The Cost Of (Not) Chasing Wellness Trends
Strategic wellness innovation or passing trend?
The temptation (and pressure!) to chase every emerging wellness trend is powerful. But lately, I’ve been trying to figure out what the real cost is of pursuing or ignoring these developments. Are we stressing out over nothing?
The answer came to me in a recent conversation about Japanese automakers and their approach to electric vehicles. It was explained to me that while competitors rushed headlong into EV production, many Japanese manufacturers maintained their core philosophy, continuing to refine hybrid technology while carefully planning their electric transition. This seemingly "behind the curve" approach has proven surprisingly effective, even if not maximally so. I guess, then, that trends do have real consequences - just not always the dramatic ones we’re led to believe.
The Nuanced Reality Behind Trend Decisions
What strikes me about this is how it challenges the dominant narrative about trend-setting - or what we typically label as innovation. We're constantly warned that industries can disappear overnight, that disruption waits for no one. Yet reality tells a different story: established companies rarely vanish suddenly. They adapt, evolve, and often continue to thrive, though perhaps not as spectacularly as trend-setters might.
How to approach wellness trends also varies dramatically depending on your position in the market. For early-stage wellness concepts or brands seeking rapid growth, embracing emerging trends is probably necessary to differentiate from the established players. Without entrenched "core philosophies," these companies can pivot more nimbly and potentially capture market share through innovation.
Innovation vs. identity: Different paths for different brands
Established luxury brands face a different equation. The real danger for them isn't becoming obsolete overnight - it’s a slow decline into irrelevance by appearing disconnected from what consumers now value. The challenge they face is introducing meaningful innovation while maintaining the brand identity and service standards their loyal customers expect.
This creates a fascinating dynamic where the cost of missing trends is rarely catastrophic, but the opportunity cost may be substantial in terms of unrealized growth. Meanwhile, chasing every trend risks diluting brand identity and wasting resources on short-lived fads. So again - chasing trends is kind of important?
A Framework for Strategic Trend Evaluation
What’s become clear to me is that there isn’t a binary approach to trends - wellness trends don’t need to be an all-or-nothing proposition. Making thoughtful decisions about which innovations to embrace and which to observe from a distance is where our expertise and instincts prove most valuable. But even the sharpest intuition benefits from structure.
Instead of getting caught in the “do-or-die” trap that creates unnecessary pressure and rushed decisions, I’m starting to approach each emerging trend as a potential opportunity.
Considering the context, alignment and potential return of an opportunity feels less reactive than thinking about how to chase a trend or what would happen if we didn’t. And there’s more comfort in that.
The essence of this comes down to three fundamental questions:
Does this trend align with who we are?
Can we implement it in a way that makes sense for our specific context?
And most importantly, does it genuinely enhance our guests' experience in a meaningful way?
The beauty of this approach is that it acknowledges what smart operators already do intuitively - evaluating opportunities through the lens of business value and revenue potential. But it frames these considerations within a broader understanding of brand identity and guest experience. Six Senses exemplifies this perfectly - they've developed such clarity around their identity that trend evaluation becomes almost instinctive, allowing them to filter innovations through a thoughtful, creative lens that maintains their essence while embracing meaningful change.
Six Senses Kyoto: Brand identity guiding innovation
The Wisdom of Measured Response
Back to those Japanese automakers we discussed earlier. Their success doesn't come from ignoring innovation, but from integrating it thoughtfully into their established identity and expertise. They recognize that while someone else might leap faster, their measured approach creates something more cohesive and ultimately more sustainable.
They also understand the risks and have an approach to decision-making that becomes less reactive and more purposeful.
So when I'm asked about cryotherapy or AI-enhanced wellness equipment or whether we need to redesign wellness facilities to accommodate a particular type of specialized offering, I reframe the question: Will this enhance what makes us exceptional, or potentially dilute it?
This simple shift cuts through the noise and anxiety that typically surrounds trend decisions.
What I find most exciting is how this approach actually creates more space for creativity. When brands stop frantically checking what competitors are doing and focus instead on their own unique strengths, they often develop far more interesting innovations. Some of the most compelling wellness experiences I've encountered weren't direct adoptions of trends, but thoughtful reinventions that responded to the underlying guest need that the trend represented.