From GM to Powerade, brands pitch mental health

In a recent social media campaign, the boutique hotel operator said it is offering 1,000 of its guests free access to a video therapy session from teletherapy company Talkspace Inc.

Kimpton is among a growing list of brands, from car companies to meal kit makers, that put mental wellness front and center in their marketing. As the topic becomes increasingly destigmatized, with celebrities and athletes openly discussing their own mental health, companies see an opportunity to connect with consumers.

Laura Simpson, chief intelligence officer at ad giant McCann Worldgroup, said the Covid-19 pandemic has played a key role in raising awareness of mental health. “That was the straw that broke the camel’s back of finally getting us to have proper conversations about mental health,” she said.

Coca-Cola Co.’s Powerade is currently running a series of TV commercials telling viewers “pause is power.”

In an ad featuring gymnast Simone Biles, Tottenham Hotspur coach Antonio Conte and British diver Tom Daley, Ms Biles, who withdrew from some competitions during last year’s Tokyo Games because she was not in the state mentally fit to continue, she tells reporters during a news conference that she is taking a break. She is then seen getting a manicure.

Ms Biles has been one of the most high-profile athletes – a list that also includes tennis star Naomi Osaka and former swimmer Michael Phelps – to speak out on mental health in recent years.

“Sometimes you have to stop being a real human being,” Biles said in the commercial, as a manicurist paints over images of a goat on her nails.

General Motors Co. plans to launch a social media campaign next month that features influencers encouraging drivers to de-stress before getting behind the wheel. GM said it decided to take a deeper look at rising anxiety and stress in part after seeing an alarming rise in traffic deaths during the pandemic. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more people were killed in car accidents in the first nine months of last year than in any similar period since 2006.

GM said an online survey of nearly 3,000 American drivers by McCann Worldgroup, a unit of the Interpublic Group of Cos., found most respondents said they can remember a time they cried in their cars, while a third He said they had to pull over because they felt too emotional to drive.

“High levels of stress and emotions can be a significant cause of distraction for drivers,” said Deborah Wahl, GM global marketing director.

Earlier this year, GM showed off a self-driving electric car concept at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, whose seats feature biometric sensors that monitor a person’s level of fatigue. The Cadillac-brand car, which has no steering wheel, can display soothing colors, play soothing sounds and emit soothing scents, GM said.

Meal kit pioneer Blue Apron had decided to reposition its brand into a so-called wellness brand just before the pandemic took hold. After the outbreak began, the company said it put more emphasis on stress relief in its marketing and tried to turn cooking into a form of therapy and meditation. “We lean on the emotional and mental benefits that cooking offers,” said Dani Simpson, chief marketing officer for Blue Apron.

In an email to customers, Athleta, Gap Inc.’s sportswear brand, recently promoted a series of online mental health discussions on AthletaWell, the company’s online community featuring content on health, fitness, nutrition and mental and mental health. emotional well-being. The series, which featured stress management tips from a licensed therapist, garnered the highest engagement rates since the site, which was conceived before the pandemic, launched in July, the company said.

Long before covid-19 hit in 2020, increased stress was identified as a top concern for Americans. Now, two years into the pandemic, consumer stress levels have skyrocketed. Nearly a third of Americans reported symptoms of anxiety or depression between March 2 and March 14, according to a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2019, only 11% of Americans reported these symptoms.

Companies featuring mental health themes in their advertising campaigns risk being seen as taking advantage of rising stress levels, but consumers seem to be eager for companies to give them health advice. A spring 2020 study by McCann of nearly 12,000 people in 18 countries found that 51% of respondents said it’s more important for a brand to understand their frustrations than it is to deliver dreams, an approach 49% favored. That’s a change from 2018, when a similar study found that 63% preferred brands to give them dreams, versus 37% who would rather brands understood their frustrations.

Burger King, a unit of Restaurant Brands International Inc., faced backlash for a 2019 marketing effort tied to Mental Health Awareness month that included mood-themed meals: Blue Meal, Salty Meal, Yaaas Meal and DGAF (Don’t Give a F—) Meal, which were available at select restaurants. While some applauded the fast food chain for raising more awareness of the mental health issue, some people took to social media to criticize the chain for taking the issue lightly.

Kimpton Hotels, a unit of InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, said it decided to join Talkspace after seeing how difficult it was for its employees to navigate the pandemic. He also found that it was difficult to attract and retain employees who were exhausted, in part due to dealing with stressed hotel guests. Its 4,000 employees received a one-year subscription to Talkspace, and the hotel chain decided to offer its guests access to a free virtual therapy session.

Guests showed “a high level of impatience, frustration, anger and anxiety,” said Kathleen Reidenbach, Kimpton’s chief commercial officer. “We’ve really tried to be sensitive to the psychological ups and downs that our guests experience.”