Free sample from a new report from J. Walter Thompson’s Innovation Group, which tackles one of today’s most explosive consumer sectors: health. “The Well Economy” comes at a time when the definition of “health” is expanding rapidly—as are the industries that cover it. What does it mean to be well? How are health and wellness brands evolving? And most importantly, how can brands reach consumers in this space?
2. Gyakusou collection by NikeLab, Spring 2017
The Well Economy:
Executive summary
The first years of this century
have yielded enormous
advances in our understanding
of health and wellness. As the
cost of sequencing a single
human genome plummets, from
around $100 million in 2001
to under $1,500 today, a truly
personalized approach to health
seems closer than ever.
In the By Numbers section of The
Well Economy, our full-length
report, we use our SONAR™
proprietary research tool to look
at evolving consumer attitudes
toward health and wellbeing—how
consumers think about health,
their spending behaviors, who
they trust with their health, and
attitudes toward emerging health
technologies.
And as research shows how our
physical health is influenced by
everything from exercise and
mental health to gut microbiomes
and personal relationships, science
has given us a broader picture of
what makes a healthy life.
In fact, the more we learn about
health, the more it seems that
health includes everything.
INTRODUCTION
3. Lululemon's Unroll China. Photography courtesy of Lululemon
In Lifestyle Landscapes, The Well Economy considers
the growing integration of health and wellness into the
lifestyle industries. Technology, retail and hospitality
brands, not to mention food and beauty products,
now regularly tout health and wellness benefits to
differentiate themselves from their competitors.
In Healthcare Landscapes, we look at how healthcare
itself is becoming more consumer-facing. Healthcare
providers and services are taking design cues from
hospitality, and a host of other borrowings from
lifestyle industries.
In The Consumer Experience Landscape, we
review how consumer expectations—for intuitive
ways to communicate, on-demand services, and
rapid responses to concerns—are being set by the
technology industry. And finally, in Visual Landscapes,
we examine visual trends in healthcare.
We hope you enjoy this free excerpt of the report.
Download the full version at jwtintelligence.com.
The more we learn about
health, the more it seems that
health includes everything.
THE WELL ECONOMYINTRODUCTION 3
5. The Well Economy:
By Numbers
To explore consumer attitudes
toward wellness, health and
healthcare, in February 2017
we conducted a survey of US
consumers using SONAR™, J.
Walter Thompson’s proprietary
research tool.
The survey is representative of the general
population, with a sample size of 1,007 consumers,
including 250 generation Z respondents,
256 millennials, 251 generation X respondents
and 250 boomers.
THE WELL ECONOMY 5BY NUMBERS
6. Defining health:
from body to mind
Most commonly, people are likely
to associate “health” with overall
physical condition (77%), but
nearly as many people say when
they think about health, they
think about mental health (75%).
Even less-obvious concepts
such as quality of sleep (58%)
and mindfulness (43%) are still
commonly associated with
“health”—suggesting a broad-
based, holistic view of health
among consumers in general.
An interesting split occurs
between the responses of
men and women, with women
much more likely than men to
consider all of the concepts
listed when they think “health.”
The results of our SONAR™
survey show that people
associate the idea of “health”
with a broad range of concepts.
But some concepts show a wider
difference than others. “Diet”
shows the greatest divergence,
with a 22% difference between
men and women, followed by
mindfulness (17%) and wellbeing
(17%). Conversely, the smallest
gaps occur for sexual health (8%)
and energy level (11%).
The results suggest that health-
related concepts resonate
differently with men and women,
and perhaps that holistic views
of health are less common
among men.
THE WELL ECONOMYBY NUMBERS 6
7. The New Experiential Rockstars
2 Lines
When I think about “health,” I think about the following…
Overall physical condition 70% 84%
Avg. 77%
Wellbeing 67% 84%
Avg. 76%
Mental health 69% 81%
Avg. 75%
Wellness 68% 80%
Fitness 61% 76%
Being ill/sick or not ill/sick 52% 68%
Energy level 54% 65%
Quality of sleep
Diet
Mood
Sexual health
Mindfulness
None of these
Avg. 74%
Avg. 68%
Avg. 60%
Avg. 60%
50% 65%
Avg. 58%
42% 64%
Avg. 53%
39% 53%
Avg. 46%
41% 49%
Avg. 45%
35% 52%
Avg. 43%
1% 3%
Avg. 2%
Both genders are likely to
think of these
Women are particularly
likely to think of these
Male
Female
THE WELL ECONOMYBY NUMBERS 7
8. New approaches
to treatment
Relatively few people say they
usually seek out prescription
medication when they feel
ill (17%). And, perhaps more
importantly for pharma brands,
an equal percentage say they
reach for an over-the-counter
medication (51%) as a non-
medicinal remedy.
Our SONAR™ data hints at
some sobering realities for
traditional pharmaceutical
companies, at least when it
comes to over-the-counter
medication.
These differences are more
pronounced among two
particularly important groups.
Women prefer non-medicinal
treatments (54%) to over-the-
counter medications (51%), and
so do millennials (59% favor
alternatives to medication while
55% opt for OTC medicines).
Boomers, conversely, prefer
OTC medication (51%) to non-
medicinal options (43%)—but
brands can’t rely on them forever.
THE WELL ECONOMYBY NUMBERS 8
9. When I first start to feel sick/ill, I usually do the following…
Treat with a prescription medication
0%
100%
10%
18%
21%
18%
15%
19%Male
Female
Gen Z
Millennials
Gen X
Bo..
Avg. 17%
Treat with an over-the-counter pain/flu/cold reliever
(e.g.,Tylenol, Nyquil, Mucinex)
0%
100%
51%
49%
55%
48%
51%
50%Male
Female
Gen Z (15-20)
Millennials (21-34)
Gen X (35-54)
Boomers (55+)
Avg. 51%
Treat with a supplement or “natural” remedy
(e.g., ginger pills, Emergen-C)
0%
100%
20%
27%
32%
26%
29%
24%Male
Female
Gen Z (15-20)
Millennials
Gen X (35-54)
Boomers
Avg. 27%
Treat with a home remedy (e.g., sauna, steam)
0%
100%
26%
24%
32%
31%
32%
25%Male
Female
Gen Z (15-20)
Millennials
Gen X
Boomers
Avg. 28%
Treat with a remedy other than medication (at least one
of the three non-medicinal options below and right)
0%
100%
43%
48%
59%
54%
54%
48%Male
Female
Gen Z (15-20)
Millennials
Gen
Boomers
Avg. 51%
Treat with ingredients that you already own (e.g., honey,
garlic)
0%
100%
31%
29%
35%
27%
35%
26%Male
Female
Gen Z (15-20)
Millennials
Gen X
Boomers (55+)
Avg. 30%
Medicinal treatments Non-medicinal treatments
THE WELL ECONOMYBY NUMBERS 9
11. As wellness becomes
increasingly important to
customers, brands—from
those in retail to travel, food
and beauty—are seeking to
go beyond merely pushing a
desirable product.
Instead, they’re becoming
mindful that their product
or service has a positive
impact on their customers’
wellbeing, too..
According to the Global Wellness
Institute, a US non-profit
organization, the global wellness
industry grew by 10.6% from 2013
through 2015, to a total value of
$3.7 trillion. The GWI predicts that
this market will continue to grow,
particularly in the US, noting that
the wellness industry’s growth
is “inversely correlated with
economic and ‘human wellbeing’
downturns.”
The GWI predicts that more
Americans will turn to alternative
and preventative health measures,
as US healthcare costs are forecast
to rise by 5.8% every year until 2025.
“Wellness, from yoga and
meditation to exercise, will become
an even more sought-after antidote
for an increasingly over-connected,
chaotic world,” the GWI says.
Consumers are increasingly
motivated to take charge of their
own health, by taking an approach
of prevention rather than cure, and
businesses are poised to capitalize
on this new mood. Here, we explore
how key sectors are weaving
aspects of health and wellness
into their businesses, to align with
consumers’ growing preoccupation
with body and mind.
THE WELL ECONOMYTHE WELL ECONOMY 11LIFESTYLE LANDSCAPES
12. With wellness and health a priority at home,
consumers aren’t willing to let it all go when they’re
on the road, whether they’re traveling for business
or pleasure.
Sportspitality
This particularly applies to the millennial cohort—travel
marketing firm MMGY Global noted in a 2016 survey,
cited by the New York Times, that almost half of travelers
born between 1980 and 1998 say that access to a gym
and exercise classes influences their choice of hotel.
To respond to this, hotels and developers are not only
ramping up their own fitness offers, but building entire
brands and residences around the concept of wellness.
The InterContinental Hotels Group launched its
Even Hotels concept, with the tagline “wellness at its
core,” in 2012, and the brand is now ramping up its
expansion. Alongside planning to add to its six existing
Even Hotels in the US, the brand will soon venture into
Australia and New Zealand, in partnership with the
Pro-invest Group.
THE WELL ECONOMYLIFESTYLE LANDSCAPES 12
Even Hotels by the InterContinental Hotels Group
13. The hotels offer myriad wellness
initiatives to draw customers, such
as fitness classes, health-promoting
foods and bedrooms with
eucalyptus fiber bedding, intended
to encourage a good night’s sleep.
Meanwhile, so impassioned
is the Marriott Group’s Westin
Hotels brand about its wellness
credentials, that in January 2017
it launched a $30 million
multimedia ad campaign called
“Let’s Rise,” to promote its hotels’
health-focused initiatives.
The campaign highlights wellness-
related services that Westin offers,
such as hiring out New Balance
workout gear, and its fitness
studios’ new focus on cardio,
stretching and strength with a wide
range of fitness equipment.
Brian Povinelli, global brand
leader at Westin Hotels & Resorts,
described the group as responding
to “travelers realigning their
priorities to put well-being first”
in “today’s over-scheduled and
always-on culture.”
In addition to providing wellness
opportunities that fit around a
busy schedule, hotel groups are
also tapping into consumers’
desire to immerse themselves in
a restorative environment, away
from the grind of modern life.
Indeed, the Global Wellness
Institute found that the wellness
tourism market rose 14% between
2013 and 2015, to a value of
$563.2 billion in 2015. The market
counted for 15.6% of global tourism
revenues in the 2013 through 2015
period, the institute says.
“Wellness is relevant to
everyone no matter where
they live.”
Deepak Chopra, wellness guru
THE WELL ECONOMYLIFESTYLE LANDSCAPES 13
Swissotel Vitality Room in collaboration with Wallpaper*
14. As evidence of the travel industry’s
belief in future demand for these
experiences, in January 2017 the
Hyatt Hotels Corporation acquired
Miraval Group, a wellness resort
and spa brand, whose properties in
Tucson, Arizona and Austin, Texas
promise to help guests live a “Life
in Balance.”
Mark Hoplamazian, president
and chief executive officer of Hyatt
Hotels Corporation, commented
that the acquisition would help
the Hyatt brand achieve “a greater
depth of expertise in wellness and
mindfulness.”
Meanwhile, New York real-estate
developer Property Markets
Group has drafted in Deepak
Chopra, the wellness guru who
espouses the benefits of everything
from meditation to Ayurveda,
to design a development called
Muse Residences in Sunny Isles,
Florida, basing it on the concept
of biological wellbeing. Among
the apartments’ health-promoting
features are circadian lighting
systems, air and water purification
and “mood-aligning” paint colors
that emulate nature.
“Wellness is relevant to everyone
no matter where they live,”
Chopra told Forbes in January,
speaking about the venture.
“The homes we live in can have
a powerful effect on our physical
and emotional well-being. Our
residences will be the first to
be designed focusing on being
preventative from this standpoint.”
THE WELL ECONOMYLIFESTYLE LANDSCAPES 14
Swissotel Vitality Room in collaboration with Wallpaper*
16. Healthcare Landscapes
The nation’s primary healthcare
providers too often rely on
outmoded technology, lackluster
marketing, and a consumer
experience with too many
pain points. Today, however, there’s
a dynamic change underway in
the healthcare industry. Pressures
from both within and outside the
industry are causing healthcare
to become more responsive to the
demands of patients.
And patients are bringing in new
consumer expectations fueled by
their experiences of interacting
with 21st-century technology and
retail brands. These expectations
range from on-demand
information to price transparency
and bespoke solutions.
As wellness becomes the new
buzzword across the lifestyle
industries, the only sector that
hasn’t kept up with the changes
is healthcare.
“The consumer of the future is more
educated, more knowledgeable,
more demanding,” said Michael
Dowling, CEO and president of
Northwell Health, at the Health
Tech ’16 conference. He added that
consumers will require things to be
done their way—“the patient,” he
explained “will say to the doctor ‘this
is what I want and how I want it.’”
Even in the healthcare system, a
premium experience goes a long
way toward building loyalty. While
providers may never compete with
the allure of wellness spas or fitness
festivals, the industry is taking
important steps to elevate the
experience. In today’s healthcare
system, the “patient” is the new
“consumer.”
HEALTHCARE LANDSCAPES THE WELL ECONOMY 16
17. The New Experiential Rockstars
2 Lines
Consumer trends stand to shake up a static corner
of healthcare: the pharmacy. Startups selling
vitamins and supplements are already showing
how lifestyle branding can reinvigorate stagnant
categories, particularly as growth in health and
wellness explodes.
“I went into a vitamin store and it was just
overwhelming,” says Craig Elbert, co-founder of
vitamin startup Care/of and a former VP of marketing
at menswear company Bonobos. “It felt like the
opposite of the experience that we wanted to build at
Bonobos, which was something delightful. There is
really some science behind this, but it gets lost in this
bad consumer experience. How do we build something
delightful? How do we build something that has trust?”
Care/of drew from retail lessons in ecommerce, direct-
to-consumer marketing and personalization to build a
new customer experience. For roughly $30 per month,
Care/of delivers personalized vitamin packs with
ingredients determined via algorithm.
Pharmaceutical design
THE WELL ECONOMYHEALTHCARE LANDSCAPES 17
Care/of
18. Ritual vitamins
As for its competitor, the millennial-friendly Ritual, a
focus on transparency and colorful branding helps to
build brand trust and awareness.
“There’s definitely a broken experience in the
pharmacy of large chains, with people not getting the
attention they used to get,” Elbert explains. “I’m from
Des Moines, Iowa, and we had the local pharmacies
where you know the pharmacist and they know
your challenges. I think there is a big opportunity in
pharmaceuticals in general.”
THE WELL ECONOMYHEALTHCARE LANDSCAPES 18
19. Care/Of
A handful of new upstarts are also taking on the
pharmacy world. Launched in 2016 in New York
City, Capsule is a digital-only pharmacy that delivers
prescriptions on demand. And PillPack, launched
in 2014, has upended daily medical treatments by
shipping prescriptions in crisp packaging, with
pharmacist support available via text.
As traditional healthcare providers begin to shift
toward consumer-focused models, industry outsiders
are racing ahead. A raft of startups is eager to bring
technology-based change, improving healthcare
experiences while capturing a small slice of the ever-
growing market.
"There’s definitely a broken
experience in the pharmacy
of large chains."
Craig Elbert, co-founder of Care/of
THE WELL ECONOMYHEALTHCARE LANDSCAPES 19
21. The Consumer
Experience Landscape
“Healthcare [in the US] is a
$3-trillion industry with massive
potential for innovative companies
to make a positive impact,” says Kris
Gale, co-founder and CTO of health
insurance startup Clover Health. “In
addition, consumer dissatisfaction
with the dominant players has
created an opening for new entrants
to develop alternative approaches
and gain market share.”
New players are finding ways to
disrupt the consumer experience,
from contacting doctors to finding
insurance, at nearly every point.
HEALTHCARE LANDSCAPES THE WELL ECONOMY 21
22. Amino mobile app showing cost estimates
Transparency
in information
Amino joins a handful of companies, including
BetterDoctor and SmartDocFinder, looking to disrupt
the process of selecting a treatment provider. For
consumers, Amino’s online search and booking
processes feel like a natural extension of online
services like Yelp, Expedia or even OkCupid. “The
users are clearly making the connections with these
other consumer domains that they like to use to make
decisions,” says Shah.
Doctors themselves are also becoming more
transparent, with a small but vocal group broadcasting
procedures on Snapchat and Instagram. According to
Shah, it’s this transparency that will keep innovation
moving forward.
“Trying to understand our market in 2013 versus
what we’re looking at in 2017, there are already huge
increases in the number of people using the web
in the course of making care decisions,” she says.
“Consumers will become more sophisticated in
making these decisions.”
New technology is bringing with it radical changes
in the level of transparency consumers now expect
from service providers. In health, the trend is
playing out in patient choice.
Amino is a new platform that helps individuals find
healthcare providers by using a massive built-in
database of US consumer healthcare data, including
information on nearly 900,000 doctors; it offers five
billion healthcare interactions to calculate consumers’
best matches.
“The underlying hypothesis was that if you had a
large enough data set about what’s happening in
American healthcare, you could create a transparency
tool that could help consumers better make decisions
about their health, whether that’s connecting them
to the best doctors for their specific needs, choosing
facilities, making cost-based treatment decisions or
understanding treatment options,” says Maudie Shah,
co-founder and head of UX at Amino.
THE WELL ECONOMYHEALTHCARE LANDSCAPES 22
24. New wellness standards
The new standard draws from
scientific and medical research to
set guidelines for any structure that
advances health and wellbeing.
Architects are beginning to take
cues from the WELL standard,
incorporating natural materials,
optimizing outdoor lighting,
and providing spaces that offer
comfort. The warm and friendly
environments are paving the way
for future design innovation in the
healthcare industry.
Forget cold and clinical
interiors. Thanks to the global
WELL Building Standard,
introduced in 2014, architects
are putting societal wellbeing
at the forefront of wellness
building design.
“WELL fosters a holistic formula for better health
and wellness outcomes, leading to improvements
in things like employee productivity, engagement
and retention,” comments Randy Fiser, CEO of the
American Society of Interior Designers, on the WELL
standard’s site.
THE WELL ECONOMYVISUAL LANDSCAPES 24
25. In Dublin, architecture firm
Urban Agency redesigned a dental
practice to offer a very different
environment from the usual dental
clinic. Patients enter a bright and
airy space with curving walls of
pale wood paneling, and the dental
treatment rooms have floor-to-
ceiling windows overlooking a
verdant garden. The design aim is
to allay potential anxiety and offer
a sense of calm.
In Japan, two medical centers—the
Hirano Clinic and the Asahicho
Clinic—take the concept a step
further, with inviting, house-
shaped buildings that blend in
with the surroundings and offer a
familiar and home-like setting.
1 + 2. The Templeogue Dental Practice Surgery in Dublin
3 + 4. Hirano Clinic designed by TSC Architects, Japan
5. Asahicho Clinic designed by HKL Studio. Photography by Tetsu Hiraga. Japan
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5
2
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THE WELL ECONOMYVISUAL LANDSCAPES 25
26. Contact:
Lucie Greene
Worldwide Director of the Innovation Group
J. Walter Thompson Intelligence
lucie.greene@jwt.com
Editor
Shepherd Laughlin, the Innovation Group
Visual editor
Emma Chiu, the Innovation Group
Writers
Mary Cass, the Innovation Group
Nina Jones
Picture assistant
Jaime Eisenbraun, the Innovation Group
About the Innovation Group
The Innovation Group is J. Walter Thompson’s futurism, research and
innovation unit. It charts emerging and future global trends, consumer change,
and innovation patterns—translating these into insight for brands. It offers
a suite of consultancy services, including bespoke research, presentations,
co-branded reports and workshops. It is also active in innovation, partnering
with brands to activate future trends within their framework and execute new
products and concepts. It is led by Lucie Greene, Worldwide Director of the
Innovation Group.
About J. Walter Thompson Intelligence
The Innovation Group is part of J. Walter Thompson Intelligence, a platform
for global research, innovation and data analytics at J. Walter Thompson
Company, housing three key in-house practices: SONAR™, Analytics and
the Innovation Group. SONAR™ is J. Walter Thompson’s research unit that
develops and exploits new quantitative and qualitative research techniques to
understand cultures, brands and consumer motivation around the world. It is
led by Mark Truss, Worldwide Director of Brand Intelligence. Analytics focuses
on the innovative application of data and technology to inform and inspire new
marketing solutions.