Spa and wellness brands have a massive opportunity to shape the future of wellness by assisting consumers in their quest to live healthier, even richer lives, says Mia Kyricos, chief brand officer for Spafinder Wellness, Inc, writing in the latest edition of Spa Opportunities magazine.

In an exclusive Thought Leader column, how to brand a wellness-focused business, Kyricos says brands like Headspace are making it simple for consumers to engage with wellness and that the industry must tune in to the consumer if it is to realise its full potential.

Read on to find out more:

THOUGHT LEADER: Mia Kyricos, Spafinder Wellness Inc

How to brand a wellness-focused business

David Butler, Coca-Cola’s VP of Innovation, grew up surfing. I was inspired by his words in the February 2015 issue of Fast Company magazine, where he described the sport as, “being in the right place at the right time.” Sure, you need to know some basic skills, like how to swim, he wrote, “The real skill is being able to look out on the horizon, see the patterns of waves building,” and then “position yourself to make the most of them.” Well, that’s a lot like branding.

The US$3.4tn (€2.6tn, £2.1tn) global wellness industry – now three times the size of the pharmaceutical industry according to research by the Global Wellness Institute (GWI) – is exploding, so many of us are trying to find our place in this world, both as business owners and consumers. What is wellness? What is a brand? I will leave these questions to Wikipedia to answer but from a business perspective, both ultimately mean creating a desire for products, services and perceived value to one’s overall wellbeing.

In fact, most market research firms agree that massive opportunity exists for brands to shape the future of wellness by assisting consumers in their quest to live healthier, even richer lives. And this is true no matter where you reside or do business. The question is: How?

Start with asking yourself what your favourite brands are and why. It may begin with a great story or brand promise – which few brands are lucky enough to get right on day one – but it ends with perception.

For example, one of my favourite new brands on the wellness stage is Headspace, which promises “meditation made simple”. I downloaded their app and true to their promise, was immediately engaged by the artful simplicity of their storytelling – critical at a brand’s birth. My immediate brand perception was positive and relatable to my everyday life and it was so easily consumable and tangibly usable that I’m sure both my 12-year old niece and 89-year-old grandmother (with Greek as her first language mind you) could understand.

Setting your brand up for similar success requires following some basic principles:
1. Simplicity: Help consumers to battle today’s confusing deluge of health and
wellness information with a message that clearly communicates what your product or service actually accomplishes.
2. Relatability: Take the time to relate to your consumers’ everyday lives and communicate how your
product or service can easily “plug in” and play a habitual part of their routines.
3. Efficacy: So much of what wellness-related firms have to offer today is backed up by readily-available research – so don’t be afraid to use it.

In the end, we all know what ‘ultimate’ success looks like: a passing scent, jingle, image or swoosh that elicits a feeling – a perception – so positively that the brand name itself is no longer needed. To that, I say, brand on!