Diet culture is OUT. Wellness is IN. 

Green juices, collagen powders, LED masks, electrolytes, and 75-hard programs - the wellness industry is thriving and earning brands millions. 

Whereby calorie counting, My Fitness Pal, and crash diets once ruled the health and fitness world, consumers are now opting for more balanced lifestyles; prioritising their gut health over diet pills. 

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The rise of the wellness industry (2019 - 2024) 

In the last 5 years, the wellness industry has pivoted entirely. 

Let’s take a quick look at how things have progressed… 

2019 - Wellness existed, but it looked completely different from the current wellness industry. The idea of fully-rounded wellness (e.g. mind and body) was gaining popularity, and CBD products still appeared as a novelty. 

2020 - Covid brought in ‘health at home’. With doctor’s appointments harder to get, and gyms closed, many people saw this as an opportunity to focus on their overall health and wellness. Home workouts became the new normal, with PTs and fitness instructors taking to social media to give advice and demonstrate routines. Joe Wicks became a household name… 

2021 - The pandemic has resulted in people being more health conscious than ever - and 68% of McKinsey’s survey respondents reported that they are thinking more about health and wellness after the onset of the pandemic than before.

2022 - The global wellness industry reached $5.6 trillion, nearly 14% higher than its size in 2019. People are taking health into their own hands more than ever, and the rise of TikTok is becoming increasingly synonymous with wellness trends. 

2023 - TikTok is now host to a multitude of wellness trends - green juices, pilates, and a variety of protein powder and supplement ads are becoming seamlessly integrated into FYPs. ‘Classpass’ reported that 78% of consumers say wellness is more important than ever - with fitness reservations showing a 64% increase, and wellness reservations a 31% increase since 2022 

2024 and beyond - Wellness trends are at an all-time high - with new wellness subcultures appearing and the wellness market set to grow to almost seven trillion U.S. dollars by 2025.

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The Wellness Industry in 2024 

Now we’re up-to-date, let’s discuss where we’re at with everything. 

Take a deep breath, find your zen, and let’s get into it. 

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Is the wellness industry targeting boomers, millennials, or Gen-Z? 

Who is the wellness industry's target audience? 

McKinsey’s latest Future of Wellness research—which “surveyed more than 5,000 consumers across China, the United Kingdom, and the United States—examines the trends shaping the consumer wellness landscape”. 

They found that “Gen Z and millennial consumers are now purchasing more wellness products and services than older generations” across wellness niches including sleep, nutrition, appearance, and mindfulness. 

Whatever happened to the good old days when kids would drink beer in parks, eh? 

Now they’re drinking green juices in pilates studios. 

I digress…

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Diving deeper: from a sociological perspective - who is purchasing? 

Besides age, there are also other factors defining audiences. The Global Wellness Summit’s 2024 trends report splits health and wellness consumers into two camps - ‘hard care’ and ‘soft care’. 

A very over-simplified and over-generalised snapshot of these two opposing groups: 

Hard care = Gym-goers who lift heavy weights, participate in hyrox competitions, and track their performance with an Apple watch. 

Soft care = ‘Pilates princesses’ who are partial to a bed rot day now and then, but make up for it with a ‘hot girl walk’ 

(Rumour has it the pair are destined to be together, and somewhere in the universe are co-existing in perfect harmony, and sharing their green juice subscription). 

These are extremely stereotyped definitions. However, the important thing to note here is that ‘soft care’ encapsulates a more accessible, inexpensive, and low-cortisol way of life, whereas ‘hard care’ includes “high-tech” and “medicalised/ pharmaceutical interventions” (such as supplements). 

Wellness subcultures are evolving and will continue to evolve. As Fortune Well discusses, the Global Wellness report exemplifies that “generational, income, and gender gaps are widening in culture, and they’re creating a wellness space increasingly defined by dramatically different—even contradictory—markets and mindsets.” 

So, brands will do well to keep their ear to the ground, and ensure they are catering to their audience. You need to know more about your audience than that it is the “wellness community” - is it ‘hardcare’, or ‘softcare’? Pilates, or pre-workout? 

This will impact your messaging, your community, your branding and so much more. 

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WHAT are they purchasing? 

Okay, so we know who they are, but what do they want? 

Let’s collate the products and activities that are currently trending in the wellness industry: 

Trending wellness products: 

• Matcha 
• Zero or low-alcohol drinks 
• Magnesium
• Collagen 
• Adaptogens 
• Electrolytes 
• CBD
• Wearable devices e.g. apple watches 
• Protein powders 
• Mouth tape
• Sea moss 
• Probiotics 

(discover more here). 

Trending wellness activities:

• Pilates (ClassPass reported this as the most popular class of 2023 with reservations up by 92%) 
• Bedrotting for self-care (protein-works described this as the top wellness trend in 2023)
• Fitness events e.g. hyrox 
• Marathons 
• Mindfulness activities e.g. yoga 
• Wellness retreats 
• Acupuncture
• Spa days 
• Facials + LED masks 
• Bootcamps 
• 75 hard/ 75 soft 
• Reading (heavily influenced by BookTok)

(discover more here)

Most of these products are reaching their ‘peak’ popularity as we enter 2024 - according to Google Trends. 

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2024 wellness trends: 

Gut Health 

We are in the midst of a ‘gut-health’ revolution. 

Sarah Moores, head of marketing communications at Holland & Barret UK, told The Drum that their recent consumer research “revealed that 55% of people are now more actively aware of their gut health than last year”

Science is rapidly developing our awareness of gut health and “in the last 10 years, more than 50,000 papers on the gut microbiome have been published”.

This expanding research, coupled with the rise of TikTok, has resulted in an explosion in social media content surrounding gut health, and the popularity is reflected in search trends. 

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75-hard

The 75-hard challenge is a 75-day long challenge, with a set of strict rules designed to improve your daily habits and overall health. 

75-hard challenge uptakes often peak in January, when participants are often opting for sobriety and looking to improve their habits after sitting on the sofa eating Quality Street for the majority of December.

It could be assumed due to a dramatic increase in search volume, that the uptake of 75-hard participants reached its highest peak this year. This increased search volume runs parallel with the challenge trending on TikTok, accumulating over 69 million views. 

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Magnesium 

Magnesium is trending on TikTok.

And just like gut health, the science is developing around this area and studies around this powerhouse ingredient are increasing.

Healthline states that there are multiple benefits of this TikTok trend, and trends such as the ‘sleepy girl mocktail’ on TikTok (a drink designed to have before bed, containing magnesium) can genuinely be beneficial. 

As research increases, content output across social media increases and general popularity is soaring. 

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Supplements

As ‘hard-care’ wellness promotes, supplements can significantly improve performance, mood, and overall well-being. 

Now, half of millennials are using vitamins and supplements more often than they did before the pandemic. 

And they’re hell-bent on finding and researching the most effective ones, according to Google Trends… 

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LED mask

These devices are “high-tech, high-investment” and are on the rise after the “Covid-era boom of next-level at-home skin- and self-care”.

Red light therapy penetrates the skin at a deep level and has multiple anti-ageing benefits - so, it has earned its spot as a valuable self-care activity for the wellness community. 

Unsurprisingly, this product is also trending on TikTok, and LED masks have amassed 18.6M views.

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2024 and beyond…

We may also be seeing a lot more LED masks as we move through 2024, as Paris just got its first Collagen and LED mask cafe. 

Furthermore, Protein Works is predicting the biggest trends in 2024 will be mushroom coffee, ozempic, and the ‘everything shower’.  

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WHY are they purchasing?

Post-Covid, wellness habits have shifted. 

Consumers once used to be swayed by products with natural ingredients (vegan, organic, etc), and now they are more likely to be swayed by science-backed data. This trend runs parallel to lifestyle statistics now being more readily available, through scientific advancement and the increased availability of biometric data via Apple watches. 

As well as this, the cost of living is causing lifestyle changes - as people are opting for sobriety overspending. There seems to be a trend towards ‘slowing down’, and of course, this trend is reflected and reinforced via TikTok - slower and more ‘wholesome’ activities are trending - including ‘BookTok’, pilates, and journaling. 

Naturally, as society continues to shift due to economic and technological factors, mindsets around wellness are changing and widening - creating a wellness landscape “increasingly defined by very different—even contradictory—markets and mindsets”

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WHERE are they purchasing from? 

TikTok has a huge influence on spending habits, particularly in the wellness world. TikTok shop is now host to a variety of wellness products. From green juices to sea moss - you name it, it’s on TikTok shop.

We were quick to leverage TikTok for our health and wellness client, Spacegoods. The introduction of TikTok ads was a great opportunity for the brand, and we utilised a strategy that included UGC - resulting in hitting CAC targets with TikTok-first optimised creative. Read more about our strategy here. 

It is important to note, however, that TikTok is not only reflecting trends and products that are popular in the wellness industry; it is creating them. 

For example, have you heard of “that girl”? 

“That girl” is not defined by any particular individual, but it is more a symbolic embodiment of having it all together. “That girl” gets up at 5 am, has a 12-step morning routine, hits the gym, drinks 3L of water a day, takes her vitamins, sleeps 8 hours a night, and looks perfect in the latest activewear seamless set. She is “that girl”. 

The “that girl” trend on TikTok seems to be passing over - with many finding that this routine is contradictory to overall wellness - with the pressures of being perfect becoming exhausting and overwhelming.

Though, we know that when one trend blows over, another one enters. With each lifestyle trend that enters, there is a multitude of products that correspond with achieving that particular lifestyle and image - and this is keeping TikTok shop BUSY.  

Of course, there are benefits of the wellness industry thriving across social media platforms - many are becoming more informed about their body and overall health. However, consumers should tread carefully…

Protein Works analysed the top 1000 most viewed videos under nutrition and health hashtags and examined how they could be misleading. The outcome? A mindblowing 98% of content was branded as misleading, with 7 in 10 (69%) health creators having no relevant qualifications. 

This leads me nicely to my next point… 

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Impact for brands

In an industry that is becoming increasingly saturated and overwhelming - how do you stand out in the wellness industry?‍

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Be science-backed and avoid misinformation

Consumers are looking towards wellness products that are clinically proven and will look towards specific scientific stats to inform their purchasing decisions. The latest Future of Wellness report states that roughly half of UK and US consumers reported clinical effectiveness as a top purchasing factor, while only about 20 percent reported the same for natural or clean ingredients. 

So, it makes sense that you include important data points when making marketing materials that inform purchasing decisions. It also makes sense that all of your marketing materials are free of misleading information, as consumers will do the research themselves and will be fact-checking your claims. 

You want your marketing materials to be data-driven and well-informed, as much as you want them to be authentic and creative. This includes using relevant UGC creators and brand ambassadors. 

Find out more about avoiding misleading marketing here. ‍

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Get personal 

The latest Future of Wellness report also found that nearly one in five US consumers and one in three US millennials prefer personalised products and services. 

This is particularly prominent in the wellness industry - as nutrition and dietary requirements are different for each individual and tailored nutrition and supplements are on the rise. Consumers are becoming more and more selective about wellness products as technology advances and we understand more that nutrition and diet is not “one-size fits all”. 

If your wellness product has a USP that includes personalisation - you need to be leveraging this across your marketing materials. 

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Know your audience

As mentioned previously, it is not enough to be targeting “the wellness community”.

There are multiple sub-cultures within the wellness industry and they each have their own preferred messaging which you need to be taking into consideration.

For example, The latest Future of Wellness report found that products related to mindfulness received the most sales when leveraging predominately doctor recommendations and social media advertising, whereas a company selling fitness products did well to leverage recommendations from friends and family, as well as endorsements from personal trainers.

REALLY knowing your audience is essential. 

You need to know who they are, their habits, what they value, their media consumption habits, and everything else in-between. This is going to be key to tailoring your message. 

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Keep trends in mind 

As mentioned previously, wellness trends are ever-evolving and new wellness subcultures are developing. These trends are not only reflected by social media but are set by social media. 

Brands need to keep an eye on the developing wellness landscape to know where their product fits in it.

Trends can also be leveraged within marketing materials. If you know exactly what wellness subculture you are targeting, you can speak directly to them e.g. ‘POV: your weekends are dedicated to pilates, self-care and unwinding’ [this would work well for an activewear brand targeting the soft-care aesthetic wellness community]. 

Here are 25 further examples of wellness hooks that can be tailored to specific communities

Be more creative than your competitors 

Once you know the exact value of your product - who it speaks to, the USPs, and any personalisation elements, it is crucial that you creatively convey your message. 

You can have the best product on the market, but if people aren’t stopping the scroll to find out more about it, then all of your hard work is pointless. 

It’s a harsh world out there.

Luckily, we have tonnes of unique creative concepts which you can access in our latest E-Commerce Ads Blueprint here. 

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To Sum Up 

With the wellness industry in a period of rapid growth, the wellness landscape will look completely different in 5 years. During this period, brands need to be extremely perceptive and reactive to changes. Brands that keep up with the market and respond to consumer demand will win.

If you run an e-commerce brand and are looking for a digital marketing partner to take your business to the next level, please book a call with one of our team here.

Written by Jody Lynch - Content Marketing Executive