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LONDON, Sept. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Ogilvy's Health & Wellness Practice launches new research report at Ogilvy on Wellness Conference, revealing industry insights¹ on the Wellness Movement and gathering data on how society is shifting toward holistic healthcare in a world where everyone is grappling with the stress of a 24/7 always on culture².

The findings emerge against a troubling modern health context.  More than 2 billion people are overweight³. Over 80% of the world's teens aren't physically active enough⁴. Working 11 hours a day increases the chance of a heart attack by over 60%. However, it isn't simply our physical health at risk⁵. Evidence shows that stress can lead to physical ill health and early death⁶.  Research also shows that social media has serious detrimental effects to our health⁷.

As the Ogilvy Health & Wellness practice delves deeper into the wellness boom, a dichotomy forms:

• While modern healthcare is breaking into more specialisms, consumers are actually seeking an ever more simple and holistic experience – an integrated mind, body and spirit solution.
  
• As healthcare systems are slow to change and keep up with consumers, a fast growing Wellness industry is booming, with new pioneers understanding our needs and stepping into this space.
  
• Five major themes emerge from the report: radical compassion, mind and body becoming one, social fitness, somatic spaces and the convergence of health and technology.
  
• We turn to a full spectrum of health solutions, both quirky and conventional, to achieve the calm and holistic healthcare that current health systems in our countries have not fulfilled. This report reveals what pioneers are doing across the world as part of the Wellness Movement.
  
• From a curriculum on mindfulness in Hong Kong, to a subscription service encouraging family time, to dementia villages and human implants, innovation is radically altering how we look after ourselves.

These unconventional methods have implications for brands and marketers too. The reality is our brains are still hard-wired to survive as we did 100,000 years ago. While communicators and marketers can amass as much evidence and data as possible, focus group participants are often guilty of making decisions without really knowing why. "Marketing and communications can be far more effective if we understand people from the inside out instead of the outside in," said Christopher Graves, President and Founder of the Ogilvy Centre for Behavioural Science and Ogilvy on Wellness event participant.  "That means understanding human personality traits, cultural cognition and deep-seated mindsets instead of sorting people by demographic only."

Ultimately, the Wellness Movement is a coping strategy for life in the 21^st century. As demand for holistic health grows, so does the industry around it. As a result, how we view and look after our health is being transformed like never before.

Gloria Gibbons, Global Practice Leader, Ogilvy Health & Wellness:
"As healthcare systems find it slow to change and adapt to what consumers want for their holistic health and wellbeing, pioneers and innovators in the Wellness space have a great opportunity to really deliver for consumers and their health.  There is massive disruption in the health ecosystem.  The Ogilvy Health & Wellness Practice has been established to help brands and services better navigate these marketing challenges and really make brands matter in this sector."

Brian McCarter, Head of Planning - EMEA, Ogilvy:
"The Wellness Movement is a response to the pressure of modern life. The 24/7 always on norm is making us sick. Despite advances in medicine, people feel that something has been lost and are seeking ways to integrate a healthy mind, body and spirit. As our research has shown, we predict that we will become more self-compassionate; more body-mindful; more communal; more spatially attuned; and more open to augmenting ourselves with technology."

References:

1. The Wellness Movement Pioneers: New Global Research Findings by Gareth Ellis and Brian McCarter, Ogilvy, September 2017
2. American Psychological Association, Stress and Effects on the Body, 2017
3. The Independent, Mismatch Between the Way our Senses Evolved and Modern World is Making us Ill, September 2017
4. World Health Organisation, Physical Activity Fact Sheet, 2017
5. The Atlantic, Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?, September 2017
6. The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer by Elizabeth Blackburn and Elissa Epel, Orion Spring, 2017. 
7. http://time.com/4793331/instagram-social-media-mental-health/, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/depression-girls-teenagers-quarter-stats-figures-research-a7956031.html

NOTES TO EDITOR

About Ogilvy
Ogilvy is one of the largest marketing communications companies in the world. Through its specialty units, the company provides a comprehensive range of marketing services in-house including: brand advertising; direct marketing; interactive; digital and targeted media; brand identity; retail and in-store promotions; trade/event marketing, public relations; CRM and loyalty marketing; fast-track, low-cost delivery; analytics and research capabilities; strategic partnerships; branded content and entertainment; multicultural marketing, and sustainability marketing. Ogilvy services Fortune Global 500 companies as well as local businesses through its network of more than 450 offices in 120 countries. It is a WPP company (NASDAQ: WPPGY).

Media Contact:
Tara Mullins
212-880-5243 
tara.mullins@ogilvy.com

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SOURCE Ogilvy