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“Adopt healthier habits” is no longer a light suggestion heard once a year during annual checkups. In 2016, we’re actually pioneering the cause. According to Nielsen’s Global Health & Wellness Survey, consumers around the world are actively taking charge of their health, fueling the 32 billion dollar fitness industry and making a conscious effort to eat better. And the mass media we consume every day reflects it. We’re reading articles about the best apps for tracking calories, the best Instagram fitness accounts to follow, and sharing these on our own social networks using #fitspo and #mealprep.
On top of the large numbers of news organizations devoted to personal wellness content such as Greatist and well + good, Arianna Huffington announced this week her plans to expand her online news empire with a startup devoted exclusively to health and wellness. Clearly, the media category is expanding rapidly to meet the needs of our growing Spartan Race-obsessed, marathon-running, ClassPass-participating population.
Back in frigid February, the PadillaCRT Coppertone team experienced some respite from the cold at the Personal Care Products Council Annual Meeting in sunny West Palm Beach. During the meeting, the team spoke to members of the media from beauty-centric publications about what types of content their audiences were clamoring for. The consensus? Personal wellness and best practices for leading healthy lives. If money and fame used to be the keys to happiness, kale smoothies and ache-free joints have taken their place.
As a result, health and wellness was the cornerstone of the Coppertone annual summer kickoff event for media last month. On a beautifully sunny and warm Wednesday, Coppertone hosted an event on the Midtown Terrace featuring U.S. Soccer player Kelley O’Hara, where media attendees were able to exercise alongside Kelley as they were led through an energizing workout by Under Armour trainer Keoni Hudoba.
It was the first event the team coordinated that featured fitness and health as the main attendance-driver. Though sunscreen is an over-the-counter personal wellness product, media coverage and interest in previous years had mostly come from the beauty category, with preventing wrinkles being the primary benefit of wearing sun protection to readers.
Now it’s less about the aesthetics and more about truly maintaining a holistically healthy lifestyle, for both readers and the media generating content to appeal to them. After sweating alongside members of beauty media through a heart-pumping workout, our soccer spokesperson fielded more questions about her fitness routine than her go-to beauty products. While this could be a result of the atmosphere and Kelley’s current soccer career, the fact that the event drew more attendees than ever could indicate that healthy living and fitness have become the key tenants of today’s media landscape.