Healthy living is no longer a trend or fad followed by a select group of people. It’s a mainstream way of life which consumers strive to achieve every day and apply to every decision they make. At the MRS Healthy Living Conference 2017, it was made clear the reason behind this is that consumers correlate healthy living with living a happy life.
And boy oh boy, has the marketing industry tried to capitalize on this over the last few years, with brands rushing to communicate they’re selling healthy alternative snacks/ cereals, or that they have created the next big health innovation or self-monitoring app. This, however, has led to consumers being overloaded with information and struggling to decipher what it all means.
This article aims to summarize the key takeaways from the Healthy Living Conference, starting with a raw understanding of what healthy living means to consumers, and how brands had best talk to them about healthy living in 2017.
According to the MRS Healthy Living Conference, the main two pillars consumers consider part of healthy living in 2017 are diet and fitness. These days, our consumers’ diet and fitness are influenced by how they interact with products, technology, branding and media that aim to (hopefully) help them achieve healthy living which in turn helps them achieve happiness.
Surprisingly, when it comes to defining healthy living, areas such as mental health, pharma and disease/ illness are rarely mentioned, unless directly linked with diet or exercise. Healthy living is approached much more holistically, with Millennials seamlessly integrating diet, fitness, products, technology, brands and media (and in particular social media) into their everyday lives. They’re additionally more aware of the role mental health plays in healthy living, and are pushing to de-taboo it as a topic of conversation (check out this top 10 YouTubers that talk about mental health).
Today’s world is overloaded with inconsistent content, information, claims and #fakenews. There’s not one reliable source of information to go to, not one global point of view. And so, consumers look for sources that provide the most reliable, transparent, concise and digestible (no pun intended) information.
Millennials are bombarded with an overwhelming amount of content on their social media feeds that contain a highlight reel of how healthy their peers are living. Whilst this can sometimes act as a motivation, it also leaves them feeling isolated when they fall off the healthy living bandwagon. It’s no wonder mental-health issues are more prevalent within Millennials, as they are heavily and continuously pressured by the highly curated social-media world.
social-media highlight reels. Let’s take a look at this example…
No Bullshit is so important to consumers these days (and to Millennials in particular), that they’re even calling themselves out on it. Take the below example of @malin0lofsson, an upcoming Millennial health & fitness blogger. She quotes: “These pictures are taken seconds apart. Same person, two different angles,” aiming to reveal the truth behind her seemingly perfect Instagram figure. She is not alone in this no-bullshit trend of calling out your own fake/ curated image on social media which highlights how consumers/ Millennials are increasingly craving the truth in their perfectly curated world.
In conclusion, if consumers have a low threshold for bullshit for themselves and an increasingly good radar to spot it… just imagine how much they call out brands on their bullshit.
Put simply, ‘less is (not only) more’, but these days, consumers perceive that ‘less is honest’. Below are a few ways consumers filter through the branded bullshit to reveal the truth:
Is your brand ready for a No-Bullshit Diet? Get in touch for a free consultation *😊* and start shredding today!
Want to explore how your brand can connect with Millennials and Gen Z? Discover what our research toolbox and expert power can do for your brand!
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