Welcome to our third edition of MarketWell. MarketWell is a monthly newsletter for marketers in the wellbeing space, by Felicity.
Is wellbeing marketing making consumers more anxious? 
How has this changed in light of COVID-19? I answered these questions and more in my recent interview with the C-Suite editor at Strategy Magazine.
Spoiler alert: The pandemic has amplified consumer expectation that every brand has a wellness angle.
You can check out the full feature here.
In this edition, we’ll look at:
- Wellbeing from around the web: Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau’s new podcast and Vogue’s deep dive into pandemic wellness
- Term we’re coining: Wellness stress
- Term we love: Yogababble
- Latest wellbeing trend: Inspired by the possibilities of Garmin users’ data
- The check-up: We examine Sun-Maid’s new look
- What do you think of MarketWell? Share your thoughts
Wellbeing from around the web
WE Well-being Podcast hosted by Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau
We’re not the only ones focusing on wellbeing. This month, Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau launched a podcast with WE called WE Well-being. It promises to “challenge the way you see mental well-being through tackling taboos and frank conversation.” We love that openness around mental wellbeing is becoming normalized.
Is our obsession with ‘wellness’ healthy?
Vogue takes a deep dive into how our society is viewing—and spewing—wellness, particularly during the pandemic. While many see this as a good time to work on themselves, others are sick of wellness overload. Our take? Research shows that consumers are skeptical of even the most well-intentioned wellness claims. Brands need to clearly and simply communicate the real-life value—and values—of their products and services to be taken seriously.
The CMHA’s #GetReal movement
Earlier this month, our charity of choice, The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) shared practical advice for mental wellbeing. Their Mental Health Awareness Week campaign centred on the #GetReal movement, encouraging people to be honest about how they’re feeling. Instead of saying “I’m fine,” when you feel anxious or upset, why not #GetReal?
Term we’re coining: Wellness stress
The stress and anxiety caused by the pressure to become “well.” Our culture’s obsession with being fit, eating clean, being environmentally friendly, practising digital wellness and self-care is ironically, causing many people to feel less mentally well.
Term we love: Yogababble
Does your brand promise to bring deeper meaning to your consumers’ lives, elevate their level of consciousness or simply make them happier? If so, you may be speaking yogababble and not know it. Yogababble is “pseudo-scientific terminology with little meaning.” The term was coined by best-selling author and business professor Scott Galloway on his blog No Mercy/No Malice.
Galloway dissects the mission statements of brands such as Zoom, Spotify and Peloton for yogababble and gives each a “Bullsh*t rating.” Zoom’s mission “To make video communications frictionless” received a rating of 1/10 whereas Galloway gave this one a grade of 9/10: “On the most basic level, Peloton sells happiness.”
When it comes to marketing wellbeing, using yogababble (or “fluff” as it is sometimes known) undermines consumer trust and is bad for business. Felicity registered dietitian and media food and nutrition expert Nishta Saxena says, “When wellness brands set pie-in-the-sky expectations or information that isn’t grounded in evidence, this results in 100% confusion. People feel like they aren’t getting what they need and end up feeling confused and demoralized.” And confused consumers won’t be recommending your product any time soon.
Want tips for avoiding confusion in your marketing? When you download our white paper, you’ll receive five emails, each outlining our 5-step Rx for Marketing Well.
Marketing Magic: The potential in marketing with user data
Is social distancing leaving us further from our fitness goals?
That’s the question Garmin recently asked, and is in a position to answer, by looking at real data across all users of their fitness tracking devices.
Garmin recently charted physical activity since the start of COVID-19 isolation in the U.S., and compared it with activity levels in the weeks just prior to the pandemic as well as last year at the same time.
This got us thinking about the powerful potential such metadata has to inform marketing strategies. Consider this: Garmin can examine the real-time data they have and adjust their marketing materials to fit. For instance, if in previous years, they focused ads and content on outdoor cycling, now they can make a switch to indoor cycling, virtual running or cardio, based on the activities they know are on the rise. This data would enable Garmin to make genuine, hyper-timely connections with their audience by reflecting their current workout realities across all touchpoints.
Image: Sun-Maid Instagram
The check-up: Sun-Maid’s new branding
Sun-Maid, the 108-year-old company known for its raisins, has updated its marketing in an effort to attract millennial parents. We’ve done a check-up on Sun-Maid’s new look and feel by applying our 5-Step Rx for Marketing Well.
Step 1: Use Meaningful Language
Sun-Maid has added the slogan “Timeless & Trusted” to its packaging. And considering that they’ve been around since 1912, that seems justified. If you were asked to name a company that produces raisins, could you think of any others?
Step 2: Rethink What Wellness Looks Like
Sun-Maid’s most recent ad campaign featured nostalgia-inducing vignettes of multicultural families where the parents appear to be millennials. This checks the box on reflecting their target audience. But what about the opportunity to dig a bit deeper into stories that are uniquely told by Sun-Maid’s own people? The brand is still owned by the very farmers’ cooperative that founded it back in 1912, so there must be a few generations worth of families whose Sun-Maid memories could be ripe for telling.
Step 3: Leverage Real Influence
According to the research we revealed in our white paper, Canadians rank healthcare professionals as the most reliable sources of information. By partnering with a registered dietitian on Instagram, Sun-Maid is engaging its audience with real experts during the pandemic.
Step 4: Offline is the New Online
While meeting in person isn’t possible right now, Sun-Maid’s #ShelterNBake hashtag encourages followers to use their ingredients together with their loved ones, to try new recipes while spending lots of time at home.
Step 5: Own Your Conversation
Consumers want to hear from the brands they trust. But besides a few “snacktivities” and health articles on the Sun-Maid website that focus heavily on raisins, the brand isn’t publishing other content. Our research shows that consumers appreciate brands that inform them and develop a connection, beyond making a sale.
Our diagnosis: Sun-Maid has managed to refresh their image while keeping their heritage. We’d love to see them share their unique history with consumers and provide valuable content that isn’t solely about selling their products.
We want your input! What do you think?
Now that we’re a few issues in, we want to know what you think of MarketWell so we can provide exactly the kind of content you’ll find useful in your quest to market your wellbeing brand.
What is your biggest pain point when it comes to marketing your brand?
- Differentiating from competitors
- Building messages that resonate with my audiences
- Getting the word out amidst the pandemic
- Evaluating/measuring which tactics are effective
- Making news when we don’t have any new products
- Staying on top of the latest trends in wellbeing
- Demonstrating the value of my product/service; that it’s worth the cost
Other: Are there any themes you’d like for us to cover going forward? Share your responses and drop me a line here.
Feeling inspired?
Share MarketWell with fellow wellbeing marketers and we’ll make a donation to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA).
As the nationwide leader and champion for mental health, CMHA facilitates access to the resources people require to maintain and improve mental health. The work they are doing is even more important now, than ever.
To your wellbeing,
Amy Laski
Founder and President
Felicity [Inspiring Communications]