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Regardless of where your wellness brand sits in the health and wellness industry, you’ll find value in this article from WELLTODO (Global Wellness News) – The 10 Wellness Brands To Watch in 2021. The link to the article is here. It’s the organization’s annual rundown of the wellness brands and businesses they predict will capture the imagination of the industry and dominate the headlines over this next year.

While there’s no objective criteria for which wellness businesses make this list, Welltodo includes them based on their use of cutting edge technology, groundbreaking approaches and their inclusion of new and exciting minds. 

In this Trajectory post, we…

• provide a quick snapshot of each wellness business
• point out the key consumer trend(s) each one taps into
• highlight the key brand strength characteristics that each one leverages (pulled from Trajectory’s “brand momentum playbook” that we use to assess a brand’s ability to attract consumers, strengthen bonds and create faster growth)
• summarize overall brand building takeaways

The Ten Wellness Brands To Watch In 2021

In no particular order, they include:

1. WHOOP (wellness tech)

Snapshot
With the goal of pioneering a new wellness category, WHOOP is a next-gen wearable providing users with 24/7 health monitoring across fitness, sleep, recovery, strain and more. Originally conceived as a product for professional athletes, it has gradually evolved into a consumer wellness brand that’s filling a gap in the market for fitness enthusiasts and health-conscious consumers who want to take their every day health ‘to the next level’.

Key Consumer Trends
The New Digital Wellness Consumer. While the migration to digital was already happening pre-pandemic, this became an overnight reality for many brands for whom the lock-down also shut down their businesses. But players like WHOOP were already reimagining and creating the foundation for a digital-first business – engaging a digital consumer embracing more digital products and services, adopting different modes of communication and participating in online communities.

High-Performance Lifestyle. By positioning itself as the closest thing most people are going to get to an actual coach, the brand is meeting the rise in demand for products and services that promise to unlock optimal performance and promote peak self-quantified health – in a more connected, credible and relevant way.

Science-Based. For today’s more investigative, informed and discerning wellness consumer, WHOOP establishes authority and communicates evidence-based science as part of their brand story in a way that’s honest and straightforward.

Key Brand Momentum Characteristics
Long Idea. What we at Trajectory refer to as a brand’s Big Energizing Idea. It’s the brand’s central idea that inspires everything the brand does and guides how the brand comes to life, internally and externally. In the case of WHOOP, it’s the idea of human performance.

Removing Friction. WHOOP simplifies life and maximizes time – providing 24/7 personalized insights.

Community & Connection. For today’s consumer, wellness is a holistic idea that calls for brands to be about people, community and connection.  Many of the world’s best brands have been putting community building to the test for years.

In the case of WHOOP, it’s creating a community of customers invested in the brand, and each other, beyond what is being sold. WHOOP provides a captivating reason for members to join and  makes it worth their time (in a very easy manner) to engage and share with each other.

Connected Brand Experience. WHOOP is creating an ecosystem beyond their offering, through product and software development, global expansion, and new membership services.

2. Hims & Hers (healthcare & wellness)

Snapshot
Hims first launched as a lifestyle brand, addressing the problems many men are embarrassed to talk about — including male pattern baldness, erectile dysfunction and acne. Now catering to women too, via sister brand Hers, the wellness brand has evolved into a multi-speciality telehealth platform that connects consumers to licensed healthcare professionals. It gives its customers access to high-quality medical care for numerous conditions related to primary care, mental health, sexual health, dermatology, and more.

Key Consumer Trends
The New Digital Wellness Consumer. Riding the telehealth wave – a market expected to reach $43B USD by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 28% through 2026 – the company provides an end-to-end customer experience encompassing advice, consultation and FDA approved products.

Cultivating Trust. In an era of skepticism and renewed public interest in science (predicted to have a lasting impact on purchasing behavior because of the pandemic), Hims & Hers gives consumers access to credible, substantiated healthcare solutions in an affordable and convenient format – at the same time creating a relatable yet aspirational brand identity.

Healthcare Consumerism. Industry forces have created more powerful patient choice, and resultant benefits including access, convenience, pricing transparency and service experience. Hims argues that the future of healthcare will be led by consumer brands that empower people and give them full control over their healthcare. The brand’s direct relationship with consumers (facilitated by telemedicine), will become the most valuable component in the healthcare system according to the company.

Key Brand Momentum Characteristics
Long Idea. Personal wellness is the idea that ties everything about their brand building and customer experience together – how the brand feels, what it says and what it does.

Removing Friction. By managing the customer experience from start to finish, Hims & Hers is uniquely positioned in the rapidly-emerging telemedicine landscape to lead the industry in B2C-focused telehealth solutions. Since its founding, the company has facilitated more than two million telehealth consultations, enabling greater access to high quality, convenient and affordable care for people in all 50 US states.

Emotional Connection. Emotion gives brands unique meaning in the eyes of their consumers, and creates an instinctive attraction that goes beyond rational reasons for purchase. Hims achieves this through relatable human language and a very simple visual style.

Connected Customer Experience. The company plans on further making its mark on the digital healthcare space by investing in growth and new product categories that it says will accelerate Hims & Hers’ brand building plan to become the digital front door to the healthcare system.

 

3. Tonal (connected fitness equipment)

Snapshot
Tonal is quickly establishing itself as a leader in the connected fitness equipment category. An at-home strength and personal training platform, its use of revolutionary equipment leveraging digital weight with advanced A.I. software, is setting the bar for connected strength training.

Key Consumer Trends
The New Digital Wellness Consumer.  Tonal is a connected system – using data, personalization and regular customer-driven updates – to assess what you need to do, tells you how to do it, and lets you do it from home, in record time.

Personalized. Tonal’s differentiated approach provides consumers with a personalized, connected strength training experience that mirrors the type of training and feedback only professional athletes are usually privy to.

Community. Month over month, the brand has consistently seen record-breaking sales and member engagement fueling a passionate fitness community.

Key Brand Momentum Characteristics
Connected Experience. Further fueling Tonal’s growth are several partnerships including a collaboration with Mayo Clinic in a clinical trial using it in physical therapy applications, and the successful installation of in-room Tonals within the Four Seasons Hotel chain. In 2021, they will be rolling out new software-driven product innovations and a wider breadth of content.

Employee Engagement. In many instances, brand experience and brand perception rest with employees. If a brand says one thing in public but acts in a very different way in its delivery of promises, this can quickly create a disconnect that customers will pick up on and likely share with others.

There’s tremendous power in employees being engaged and aligned around brand meaning,  ambitions and brand delivery. As with Tonal, the team then becomes a living embodiment of what the brand stands for and are able to act quickly and intuitively in contributing to brand building.

 

4. Levels (wellness tech)

Snapshot
Levels is a $399 biowearable system that tracks blood glucose in real-time, to help individuals maximize their diet and exercise. It has ambitions to disrupt the $33 billion wearable technology market by making it easy for people to see how their diet is affecting both their health and their lifestyle in a quantifiable way. According to investor Vijay Pande, PhD and General Partner, a16z. “preventing metabolic dysfunction is one of the 21st century’s greatest health challenges, and Levels addresses the epidemic head-on.

Key Consumer Trends
The New Digital Wellness Consumer.  Not a health company – but a digital health company coupling blood glucose monitors with a software suite to transform the way we eat and empower people to better health.

Science-Backed.  Multiple voices (experts, consumers and media outlets) have challenged wellness brands to bring greater efficacy, academia and credibility to the industry, demanding that buzzwords and unsubstantiated claims be replaced by trustworthy, transparent and conclusive communications.

This is creating an opportunity for science-backed wellness brands like Levels to establish themselves as leaders of this new value-system – leveraging their scientific credentials to not only establish consumer trust but help shift the wellness industry’s controversial image.

Reduced Friction. Customer experiences include ability to chat with the Levels Team to better understand how to optimize dietary habits, along with access to real-time data.

Connected Experience. Goal is to become a mainstream brand by partnering with healthcare providers and employers — the latter of which they are already exploring.

Key Brand Momentum Characteristics
Removing Friction and Real Science. By harnessing CGMs, wearables, data science, and the latest advances in biology and medicine, Levels provides critical information to help consumers take control of diet and exercise while making real, fundamental improvements in their health.

 

5. Wave Sleep (meditation)

Snapshot
Formerly known as Wave Meditation, Wave Sleep was launched in 2018, to answer consumer demand for elevated at-home meditation that is more culturally-driven.  According to the brand: “Through extensive data collection, feedback and client discussions, we found that the world is in need of help falling asleep, staying asleep and maintaining healthy sleep habits.” So, in January 2021, it relaunched Wave as a sleep experience company, with a new app created to help users build healthy bedtime habits, and sleep better.

Key Consumer Trends

The New Digital Wellness Consumer. Wave is tapping into the behaviors, values and preferences of Millennials and Gen Z, who expect digital-first products and services to serve their needs from anywhere in the world.

Emotional Connection. Wave brand identity begins to achieve this connection by being relatable, aspirational and promising peace of mind. Ultimately, emotional connection comes from positive shared experiences with the brand over time, but that’s beyond this post.

Key Brand Momentum Characteristics
Reducing Friction. Doesn’t get much easier from a customer experience standpoint than WAVE app and sleep guides being at your bedside.

Surprise & Delight. To fulfill its mission of redefining adult bedtime, Wave offers live and on-demand visualization-style meditations, with live classes running every 30 minutes to accommodate every sleep schedule and time zone. The hope is that by booking into live sessions, users will approach them as they would a live exercise class — building accountability and discipline into the practice.

Connected Experience. Brand building strategies include a streetwear-inspired apparel line, community-driven app features and special live sessions relating to real-world events – to help the brand to tap into the values and behaviors of Gen Z and millennial demographics.

 

6. Real (mental wellness)

Snapshot
Launched in 2020, new-age mental wellness platform Real is setting out to authentically support the real-time mental wellness concerns of individuals. In addition to addressing standard mental health concerns, such as anxiety and depression, its membership-based platform taps into other culturally relevant concerns such as single life, body image, imposter syndrome, navigating life without your loved ones and dating in a digital world.

Real’s long term goal is to improve the mental health care system and establish mental wellness as an integral part of people’s engagement with their overall health.

Consumer Trends
The New Digital Consumer.  Leveraging their members’ interest in ease, convenience and connectivity – all of which are helping them to live a more streamlined and rewarding lifestyle.

Diversity-Driven. Real connects authentically and meaningfully with the values and cultural identities of its specific audiences. It’s also breaking down barriers to entry, helping to rewrite social norms and spearhead innovation.

Empowered Self-Care. By “removing the barriers of an antiquated system and providing care that is affordable, easy to book, and curated for the modern human”, the company states that it is creating an approach that helps people to proactively take care of their mental health.

Key Brand Momentum Characteristics
Long Idea. The brand’s center is mental well-being – from viewing mental health as something to be treated during a crisis to an ongoing component of people’s well-being.

Emotional Connection.  According to founder Ariela Safira, “the way in which today’s providers and startups market therapy, provide care, track (or don’t track) progress, and provide ongoing support are all based on what therapy has always been like.

We need to think about people – what does today’s 30-year-old woman worry about? What words does she use to express this worry? What happens when she doesn’t express this worry? What does she need to feel understood? How do we create that?” Real is reimagining the overall experience to meet the needs, goals and preferences of millennials and Gen Z — in their language and on their terms.

Reduce Friction. Therapy on your terms, built around your lifestyle.

Symbolism. Symbolism is the language of emotion and a key set of triggers for decisions by our fast, intuitive brain. Real demystifies the experience of therapy through familiar language, fonts, tone of voice and aesthetics that align with the lifestyles, values and markers of its audience. This perfectly aligned “Real” wellness branding symbolism constitutes a brand mnemonic – and a shorthand for talking directly to members decision-drivers.

Fostering Community. The big differentiator of Real compared to therapy today is that it’s community-driven/membership-driven space (at a time when people need community the most).

 

7. Golde (supplements & nutrition)

Snapshot
Founded in 2017 by entrepreneur Trinity Mouzon Wofford — the youngest Black woman ever to launch a brand in US beauty and wellness retailer Sephora — Golde’s superfood infused lattes, supplements and face masks have already amassed a cult following.

Key Consumer Trends
Clean. Formulas that are always 100% natural, vegan-friendly and cruelty-free.

Healthy Convenience. Superfood ingredients you can recognize and trust and that fit seamlessly into your lifestyle (rather than the other way around).

Key Brand Momentum Characteristics
Long Idea. Superfood self-care – which means feeling like your best self.

Symbolism & Emotional Connection. Golde’s wellness branding – bright and happy packaging, approachable and accessible language and all-round feel-good vibe – taps into the desire for a wellness experience that sparks joy and inclusion rather than restriction and exclusivity.

8. Function of Beauty (clean beauty & body)

Snapshot
Founded in 2016 by a team of world-class MIT engineers, cosmetic scientists, and developers, Function of Beauty creates customizable beauty products at scale – with products made in its own state-of-the-art factories from the ground up. In doing so, it created a truly first-of-its-kind facility in the US, where all of the filling equipment was designed, built, and coded in-house.

Consumer Trends
The New Digital Wellness Consumer. Meeting consumers where they currently exist through a new digital experience that improves upon products and likely contributes to building preference, loyalty and repeat sales.

Science-based and Personalization. The brand has leveraged two of these biggest consumer trends –  clean, science-backed ingredients and personalization – to create a pioneering beauty and body brand. Function of Beauty’s mission of bringing the benefits of customization to a broader audience has seen the development of the first proprietary quiz in the industry, defining which ingredients and formulations would meet each customer’s unique goals.

Key Brand Momentum Characteristics
Long Idea. Customizable beauty – hair, skin and body care.

Social Mission. True to the brand and its founders, Function Of Beauty supports women and girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). With almost 50% of respondents in a recent Accenture survey claiming that it’s important for a company or brand to have social change initiatives that they can participate in, those that can’t bridge that gap risk consumers directing their purchasing power elsewhere.

Planet Impact. Following the belief among values-based and action-oriented consumers that wellness brands should practice what they preach, sustainability is at the core of everything Function Of Beauty does. As a result, while the company tackles this issue directly, it also enables their customer to become agents of change too.

9. Flow Water (food & beverage)

Snapshot
Flow Water is one of a wave of functional ‘wellness’ beverages that have risen to prominence thanks to a spike in consumer interest in “drinks with benefits”, as well as the desire to align with companies demonstrating ethical values. By aggressively targeting the large and rapidly growing premium enhanced water and ‘better-for-you’ beverage markets, it hopes to become the number-one wellness beverage brand in the world.

Consumer Trends
Collective Consciousness. Planet matters. Sustainability is a value that is now even more integral to how we want to live our lives, and how we expect brands to act. We are more aware of the way imbalances, waste, and pollution can affect humanity and how we all have a duty to act responsibly. Brands will be expected to demonstrate their role in this shared responsibility. Flow cites its sustainable packaging as one of its biggest selling points.

Diversity-Driven. For values-led wellness consumers, a confluence of 2020 events led to diversity and inclusion becoming a driving force in purchasing decisions and engagement. Witness the 60% of consumers who claim they will now buy or boycott brands based on how they respond to calls for diversity and racial equality (Edelman Trust Barometer Survey). Flow celebrates the different cultures, races and identities that make up, and experience, the health and wellness landscape.

Key Brand Momentum Characteristics
Long Idea. Water with a purpose – benefiting people, community and planet.

Emotional Connection. Beyond rational reasons for purchase, Flow creates an instinctive attraction through its happy, uplifting messaging and graphics – appealing to the fast, frugal ‘System 1’ brain that drives much of our daily decision-making through emotion and intuition.

10. Keep (fitness app)

Snapshot
Launched as a fitness app providing at-home workout videos, Keep’s has amassed 100 million users within its first three years of operation. This figure has now surpassed the 300 million mark, growing alongside its platform, which now includes fitness influencer-led live classes and customized fitness plans.

Consumer Trends
The New Digital Wellness Consumer. While the lock-down also shut down many fitness-based businesses, it opened up new opportunities for brands like Keep’s, Peloton, Tonal, Mirror and others.

Science-Backed. Keeps provides detailed performance tracking, so users can learn and manage every aspect of their hard work.

Key Brand Momentum Characteristics
Connected Experience. The company plans to continue finessing and expanding its ecosystem of products and services to cater to the uptick in Chinese consumers working out from home. Having gradually expanded its offline presence to include healthy snacks, wearable hardware, and workout apparel, more recently, the company also launched a Peloton-style bike as well as a treadmill. However, for now, its main revenue source continues to come from the membership fees of 10 million users who receive its personalized services.

 

Key Wellness Brand Takeaways

As I stated upfront in this post, these ten wellness brands were selected by WELLTODO based on their use of cutting edge technology, groundbreaking approaches and their inclusion of new and exciting minds.

We then examined these wellness brands in the context of the consumer trends they tapped into and the brand characteristics that we know can help create attraction, build connection and enhance general momentum.

It’s this “precise playbook” of balancing external and internal characteristics and behaviors applied with discipline that helps a brand achieve the dominance of both instinctive and considered decision-making.

In this recent tumultuous year (amid a trifecta of pandemic, political upheaval and social unrest), the need for physical, mental, social and purposeful wellness has been further amplified. And as brands race to demonstrate their relevance in this altered landscape, wellness is being pushed more into the forefront of our decision-making.

In light of above, digital has become the new currency and wellness businesses must shift into overdrive to deliver on the consumer expectations associated with it – as eight of these fundamentally digital businesses demonstrate. At the same time, people are seeking brands that enable compassion, community and connection (particularly in light of the pandemic). And they demand that brands show up as truthful and transparent — while keeping their promises. As they weather some bleak moments, consumers want brands that will commit to building a brighter future and stronger society.

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Since 1999, our hybrid brand consultancy / marketing agency has worked across the health and wellness industry – partnering with clients to build better brand-led businesses. Reach out to us for a no-obligation consultation.