Health & Wellness: Transforming trends into behavior

Redefining engagement to create lasting change

Today’s Health & Wellness landscape is defined by countless trends which fizzle into fads as quickly as they arrive. But why? Incite dissected 60 trends to understand what drives their fleeting nature and devise a roadmap to amplify more sustained engagement.

From the macro to the mundane we explored trends in…

• Food & Beverage
• Fitness
• Makeup & Skincare
• Apparel
• Technology
• Household Products
• Physical & Mental Health

Change is required, and change is hard

Despite their differences, one thread linked the trends (and the brands behind them) we explored: each asked consumers to make significant – and more importantly, sustained – behavioral shifts. That work is rarely easy.

Many brands excel at identifying and designing products to meet key consumer needs, along with successfully driving initial trial. However, their focus on motivating a start is only a piece of the puzzle – most stop at a critical moment.

The start is hardly the finish

It takes 21 days to form a habit. Inevitably (and quite quickly) consumers lose engagement – with the product and brand – and move onto something seemingly easier or more accessible, and thus, a fad is born.

The process of cementing, versus temporarily changing behavior is the key to sustained engagement, and many brands miss the critical component of integration. This requires knowing how to successfully support and guide the user beyond their first moments of trial, as they navigate uncharted (and uncomfortable) waters of building new actions, belief systems and patterns. Failing to plan for and develop support structures with equal focus results in a brand befalling the same fate as the trends behind them.

A holistic start-to-habit journey

So what does that integration look like, and how is it best achieved? It’s different for every category, every product, and every audience.

As our examination of trends shows, only by identifying, understanding and actively planning to the inherent consumer biases, can we design meaningful interventions to ensure a consumer stays true to their path. A behavior change practice is the key to unlocking ongoing, not temporary, opportunity – an insight which rings true inside, and out, of the health and wellness category.

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