This is the introduction to "It's a Healthusiasm World". This post explains the purpose and core idea behind this blog.
A Healthusiasm world.
Welcome to “A Healthusiasm World”, a newsletter by Christophe Jauquet on how the healthcare and wellness industry boundaries are blurring.
1. Discover how healthcare and consumer companies respond to an essential worldwide aspiration: to be(come) healthy and happy.
2. Learn what's next for customer experience, health marketing and digital health across all industries.
3. Be inspired to design the most engaging health experiences yourself.
Don't have the time to read a long-read right now? No worries, you can always save it in Pocket or copy-paste it in a note-taking app like Notion, Evernote or Onenote. In any case, you can always find the newsletters on my website.
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But first things first.
Let me introduce myself to the readers I have had less contact with in recent years, who want to have their memories refreshed or found this newsletter on social media. My name is Christophe Jauquet (linkedin). I am a health experience expert who has worked as a health marketeer for numerous health and consumer companies over the past 20 years. You might have seen me on stage, in workshops, or on-screen. Because yes: I rock stages as an international speaker, kick-ass in workshops as a creative consultant and write thought-provoking content as an author. In short, I inspire and advise companies and brands. On what subject? About the most crucial topic for all of us: being healthy and happy. By combining my knowledge of customer experience with my research on health trends, I help companies create their customers' best health experiences through the analysis of changes in human behaviour, innovations and health & self-care trends.
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Now that is sorted out, here we go now
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Good health is vital to each of us
Good health ensures that we can do what we want to do and be who we want to be. If we ever get sick, we try to get as healthy as possible again. When we are healthy, we want to keep it as good as possible. Health is part of our own New Year's resolutions. Good health is also what we wish each other. This was already the case in the times of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
But where in ancient Greece offerings were made to the gods for good health, today we can have an impact ourselves. More than ever, we have information and resources that can make us a little healthier and happier. We no longer rely solely on prayers. We have our influence and can measure progress. It offers us the opportunity to grow. It creates a Healthusiasm that we have never seen in our world until today.
Health & happiness is fragile
Over the past 40 years, we have also been confronted more often with the state of our health and the risk that comes with it. The sudden rise in cancer and cardiovascular disease in the 1980s brought an entire generation of Baby Boomers to the gym. The start of the obesity epidemic in the 1990s made Millennials the first generation with a healthy focus on nutrition and exercise. Dr Google has scared many people in the early years by linking common symptoms to severe illnesses. For the past decade, pedometers have betrayed how little we move. Last year, the whole world saw how weaker health exposed people to a sudden virus.
Here comes Healthusiasm
We have all become much more aware of our health. We also want to have a more significant impact on it ourselves. Self-development has become one of our biggest drivers in recent years. Our basic, functional needs (shelter, clothing, food, work) and our social, emotional needs (friendship, family, respect, recognition) are well fulfilled. Therefore, today want to grow as a person. We want to become the best version of ourselves. Look at the number of people chasing their dream and starting their own business. But also look at the number of people who today find it essential to have an impact on the planet, society or indeed their own health.
We don't want to go at it alone, though. Thus, we look to brands and companies for a helping hand, for guidance, for clear and relevant information about the impact of the products and services we consume. We look for solutions that help us to 'do good'. But we also expect companies to do good for us, to offer experiences that makes us healthy and happy.
This dynamic sparked some Healthusiasm in the companies and brands themselves. Today, entire industries are focused on health and happiness, which previously had little or no affinity with it. Every car manufacturer is already building cars equipped with health and wellness features. Almost a quarter of the travel industry are already wellness trips today. Food brands no longer survive without an appetite for what’s healthy. Hotel chains are chosen in function of the facilities that support a healthy lifestyle. And also, pharma companies dare to engage patients with health services now. Every business turns into a health Business now.
Health is the best gift
That’s why we always wish our friends and family health and happiness. Companies and brands with a dose of Healthusiasm want this for their customers, consumers, patients, visitors, students, etc... They want to contribute to their personal development and help them become the best version of themselves. I wrote about this significant social and economic trend in detail in my book, titled Healthusiasm.
For the second Healthusiasm book, I’d like to help companies and brands even more. After all, many are still looking for ways to engage with customers or create the most appealing customer experience. At the moment, there is lots of experimentation with the four elements of Wellness Bingo: exercise, nutrition, sleep, and mental health. Companies that were already active in one of these aspects are trying to become holistic. Other companies gamble on one or more aspects of this Wellness Bingo.
I don't believe that a general wellness focus is a golden nugget for companies and brands. However, if they can understand which concrete aspects people pursue while trying to become the best version of themselves, they’ll hit gold. When, exactly, does someone become the best version of themselves? To find out, I'm currently researching 24 general goals and desires that people pursue to become healthy and happy in life.
A Healthusiasm Community
I want to gradually share the broader research for my new Healthusiasm book with this fortnightly newsletter. I’ll write about ideas and innovations. I’ll share with you my thoughts and reflections. I hope that this newsletter will grow into a Healthusiasm community where even more views, innovations and opinions will be discussed. This way, I aim to bring people and companies together who want to participate in a Healthusiasm world.
Are you in?
- Christophe-
Keynote speaker on making customers healthy & happy
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