05/05/22

PSFK Weekly Round Up: ‘good cop' advertising, healthier futures, community benefits

For this PSFK Weekly Newsletter, we're optimistically highlighting a healthier tomorrow, covering the ways brands are positively engaging consumers by delivering empathy and support around mental health; the evolutions of an ever-more accessible health and wellness landscape, and a community debrief on intentional community benefits.

Empowering Consumers Through Mental Health Initiatives
American advertisers are playing a bit of a long-term good cop / bad cop routine with the consumer public. After nearly a century of bombarding audiences' brains with slimmed down, sexed up, and entirely “this way or the highway” visual stimuli, brands are now turning to mental health support as a way to engage with key consumer bases – particularly younger, more impressionable ones. With one in five Americans experiencing a mental health challenge, and 82% of consumers preferring value-driven brands whose principles align with their own, the (admittedly ironic) shift from “hard sell” to “soft support” is just good business.

Mental healthcare… a marketing goldrush for psychedelics?
The picture of what legal psychedelic-assisted therapy might look like is being shaped by the brand and marketing strategies of companies hoping to sell those same psychedelic products to the masses, pending FDA approval. For these alternative treatments to have a true impact, it is important for brands not to get too carried away. The Drum

Short film from Dove teaches teens about toxic media influences
Idealized beauty content on social media is proven to cause low self-esteem, especially among young girls, and Dove is fighting back with a new short film highlighting how toxic both media influence and influencers can be on teen's self perception. Dove

Big tech creates an employment portal for neurodivergent job seekers
Microsoft has developed a career portal for neurodivergent job seekers called the Neurodiversity Career Connector. The platform also posts jobs from Google, IBM, Dell, and a handful of other tech companies. Career Connector

L.L. Bean urges people to get outside for their mental health
The iconic Maine-based outdoor apparel company is encouraging its shoppers to spend more time outdoors by pausing all of its own social media for the month of May, which happens to be mental health awareness month. LL Bean

Creating Alternative Health And Wellness Destinations
Optimal wellbeing and physical health are guiding forces in consumers’ lives today, informing their preferred brands and products and ultimately driving purchase decisions and loyalty. Research in PSFK's latest report indicates the boom in healthcare and wellness markets provides an attractive and exciting opportunity for retailers looking to grow their customer base and expand their services in innovative and impactful ways.

Albertsons makes it easier to buy fresh food and medicine
In response to a heightened consumer focus on their personal health, Albertsons Companies is expanding affordable, convenient access to wellness products and fresh food for millions of shoppers with a new supplementary benefits program. Read More

Walmart and Snap debut AR lens encouraging healthy food choices
Snap Scan Shop is launched in partnership with Meredith’s Allrecipes, Snap and Walmart and offers a shoppable solution for home chefs looking for the perfect, and perfectly responsible, meal. PSFK

Walgreens opens health offerings in underserved communities
Since acquiring VillageMD in 2021, Walgreens Boots Alliance has been expanding the footprint of the doctor-staffed clinics at a breakneck pace, opening a new location nearly every three days. R ead More

Download Today: A PSFK Guide to Health & Wellness Services
5 engagement strategies that leverage health and wellness trends to deliver superior, repeat-driven experiences. Details

PSFK's Guide for brands and retailers to win loyalty and repeat spend by providing health and wellness services to their customers.

For Community, By Community
It is a truth universally acknowledged that consumers want to have special people around them who make them feel better. They strive to exist within an ecosystem of things that matter to them and flatter their core values and life principles. Brands that tap into and support these beneficially-focused behavioral drivers are finding they can establish loyal communities and incubate real, positive change.

Reddit launches Community Funds initiative
Beginning next month, Reddit is inviting communities to submit ideas to its newly-official Community Funds project. During the project’s pilot trial, Reddit funded projects including a comics tournament, a community-designed musical artist billboard in Times Square, and a digital conference for history buffs, bringing them to life with financial support. Reddit

New York's Hudson Valley CoHousing movement
The Cantine’s Island intentional co-housing community in New York's Hudson Valley is one part lifestyle, one part old-fashioned neighborhood, where members are committed to governing through consensus and own their own homes, as well as share ownership of common buildings and resources according to their location and need. Cantine’s Island

Dr. Martens brand attitude borrows from its different communities
Dr. Martens’ creative director Darren McKoy talks to The Face about the power of community and how he finds creative inspiration for the future in the uniquely independent ways different groups of consumer communities across the globe interpret the brand’s ethos. The Face

WhatsApp launches ‘Communities’ a new vision for group chats
Meta’s WhatsApp messaging service will now allow users to participate in larger discussion groups, called Communities. The Communities feature will include added support for file sharing, 32-person group calls and emoji reactions, as well as admin tools and moderation controls. Meta

Every PSFK report now available for $495. Even the old ones. Maybe we have just the right insights to help you get smart quick on that topic you're working today? psfk.com/reports

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