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Below you will find a brief summary of our conversation with Geert Serneels. The full episode can be listened to via Spotify & Apple Podcasts.
About Christophe Jauquet
Christophe Jauquet is a health marketing expert and author of the book “Healthusiasm, making customers healthy and happy,” in which he talks about how health plays an increasingly important role in our lives, how people aspire to be happy and healthy, and how companies can help realize those ambitions. Christophe drew his inspiration for the book from his many years of experience working in and around health.
Healthusiasm or being consciously engaged with health
Today, people are more aware and actively engaged with their health than ever before and want to have an impact themselves. This trend has a huge impact on companies because consumers are increasingly looking for those companies that can help them with this.
Being consciously engaged with health is actually nothing new; people have always cared about their health. But because in recent years there are many more opportunities (such as digital tools) to have an impact on your own health, awareness has accelerated significantly.
Another important reason for the increased awareness around health lies in the fact that in our Western society, our basic needs are largely met, and people are increasingly seeking self-development or self actualisation. People aim to enjoy life to the fullest, be healthy and happy, and become the best version of themselves.
Digital tools and Dr. Google
Digital tools have helped people take control of their own health. One of the first digital tools were the workout videos from the 1980s – think Jane Fonda and fluorescent leg warmers. Gradually, Google also became part of this, an unmistakable and inexhaustible source of information. In the early 2000s, Google already played a very important role by answering numerous health-related questions, initially with mixed success since consulting Dr. Google is at your own risk, especially for hypochondriacs.
Later, mobile applications and wearables were added on top, and now we are in a period where Artificial Intelligence (AI) will begin to play a very large role.
We see these tools evolving strongly into self-learning technological inventions that will give us advice or reminders and thus influence how people best manage their health.
Fake news
With Google, we have an endless source of information at our fingertips, but is all that information reliable? Can you trust all those claims, and how can you as a consumer still see the forest for the trees when, for example, you are looking for reliable information about healthy nutrition?
Information is always better than no information, but we must continue to educate ourselves in recognizing reliable information. Companies can play an important role in this. They know their product best, and it is their responsibility to clearly communicate all health aspects of that product because if someone else does it, it will inevitably be vague and unclear.
Unfortunately, many companies make false claims about how healthy their product is. That is why JustBite, besides offering healthy snacks, also strongly focuses on providing accurate, well-founded information about what is healthy and what is not, so consumers don’t have to be misled by false claims on packaging and can learn to see the forest for the trees again.
More than prevention
There is a shift towards prevention where people don’t wait until they are sick to then have to work curatively.
But it goes beyond pure prevention; people are increasingly and more deeply engaged with their health, and there are different types of decisions they can make in that context:
- Medical decisions: when you are ill and make certain decisions in consultation with the doctor about your specific condition.
- Preventive or health decisions: decisions that ensure your health does not worsen, such as quitting smoking.
- Decisions about well-being: decisions to ensure you feel healthy and happy that are less based on science and more on feeling, such as going to the sauna, …
- Decisions about lifestyle, interests, and habits: in these areas, people also want to feel that they can be healthy and happy.
Being consciously engaged with health is therefore not just about prevention, but is broader and revolves around how people can optimize themselves and feel better.
And marketing wants to tap into this positive story, because more and more companies are asking themselves how they can transform people into the best version of themselves. They want to go for healthusiasm, the enthusiasm to make people healthier.
Transformation
A digital transformation is in full swing, and the question that arises on top of that is, should all companies be involved in making their customers healthier? The answer is not a simple yes; more nuance is needed. But it is a fact that every company must respond to people’s self actualisation needs, the need for self-development.
There are three major transformational needs among customers:
- Ecology, sustainability, and the planet
- Society
- Health
It is important for a company to look at which of these three elements it can address.
The transformational need around health, for example, can be interpreted very broadly, because a company that does well for the health of the planet is working on the health of society and thus also on the health of the individual. Health perfectly overlaps with caring for the planet.
One of JustBite’s values is to contribute to a healthy society. Healthy snacks are one way to make the individual healthier and thus also society as a whole. Our food choices also have a very large impact on the planet. Being mindful about food can therefore have a big impact on the bigger picture.
Healthy snacking therefore focuses on the three major needs: the planet, society, and the individual.
Self-development across generations
Everyone wants self actualisation, people want to be healthier and happier, but each generation is at a different stage of life and will therefore have different aspirations.
If you are older, for example, you mainly want to be able to enjoy life. If you are in a rapidly growing career with a young family, you will mainly want to have the energy to be the best version of yourself.
Young people, Gen Z, are much more naturally engaged with their health; it is part of their lifestyle because they were raised that way. Older generations need to take much more conscious steps for their health.
We are currently in a huge acceleration that can no longer be stopped, partly due to Covid-19. People have long expressed a desire to do something about their health, and now is the perfect moment. Companies are also more than ever focusing on health and looking at how they can transform their customers in terms of health by offering them experiences and services that make them feel better.
Employees are also customers
Customers are also primarily employees. We spend a lot of time at work, and companies as employers have an important role to play in the health of their employees.
Companies can play both an internal and external role in this.
The internal role currently still mainly revolves around the traditional workplace prevention. Companies facilitate health by providing a proper chair, a computer screen at the right height, etc., so employees don’t develop physical complaints. More and more, companies are cautiously starting to offer some well-being activities. However, there is still tension in this internal role because companies are not yet willing to fully take responsibility for their employees’ health and remain stuck in mere facilitation.
Fortunately, there is a shift happening because we have the same expectations of the companies we work for as we do as consumers. Namely, that we are offered services and products that are good for our health.
We increasingly expect our company to meet those expectations so that we feel better and can become the best version of ourselves.
The external role of companies is to enable employees to offer as much added value as possible to their customers. Make sure your employees feel that they truly matter, reconnect them with the company’s purpose. Because happy employees create happy customers. It’s the people behind the company who make the difference.
JustBite has not chosen ‘Employees First’ as its fourth value for nothing! We help companies focus on happy employees to truly make a difference. With healthy snacks and healthy information, your company can really make a difference in the three aspects of health, society, and the planet.
Conclusion
It is important to consider to what extent health fits within the DNA of your company, and for this, you as a company need to think on 3 levels:
- Your customers’ needs
- Your customers’ expectations
- The health aspect: what are people’s aspirations, what do they want to achieve?
The needs, expectations, and aspirations together go beyond just the touch points of the customer with your company, beyond good customer service or a pleasant website. You need to ask yourself what added value you as a company bring to the lives of your customers, and whether you can fulfill those aspirations, in a small or a very large consistent way.