Impacts of Global Wellness on Marketing

THE IMPACTS OF GLOBAL WELLNESS TRENDS ON MARKETING

Health and wellbeing—it’s on everyone’s radar lately. The trend has been building in the area for years, the pandemic has only accelerated consumers’ desire for cleaner, healthier lifestyles. But the pandemic has shifted the lens through which consumers view health and wellbeing. It’s no longer confined to diet and exercise: they want it integrated into every aspect of their lives.

This means that consumers are now looking across industries for a healthy lifestyle. For example, interest in organic food increased by 20% in 2020, 1/3 of UK consumers want nutritional supplements to deliver functional benefits to their pets, and 36% of consumers said they would choose natural skincare options over more effective ones.

As wellness and organics trends continue to amplify their market share, we examine how this trend is specifically impacting three verticals: food, pets, and beauty.

FOOD: SHIFT TOWARD PLANT-BASED MEATS.

Diet has always been a key part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and consumers have realized that “healthy” doesn’t have to mean boring and flavorless. Plant-based proteins, which have become increasingly available over the past few years, offer consumers meatlike options while providing everything from health benefits to positive environmental benefits. According to Mintel, as pandemic lockdowns forced people to cook more at home, there has been a rise of “flexitarians,” consumers who don’t necessarily identify as vegetarian but look to limit their meat consumption for myriad reasons, including an increase in meat prices. So, how are brands responding?

Dutch brand Unox identified an opportunity to tap into this growing demographic by introducing vegetarian sausage.

The Unox brand is synonymous with Rookworst, so introducing a meat substitute was somewhat controversial. SGK leveraged this as an opportunity to design an on-brand yet unexpected solution by promoting the distinctive “U” shape of the Rookworst but in a more modern graphic style.

The ‘U’ not only helped the pack stand out from the rest of the Unox range on shelf but can also be used flexibly as a new range architecture to aid future vegetarian product launches. The use of bright green works to clearly communicate the product offering as vegetarian while the brown paper style hints toward traditional butchers’ paper and string packaging.

The simpler, more contemporary design is purposely surprising, appealing more broadly across consumer groups to indicate that Unox products are in line with changing consumer preferences for simplicity without alienating their loyal consumer base.

PETCARE: THE BEST FOR OUR PETS.

As consumers examine the choices in their own health journeys, they’re simultaneously assessing the health and wellbeing of their pets. The increasing premiumization of pet foods, treats, and supplements has been driven in part because of consumers’ desire for their own healthy lifestyles to be reflected in what they give their pets. eMarketer reported in a March 2021 survey that pet owners in China ranked product quality as the most important attribute when buying pet care products. And this trend is truly global in nature as pets are increasingly thought of as family members around the world.

With this in mind, here are a few trends impacting the pet care category.

• Customized nutrition is highly sought after to ensure longevity and quality of life for pets. A Packaged

Facts survey found that 42% of pet owners like the idea of refrigerated and fresh-made food. They’re seeking specialized, pre-portioned, and highquality ingredients modeled after human-grade food.

Brands like Farmer’s Dog and Pet Plate have both grown successfully from this trend as they are highly personalized to the needs of both the pet’s and the owner’s lifestyles.

• Boutique grocers. Pet food is evolving, and so are the stores in which it’s sold. For example, The Pet

Grocer located in Australia, offers a real alternative to traditional pet stores. It sells healthy, ethically sourced, high-quality foods for dogs and other animals. Every product was developed to be as sustainably driven as possible, and the store even takes its design cues from the wellness boutiques of the human world.

• Simplified packaging. Consumers aren’t only looking for clean ingredients for their pets, they’re also seeking clean labeling and packaging.

One example is a premium dog food brand called Sundays, whose mission is to share products that deliver the convenience of dry kibble with highquality ingredients.

What makes Sundays unique is that their packaging looks like breakfast cereal boxes. It contains a dried dog food that mixes meat, seafood, and vegetables. Compared to bigger, more established brands, the packaging is very important in helping pet owners discover the brand both online and in-store.

SAMANTHA ROMANO Manager, Marketing Strategy

SGK

BEAUTY: CLEAN BEAUTY, SIMPLIFIED.

According to a study from Teen Vogue, clean beauty is predicted to be worth more than $22B by 2025. The pandemic amplified consumer demand for clean beauty as they evaluated and simplified their beauty routines, leading them to reconsider two primary components: sustainable packaging and clean ingredients.

• Sustainable Packaging. Refillable products have emerged as a creative solution to sustainable beauty. The product is sold in more durable packaging yet refillable packaging like wood, glass, or metal. Although this packaging may cost more upfront, it pays off for the customer—and the environment—long-term.

Waterless products are a growing trend that affects packaging as well. The product itself contains no water and is in a solid form. Therefore, it requires less plastic because solid products are easier to package in a box or tin container compared to liquids. The product is also generally smaller because it is concentrated, reducing the amount of packaging material.

Packaging colors and mixed materials have also long been prohibitive for easy recyclability. For example, black plastic is difficult to detect in the recycling process, and materials such as mirrors, magnets, pumps, brushes, applicators, and anything flexible or squeezable are all difficult to recycle due to having a film, coating, or multiple layers. Brands should instead focus on the use of light colors and singular materials that can be more easily identified and separated for the recycling process.

Upcycling has replaced recycling as the goal for many beauty brands, particularly when it comes to ingredients. It’s no longer “How do I dispose of this?” but rather “How do I give this product new life?” Some examples of upcycled ingredients include coffee grounds, apricot stones, argan shells, and other leftovers from the food and wood industries. • Clean and ethically sourced ingredients. Minimalism has come to be associated with health and wellbeing. Clean beauty has embraced this trend and created products containing only 2 - 4 ingredients.

Brands such as The Ordinary and Codex use their minimal ingredients to their advantage by disclosing the list on the front of the package.

Consumers are not only paying attention to what is in their beauty products but also where and how the ingredients are sourced. For example, wood-derived ingredients can be illegally traded or not grown sustainably. Mica, which adds shimmer to makeup, is another commonly unethically sourced ingredient, as it’s sourced globally from child labor. Brands like ĀTHR Beauty address this issue by using synthetic mica while emphasizing ethical ingredient sourcing in their brand story. And sustainable ingredients are just as important as sustainable packaging. While eMarketer reports that 82% of Millennial internet users in the US said sustainability is important to them when shopping for clothes, beauty products, and travel, that number was just over half for Baby Boomer respondents, demonstrating that consumer attitudes toward sustainability are rising across all generations.

Amid the lockdowns and stresses of the pandemic, consumers have refocused on their health and wellbeing but through a new lens, one that integrates into nearly every aspect of their lives. From what they eat to how they care for their pets to how their skincare products are sourced and packaged, consumers are taking a more holistic approach, and it’s impacting just about every consumer goods sector. To remain competitive, brands must evaluate how they contribute to a healthy lifestyle and amplify their benefits.

Samantha Romano

With more than 15 years of experience in coordinating the proposal process from inception to final submittal, Samantha is a highly experienced proposal writer, having worked on a wide range of proposals, RFPs, RFIs, statements of qualification, and other sales-related documents to ensure a unified message and voice is achieved in key client deliverables.