The wellness economy is thriving but increasingly out of touch.
Operating a tired playbook, many brands inflate benefits, conflate wants with needs, and set unattainable ideals. Instilling lack to sell the fix, the industry is drawing criticism for adding more stress than it relieves.
And yet, as we outlined last week, wellness spending is surging, consumer focus on personal health is peaking, and there’s never been a better time to build in this space.
Reframing
Breaking industry echo chambers, today we’re exploring where wellness is going wrong, and how it can get right.
Beyond conjecture, we’ll offer fresh frameworks for brands playing the long game — provocations to restrategize, stay relevant, reach overlooked audiences, and make a real impact.
Wellness 2.0
The future of wellness is self-aware.
Like Big Pharma, the wellness industrial complex preys on fear, perpetuating the idea that the world is sickening, but silver bullets exist — for a price.
In truth, fancy products have marginal effects, but the basics—whole foods, daily movement, stress resilience—are the bedrock of health. And remedies that can’t be bought—strong relationships, a growth mindset, inner peace—have the greatest impact.
Owning up, wellness needs a new narrative. Rather than selling an idealized end state, companies should help consumers enjoy the journey with full awareness it never ends.
Real wellness is existential, not performative. It celebrates individual agency and interdependence in the same breath. It sells hope without hubris. It acknowledges the Sisyphean struggle and doesn’t claim to have an answer, but strives to make life meaningful anyway.
Where Wellness 1.0 overpromises and patches problems with products, Wellness 2.0 stares issues in the face and addresses them with grounded optimism.
Actualization > Aspiration. Hype is out, hands-on help is in.
Meaning > Metrics. A purposeful life trumps a perfect recovery score.
Positive-sum > Zero-sum. Well-being isn’t about elite optimization, but shared growth.
Hope > Fear. If wellness increases anxiety, division, or discontent, we’re doing it wrong.
Game Planning
Studying prevailing consumer sentiments, we’ve identified five concepts to serve as guideposts.
Coping Mechanisms
Wellness is a survival strategy, not a luxury.
As the health effects of environmental toxins, ultra-processed foods, social isolation, and generational trauma come to light, our hierarchy of needs is crumbling. Amid institutional chaos, individuals are in fight-or-flight mode and feeling pressure to protect themselves.
Tone deaf, venture-backed brands are chasing optimization while consumers worry about basic safety. Setting a foundation, companies that de-risk daily life while protecting mental and physical peace can alleviate chronic stress.
Think: Force of Nature sourcing quality meat, Little Spoon cleaning up infant food, Little Otter scaling family therapy, Saalt revamping menstrual products, Rorra filtering water contaminants, and Open centering nervous systems.
Evolved Stacks
Holistic health is a soft science, but it’s rarely sold that way.
Lasting behavior change doesn’t start with wearables, biomarkers, and AI optimization. More than metrics, people need help reimagining their personal stories and belief systems.
The 2.0 stack starts with philosophy, followed by simple practice, then tech support. Taking a Socratic approach, companies can guide people from mindless consumption to mindful pursuit.
Think: The Class teaching body intelligence, Equip addressing disordered eating, Nema Health tackling PTSD, The School of Life shaping personal values, THE WELL bundling mind-body-spirit services.
Identity-aware Care
Patients want to feel seen before they’re told.
Overly slick, longevity care comes off as high performance but low humanity. Getting diverse groups to embrace prevention requires identity-aware infrastructure, understanding how people define quality of life, and tailoring treatments accordingly.
Ideally, practitioners approach every patient as an N of 1, adapting plans to serve the goals of new parents, college athletes, cancer survivors, and weekend warriors alike.
Think: Eternal pioneering healthcare for athletes, Midi repackaging longevity for women, Ciba Health addressing social determinants of chronic disease, Complement 1 launching lifestyle-based cancer support, WellTheory building autoimmune care from lived experience.
Life-enhancing Lore
Wellness companies can restore a sense of wonder.
Consumerism has flattened health into routines: smoothies, supplements, and schedules — wrapped in a beige aesthetic. But wellness isn’t a matter of doing; it’s a way of being.
All-in on sensory, brands are using art, architecture, and play to infuse rote rituals with meaning. Bringing magic to the mundane, they’re leveraging joy to make adherence easy.
Think: Othership scaling immersive sauna experiences, Loftie hosting adult summer camp, Break Sports bringing back recreation, MUD\WTR opening a communal mushroom cafe, Flamingo Estate elevating simple seasonal pleasures.
Cultural Capital
The specific is the universal.
Chasing VC dollars, countless startups compete for broad and generic psychographics like high performers, athletes, and biohackers.
Embedding in niche communities, innovative brands raise cultural capital before venture capital.
They build where target consumers are, around the values that matter most to them. After earning loyalty, they expand. In the age of AI-powered copycats, cultural capital creates a moat.
Think: Bandit tapping into NYC’s running community, Athletic Brewing understanding health-conscious beer lovers, Siete reformulating staples for Latino families, Cadence bringing street style to supplements, GORUCK popularizing military-approved backpacks, Merit simplifying clean beauty for busy women.
Blindspotting
There’s still undiscovered white space and room for innovation, but a unique POV is crucial. Brands that bring fresh energy can break through and make wellness cool again.
Wellness marketing is overly fixated on anti’s—anti-government, anti-tech, anti-pharma—leaving consumers with nothing to believe in. People don’t need reminders of how bad things are; they need better coping mechanisms. That’s where wellness comes in.
COVID and AI have people grieving an illusion of stability. Moving through their emotions, anger may be the current mood, but eventually it will give way to acceptance and hunger for change.
When that time comes, companies with the healthiest vision for the future will win.
Think: Daylight designing caring computers, Unplugged enabling phone-free escapes, I Have This Friend creating a non-corporate lifestyle directory, Ghia pairing NA sips with slow meals and sunsets, Monarch Athletic Club rethinking healthcare from top to bottom.
Punchline
Preaching routines without grounding philosophies, wellness 1.0 missed the point. In 2.0, solutions that symbolize new values will outlast those that simply send push notifications.
