The Slow-Moving Wellness Trend: The Rise of the "Passive Segment" and "Why Not?" Consumption

Wellness is something everyone needs, regardless of the era. While its essence remains constant, trends evolve with the times. Starting with Part 2, we'll introduce recent wellness trends based on the results of the "Dentsu Inc. Wellness 10,000-Person Survey," conducted annually since 2007.

The Growing "Non-Active Segment"

 

This survey categorizes its 10,000 respondents—men and women aged 20 to 60—into eight distinct clusters based on their health consciousness. Among these, the volume of the cluster we call the "non-active group" has been increasing year by year. By 2012, it finally exceeded half of the total, becoming a force that cannot be ignored in marketing.

 

Despite having over 60 options to choose from, they don't strongly identify with any of the health-related items. They don't engage in any particularly notable health behaviors either. However, they do have their share of concerns or symptoms and consider themselves to be fairly health-conscious. So, how exactly do these "non-proactive" individuals approach wellness?

 

The keyword is "if I'm going to do it anyway."

 

The clue lies in the era's context. One factor is "cost-saving behavior." In the survey, scores for "products consumed within the last month" were consistently low. This might also explain why so many people carry water bottles. Second is "growing prevention awareness." Japan's health challenges, such as medical cost issues due to aging, are expected to worsen. Consequently, more people are sharing information, and recipients are becoming more sensitive to these topics.

Third is the "diversification of solutions." Product and service variations have increased to accommodate the wide gap in health engagement, from low to high levels. This helps expand people's choices for health actions and makes them easier to incorporate into daily life. From these three key insights, we identified the state of the "non-active segment": "They aren't uninterested, but they won't do what they can't. They vaguely engage with health within their means."

We named this prevailing wellness atmosphere, which fosters many "non-proactive individuals," "Why not?" People choose products with the everyday mindset of "Why not go for something healthier?" and avoid doing things that are extremely bad for them. This becomes a kind of absolution, allowing occasional lapses in self-care—both mentally and physically—to be somewhat forgiven. This is the prevalent healthcare style today.

 

The "Then and Now" of Hit Products