Health & wellness brand index 2018 Q4

Please note: This is not the most recent brand index. If you’re right where you want to be, read on. If you’re looking for the latest data, click here for our most recent brand indexes. 

The Attest brand index is a platform agnostic measure of a brand’s total brand equity in the health & wellness sector, as determined by real consumers.

What do we mean by ‘platform agnostic’? We mean the results are not influenced by any particular method of obtaining them, such as looking only at social media mentions, or brand search terms. This reduces bias and provides a much more accurate view of a brand’s strength in any given category.

Learn more about why we believe this is the best methodology for brand intelligence.

To determine the health & wellness brand index, we look at three things:

• Percentage of unprompted brand recall within a named category e.g. ‘entertainment’, ‘technology’ or ‘fashion’
• How likely a person is to purchase your particular brand (purchase intent)
• How likely a person is to recommend your brand (net promoter score)

Our data is gathered every quarter from an online survey sent to a nationally representative panel of 1,000 UK consumers aged 18-65.

There has been significant movement in the health & wellness brand index since last quarter, although industry stalwarts continued to perform well.

Boots remained in the top spot, increasing its total brand equity score by an impressive margin. Their overall total jumped from 860, to 1210, largely due to a dramatic increase in NPS (as well as gains in purchase intent and recall). It seems the brand famous as both pharmacy and lunch destination, is becoming better known and better liked.

Holland & Barrett switched places with the NHS, moving into 2nd while the health service claimed bronze. Again, both have improved their total brand equity showing that the health & wellness industry is increasingly dominated by big players.

Nike and Fitbit also continued to perform well. Nike—the consistent winner of our sports brand index, and lately also coming to dominate Fashion—is being associated with healthy lifestyle as well as looking good. They moved from 6th to 4th place, with a strong NPS of 41.

The bottom half of the table, however, looks very different to the table of last quarter.

The prize for most improved undoubtedly goes to WW, who came in 6th place having not yet ranked in our top table. The brand which was formerly known as Weight Watchers has undergone a dramatic shift of late: they are moving from a brand targeting people who want to lose weight, to being a company who appeals to all. They have shed their association with dieting and are trying to win mass appeal with their foray into ready meals, exercise gear, and cafés.

It should be noted, however, that most respondents still referred to them as “Weight Watchers.” While they are obviously increasing their share of mind, it’s not yet for their new name, and so the rebrand needs to be cemented if their attempt to become a destination for all-round wellness is to be a success.

Fitness First was the other newcomer to the table, though their low Purchase Intent and NPS signal they will have to work hard to remain in 8th place.

The largest fall from grace was Bupa’s deterioration from 4th to 9th place. The brand’s NPS fell from an already low 7.1, to a depressing -13.5.

NPS is relatively low across this industry: perhaps health & wellness is not an industry where people have particularly positive associations. However, the winner of NPS was the NHS (64.2), demonstrating that even a brand you go to when you’re feeling least yourself, can do a stellar job of winning consumer trust and appreciation. Here is how people described the health & wellness brands that came top of mind during unprompted brand recall:

The 2018 health & wellness industry brands report

The full 2018 report includes:

• The UK’s leading health & wellness brands for awareness, purchase intent and Net Promoter Score from the start of the year, so you can compare where shifts have occurred over time
• Industry-wide averages and market dynamics
• Key takeaways for the UK health & wellness industry

Click to view report