1HQ research explores packaging’s effect on purchase of health brands

Global brand agency 1HQ have released a global survey exploring the different aspects of health, whether people’s perception of it has changed since the beginning of Covid-19 and how packaging effects people’s purchase of health brands.

The findings from the investigation suggest that packaging, and the way brands promote their health benefits could be a key indicator for consumers when purchasing. The majority of participants revealed that it was very important for brands to highlight the health benefits of their products and a further 57% said they would definitely be more likely to buy products that highlight the health advantages.

“This is a great opportunity for brands to embrace these consumer behavioural and attitudinal shifts. Every brand finds itself in the wellness business today, or has a role or purpose invested in our health. We are seeing more and more FMCG brands requesting our expertise in this area. Simply by highlighting any health benefits on products, brands could see a potentially huge increase in sales,” says David Collyer, chief growth officer at 1HQ.

The health and wellness industry, has seen a particularly marked change as housebound consumers adapted to life without gyms, fitness studios or easily accessible doctors’ visits. In fact, 63% of respondents expressed that they were more focused on preventative health now compared to six months ago.

“Pre-pandemic, there was a strong focus on reactive health with a push on products and brands to help once an illness or situation has developed. However, the data achieved from this survey shows that brands should expand with the changing needs of people and shift a focus to precautionary measures, to really utilise their market,” says Collyer.

Another area that has seen growth during the pandemic is the fitness and wellbeing one, with the most popular health goal for people in the next five years to better their fitness. This has accelerated fitness and wellbeing brands’ revenues, with cycle-centre exercise bikes, Peloton seeing a 66% increase in revenue and Mirror, the interactive wall glass that acts as a compact home gym, was bought for $500m.

The survey suggests that diet is also important for consumers, with 58% of respondents saying that calorific content is important to them, and the same percentage agreeing that protein content is a deciding factor.
 
Collyer says, “The pandemic has clearly made an impact on how global consumers eat, exercise and generally look after themselves.Health and lifestyle aren't separate entities for the modern consumer anymore, people don't have to make the extra effort to be healthy, but instead, the two elements should effortlessly weave into each other. Brands should make intentional considerations to include and highlight their health benefits without having to sacrifice taste or quality.”
 
The full survey can be found here.