June 13, 2022
How the $4.4 Trillion Wellness Industry Fits Into Promo
Scented candles, weighted blankets, home spa items and other promotional products have been growing in popularity as an increasingly stressed-out population incorporates them into their self-care routines.
In the shadow of a prolonged pandemic, many people are seeking comfort to cope with rising mental health issues, turning to self-care for a little stress relief and R&R. Custom scented candles, spa kits, journals, weighted blankets, yoga mats, essential oil diffusers and other promotional products are growing in popularity to help bring calm and improve wellbeing.
It’s no surprise that mental and physical health has been a theme of the past two years. While anxiety, depression and general stress were prevalent before COVID hit, the pandemic has only worsened the impact. According to a 2021 survey from the American Psychological Association, stress levels were up, as 84% of adults reported feeling at least one emotion associated with prolonged stress, including anxiety, sadness and anger.
“It’s hard to find balance with everything – with your routine, with communication, with how to just go out into the world. It’s a lot of stuck-ness and feeling caught in the middle.”Dr. Natalie Chaykin, licensed clinical psychologist
“It’s hard to find balance with everything – with your routine, with communication, with how to just go out into the world. It’s a lot of stuck-ness and feeling caught in the middle,” says Dr. Natalie Chaykin, a licensed clinical psychologist who works with clients struggling with a range of mental and physical illnesses.
Coming out of isolation, some experience social anxiety about adjusting back to the social scene, feeling awkward or less confident. Others have had intense anxiety about contracting or exposing others to the virus, at times to an obsessive-compulsive extent.
More and more people are seeking out professional counseling, though waiting lists have grown especially long since the pandemic began. Self-care rituals to cope with stress and anxiety have also gained popularity, especially as the concept trends on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. The wellness economy was valued globally at about $4.4 trillion in 2020 and has experienced steady growth, according to the Global Wellness Institute. The personal care and beauty sector was valued at $955.2 billion and projected to follow an 8.1% average annual growth rate in the following three years, reaching a market size of $1.4 trillion by 2025.
In this episode of Promo Insiders, the founders of Baloo Living (asi/38053) talk about the popularity of weighted blankets, which have been shown to help with stress, anxiety and insomnia.
Promotional products professionals are also seeing the trend toward self-care. Deborah Gaspar, director of marketing at Top 40 supplier NC Custom (asi/44900), has seen a shift in demand during her 20 years in the promo industry. While office goods once reigned supreme, products that can be used at home have been trending, she notes.
It’s a culture-wide trend, according to Julie Warnock, president of Bath Promotions (asi/38850). “Overall, I just think our whole culture is more focused on the importance of wellness and health and addressing stress release,” she says. “Companies are trying to address that in a sensitive way by promoting relaxation and wellness.”
Bath Promotions has shipped tens of thousands of candles, bath salts and other self-care products to healthcare workers. After a stressful workday at a hospital, smelling disinfectant through layers of masks, aromatherapy products with calming lavender and healing eucalyptus scents seem extra enticing. “To bring a little bit of joy and light into the day-to-day has been important for people and really effective for promotion,” Warnock says.
This spa gift set (Kit-Weekend-1) from Bath Promotion (asi/38850) is its most popular self-care item and includes a 4-ounce bath salt, a 2-ounce soy travel candle and a 2-ounce lotion for an at-home spa night.
Gaspar said NC Custom’s kitted items have been widely successful. From healthcare regimens to cocktail kits, Gaspar described these sets as “something that creates an experience for people.” Its “Scent-sational” gift boxes, which typically include products like a scented candle, lip balm, and chocolate, have been successful in creating and triggering the power of scent, Gaspar says.
NC Custom’s (asi/44900) chocolate gift box (KT532-E) selects products from all three of its brands to create a scented experience for customers.
Evocative scent is a common characteristic of self-care products that provides more than an illusion of relaxation – it has real effects. “It’s not just that self-care products give you a routine, but there are actual physiological effects, and they’re relaxing you because they tap into your senses and can settle down your nervous system,” Chaykin explains. “Your senses are in the present, so these items help you ground yourself into the present.”
The sensory experience provides consumers with both pleasure and a sense of the brand. “Scented products really communicate to people on a sensory level in a way that a pen or a journal can’t,” Warnock says.
This 14-ounce frosted luxury candle (Candle-14F-LUX), available from Bath Promotions (asi/38850), comes in frangrances like white tea and ginger, berries and ocean breeze.
A person’s mood improves by 40% when exposed to a pleasing fragrance, according to a recent blog post on the emotional impact of scent by NC Custom. Scent also serves as the strongest sensory link to memory and emotion, targeting specific centers of the brain such as the hippocampus and amygdala. Scents like lavender can have a similar effect on neural activity to that of common prescription anxiety meds, according to a Japanese study of mice exposed to linalool, a colorless oil used in fragrances and other products.
While self-care can make a difference on mood, Chaykin doesn’t recommend blindly following the trend; efforts to stay healthy should come from personal desire rather than pressure from social comparison. To see real effects, Chaykin notes, “It’s important for people to choose what they want to work on based on what they value and what motivates them.”
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