I AM WHAT I AM: WHY PERSONALIZATION IS NO LONGER A TREND

Personalization is no longer a trend. It is now an overwhelming powerful force affecting all aspects of how we live. Personalization changes what we buy, how we shop, where we shop, how we relate to brands, how we live. Personalization is also at the heart of the ongoing, and yet unsolved privacy debate. Personalization has touched every industry from hospitality, to automotive, to retail, to food, to data collection and telecommunications. Personalization is impacting the wellness industry. Products that we never imagined to be wellness-oriented have suddenly found new life as elements for our healthier, longer-living self.

This is not to say that the group activities at the gym, self-defense classes, or the communal self-awareness motivational events are passé. It does mean that people are increasingly seeking personalized ways to wellness.  

Take mattresses. All of sudden, the mattress is a vehicle for personal wellness. We seek our perfect sleep. Who knew there could be so many different types of mattresses, let alone brands of mattresses? Mattresses are now our personal sleep enhancers. Sleep Number beds say, “the Sleep Number 360? smart bed uses Responsive Air? technology to sense your movements then automatically adjusts firmness, comfort and support to keep you sleeping blissfully, all night long.” They go on to, “SleepIQ? technology inside the bed tracks how well you sleep each night. In the morning, you'll learn how the Sleep Number? bed is adjusting to your individual comfort and the amazing effects the bed has on your sleep quality. It's called your SleepIQ?score.”

According to CityLab, a web magazine from The Atlantic, Americans spend more on mattresses than any other country in the world. For decades, Westin Hotels has been promoting its Heavenly Bed as a wellness feature that helps you settle in while staying at their hotels. But now, buying a mattress can come with a sleep expert’s advice on how to have a better night’s sleep.

Casper, one of the most popular online mattress brands is now opening stores. The CityLab reporter writing about the boom in mattresses, said that when she entered the new Casper store in hipster Noho neighborhood of lower Manhattan, she was given Flamingo slippers, and lay down on a mattress piled high with blue duvets, surrounded by plants, and lights with soft bulbs.

Beverages are part of the wellness scene, too. Forget the juicer craze that tore through our lives a couple of years ago: those days are over. We now want beverages that are enhanced with supplements and whatnots to aide in beauty and health.  Fermented beverages are the rage (these drinks are purported to help your digestive system), as are beverages with turmeric (long-used in Ayuvedic medicine an alternative branch of Indian healing). Kombucha, a fermented black or green tea beverage with some sparkle, also promises health benefits. According to a recent story in The Wall Street Journal, these beverages communicate health and wellness for specific ailments that we may suffer such as dull skin or restless sleep. Since a bottle of one of these drinks can be under $5, you might want to skip the special mattress and stock up on the sleep-well drink instead.

Not enough personalization for you? A brand called Habit asks for your DNA and some blood, and then provides you with recommendations on your personal nutrition. The struggling industrial food company, Campbell’s has been an investor in Habit. However, Campbell’s has not yet brought the concept of personalized soups to the grocery store shelves.  If you are scoffing right now about personalized nutrition, there are already a number of brands in this burgeoning category. There is no end to how much we will invest in or do to learn that it is probably a mistake to eat a whole bag of Oreos or Fritos in one sitting.

Habit is taking its knowledge of your personalized nutrition one step further to change your behavior: it is teaming up with Amazon.com and its grocery delivery service so that the personalized ingredients for your personalized nutrition are delivered to your doorstep.

Food, beverage, and health behemoth, Nestlé SA, is also entering into the world of personalized nutrition. Now that it ditched its confectionary brands, Nestlé SA is focusing on people who want to improve their personal health. Nestlé SA’s program, “Nestlé Wellness Ambassador” is in Japan. People use a home DNA kit and send blood samples along with Instagram pictures of the food they are eating. Using the personal DNA and blood data in combination with the photos, Nestlé uses artificial intelligence to send capsules that make nutrient-rich beverages. You also receive specially designed snacks. As one user commented,

“There are probably a lot of things that I don’t realize about my health that I can discover in a blood and genetics test. Even if I feel healthy, I’d like to know more about the quality of my health.”

The previous CEO of Nestlé agrees. According to Bloomberg, the opinion of Peter Brabeck-Letmathe is that personalized health and wellness products and services are “the future of nutrition”. Accessible technology is making our ability to find the right foods for our right diet easier. You are what you eat takes on new meaning.

We aim for physical and mental health through exercise classes, meditation, and vitamins.  We purchase weights and equipment to use at home, or we attend fitness sessions. We take wellness vacations, and interact with workplace wellness programs. The Global Wellness Institute figures for 2015 indicated that we indulging in wellness to the tune of $3.7 trillion, including the spa industry at $99 billion, beauty and anti-aging at $999 billion, and fitness-mind-body at $542 billion.

Self-knowledge has come a long way since people flocked to EST meetings in the Sixties. It is interesting that our younger generations, who are very socially conscious - seeking global and local betterment - are also focused on the cult of personalized betterment. The desire for personalized health and wellness is now beyond genetic testing brands such as 23andMe, or personal history brands such as Ancestry.com. Right now, personalization of health and wellness is affecting a swath of categories. As Popeye says, “I yam what I yam.” Aren’t we all?

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