm Resort and Spa in Northern Ireland also offers onsite injections by a doctor to help support their guest's vitality and wellbeing, as well as IV Multi-Vitamin Recovery Drips.

Social media and influencer culture will continue to be paramount to success for health and wellness companies in 2023. According to McKinsey, 10-15% of consumers in the US, Europe, and Japan say they follow social media influencers and have made a purchase based on their recommendations – and that percentage is even higher in countries like China and Brazil. Brands must take care not to oversell the benefits of medi-luxe treatments and mislead consumers about the efficacy of a treatment or product. Influencers and brands will need to be clear on the parameters of promoting medi-luxe treatments, and brands should continue to seek out influencers who are a natural fit.

Medi-luxe and the Metaverse

Medi-luxe is not only where hospital meets hospitality, but also the force behind the wellness industry’s adoption of innovative tech (including VR), statistics, and data being incorporated into traditional wellness experiences. As exhausting as an ever-changing industry can be, the scope for innovation and opportunities for brands is enormous…

Imagine a world, where you can meditate at the pyramids at lunch or travel on the Swiss Glacier Express during a coffee break. VR-enhanced medi-luxe retreats and holidays in the metaverse are here to stay, with a focus on personal growth or brief respite from the working day. Being able to ‘holiday’ in our own homes presents a unique opportunity for more sustainable experiences.

But the industry and consumers are yet to decide whether these innovations are actually a welcome break, or just a form of escapism to another reality because we’re burned out in (and have literally burned out) the one we’re in?

Adding mixed reality to the treatment menu

Immersive wellness company Sensync has partnered with Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina, Hawaii, to launch a VR spa experience, which magically transports guests to the virtual reality world of their choice with integrated sound, aromatherapy and a massage bed interconnected with the device to monitor heart and breathing rate. Sensync’s Deep Brain Massage treatments are delivered in The Vessel – a VR pod – designed to “displace guests from the burdens of their mind and unlock new approaches for relaxation and restoration” – Alex Theo – Founder, Sensync

Medi-nutritional innovations

Gummy supplements are fast replacing chalky vitamin tablets. ‘Micro-dosing’ is becoming more mainstream – ingesting small amounts of psychedelics, ‘shrooms’ or other drugs. This is suggested to provide mind-enhancing benefits without any side effects. Christian Angermayer, founder of Aperion Investment Group, one of the driving forces being the current renaissance of psychedelics, is funding studies to develop the use of psilocybin for the prevention and treatment of mental health disorders. With mental health problems costing the UK economy £118 billion a year, mainly in lost productivity, could psychedelic drug start-ups be the solution to our mental health crisis?

Sober-curious culture

Sober-curious culture (and the recent focus on immunity) is leading to a surge in alcohol-free drinks and functional beverages claiming to help with anything from stress relief to gut health. For example, TRIP, a CBD infused sparkling water, is readily available in grocery stores. Plant based ‘beverages with benefits’ containing nootropics to improve cognitive function or pre-biotic ingredients for microbiome support, are on the rise. The non-alcoholic beverage global market is valued at over $1 trillion a year, with the UK now being one of the most mature markets.

More personalisation please

A personalised approach to nutrition, using algorithms based on an individual’s behaviours and biological characteristics, will be a top priority among avid wellness practitioners. The trend of eating clean will continue with consumers being mindful about the impact their consumption is having on the planet. Combined with the development of wearable technology and global data connectivity, we expect to see more nutritional F&B brands offering personalised options.

A magical mystery legal loophole?

It’s important to remember that psychedelics may be illegal. ‘Novel foods’ must be authorised before they can be placed on the market in the UK. The status of CBD as a novel food product was confirmed by the UK Food Standards Agency in 2019 in an exciting step for this market.

With a potential increase in micro-dosing during the working day, employers may be faced with questions about whether drug tests are necessary, or even appropriate (‘magic mushrooms’ are still classed as Class A drugs under the Drugs Act 2005). They must also consider the implications of their employees’ activities on the workplace environment and overall safety. We expect to see revised workplace policies around drug use and it’s important for employers to consider employee behaviour whilst working from home.

The future is feeling good

Companies will want to be purposeful about where to play and how to win with an effective delivery model – whether that model is end-to-end ownership, strategic partnerships, outsourcing and co-manufacturing, or marketplaces.
McKinsey

With a wealth of new and well-known brands in this market, personalised health mapping and nutrition will revolutionise how consumers gain control of their health data and handle their own wellness. The blurring of boundaries between the highly regulated medicines sector and less regulated wellness products and services means entrants will need to take care in this burgeoning industry.

The wellness sector is getting more competitive, companies need to think about new and different engagement strategies and business models, but at the same time ensuring they are on top of data protection, consumer protection, medical regulations and ESG credentials (as well as advertising, food and supplement standards). And we should all watch this space for further regulation.

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