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Health, Wellness & Beauty

WELCOME MICHAEL MILLER

insights and the actionable intelligence you need to navigate an ever-evolving market. From Advocacy to Travel, through to Wellness, Sport and Finance, each specialised session is built for genuine collaboration. Our commitment is to work hand-in-hand with you, ensuring every interaction is efficient, effective, and delivers real outcomes. This program embodies our dedication to being your trusted partner, helping you to not only meet but exceed your objectives in 2027, and beyond. We look forward to helping you build a future that produces real, measurable success.

WELCOME TO BEYOND’ 27, WHERE WE GET REAL ABOUT THE FUTURE OF YOUR BUSINESS .

The premise behind Beyond’27 is straightforward: we’re here to help you cut through the noise, get ahead of the curve and genuinely grow your business. The reality is that the world is changing fast. What worked yesterday might not work tomorrow. We’re seeing incredible progress, but also a lot of uncertainty. Beyond’27 is about helping you find that sweet spot between bold innovation and practical application. It’s about bringing together our unparalleled expertise and insights to engage in dynamic dialogues that directly address your most pressing needs. We believe in leading upfront, giving you real

Michael Miller Executive Chairman, News Corp Australasia

Health, Wellness & Beauty

CONTENTS HEALTH, WELLNESS & BEAUTY

4-9

Introduction Health, Wellness & Beauty

10-13

Headwinds to navigate Early visible proof points

14-19

Enduring needs Vitality, Control, Confidence, Self-improvement, Longevity

20-23

Tailwinds to leverage Early visible proof points

24-25

The wrap Beyond 2027

BEYOND THE NOISE LEIGH LAVERY

INTRODUCING

invested in a healthier future continues to shape decision-making across this category. That is the central idea behind this whitepaper series. In Health, Wellness and Beauty, we explore the headwinds brands will need to navigate, the tailwinds they can use to grow, and the enduring human needs that give those shifts meaning. Our belief is simple: the brands best placed to grow will be the ones that can read both the changing world around people, and the enduring needs within them. We’re excited to share these insights with you, and we hope they serve as a practical guide as you build for sustainable growth through 2027 and beyond.

THE GROWTH DISTILLERY.

At The Growth Distillery, we exist to help businesses understand people more deeply, and make better decisions because of it. Our role is to decode the forces shaping consumer behaviour, separate the signals that matter from the noise and turn that understanding into opportunity. That task has never felt more urgent. The world is changing quickly. Technology is reshaping how people monitor, assess and manage their wellbeing. AI is accelerating access and expectation. Category convergence, creator-led advice and rising choice overload are changing the conditions in which brands compete. And yet, beneath all of that change, something important remains stable: what people fundamentally want. The tools, platforms and behaviours may evolve, but enduring human needs do not move nearly as quickly. The desire to feel vital, in control, confident, capable of improvement and

Leigh Lavery, General Manager, The Growth Distillery

Health, Wellness & Beauty Health, wellness and beauty have never been more visible, more personalised or more embedded into everyday life. The signals emerging now suggest the next phase will be shaped by a tougher question: which brands can help people feel better in ways that are credible, sustainable and genuinely useful?

and the promise of better ageing, better appearance and better function is showing up across everything from skincare and supplements to diagnostics, functional formats like drinks and patches, and inperson services. Despite the category becoming more personalised, it’s not necessarily easier to navigate.

That question matters because the category is expanding on every front. AI can recommend a supplement stack, analyse skin, suggest a training plan or help decode symptoms in seconds. Consumers can track sleep, stress, recovery, mood, hormones, steps and biological age with tools that would have felt futuristic only a few years ago. At the same time, beauty and wellness are converging more tightly,

By 2027, the opportunity is likely to sit with the brands that can reduce the burden of choice and make progress feel simpler, more credible and easier to live with.

Headwinds to navigate

Globally, 58% of people aged 1834 regret a health decision based on misinformation.

PRE DI CTE D H E ADWIND #1 Beyond 2027, choice overload will make simplification a growth lever. Australians are not short of health, wellness and beauty options. They are short of clarity. One of the clearest signals for the years ahead is the widening gap between access to information and the ability to act on it with confidence. Claims, hacks, diagnostics, routines and algorithmic recommendations are multiplying, while cultural cycles are speeding up. What feels noisy today is likely to become more disorienting as the category grows more crowded. As creator-led and algorithmic advice multiplies, consumers are likely to become less responsive to volume and more drawn to sources that feel simpler, more credible and easier to act on. In a category flooded with options, growth will come from reducing cognitive load and making the path to a good choice feel simpler. 10

Early proof points already visible

Australians are drowning in advice and options. Fifty-nine per cent of Australians say there’s so much conflicting wellness advice it’s hard to know what, and who, to trust — rising to 65% for women (Lighthouse, May 2026). Meanwhile, 43% of Australians report feeling completely overwhelmed by choice in the health and wellness sector (The Growth Distillery: Reframe Health 2025).

faster, reinforcing how compressed the cycle of hype and novelty has become. Misinformation is producing measurable regret. Globally, 58% of people aged 18–34 report regretting a health decision made because of misinformation. Within this group, 45% have disregarded provider advice in favour of friends or family, and 38% have done so in favour of social media (Edelman 2025).

More information is not creating more follow-through. A comprehensive scoping review in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, which analysed digital behaviours, revealed a median 70% abandonment rate for lifestyle and mental health apps within the first 100 days.” The sheer volume of available tools is already outpacing people’s ability to use them consistently.

Case study: Even major brands are starting to reflect this overload back to consumers. Apple’s “Health with iPhone + Apple Watch” campaign dramatises the experience of being bombarded by conflicting health and fitness advice, before positioning a single personalised signal as more useful and actionable. The message is clear: as advice multiplies, consumers place greater value on signals that feel specific, credible and easier to act on.

Consumers are becoming less patient with hype. McKinsey’s State of Fashion: Beauty report reveals consumers are now “value conscious, skeptical of hype, and laser focused on whether products deliver,” pointing to a market that is already losing patience with noise and novelty.

Taken together, these are early signs of a category that is likely

Trend cycles are speeding up faster than consumers can metabolise them. CreatorIQ data reported by WWD shows that the top beauty launches of 2025 generated 27% less social chatter than 2024’s top performers, with products peaking earlier and fading

to become harder to navigate. As access continues to expand, clarity is likely to become more valuable and more scarce.

Headwinds to navigate

“More tracking does not always make people feel more in control.”

PRE DI CTE D H E A DWIND #2 Beyond 2027, health audiences will move from information to guided decision-making and action. The rise of self-tracking points to a future in which consumers have more personal data at their fingertips than ever before, with those signals becoming more embedded in everyday care. That may increase the sense of control, but it is also likely to increase the burden of interpretation. Without context, reassurance and trusted guidance, measurement can start to feel like another standard to meet. As more health data, trends, products and AI-generated answers enter the market, people will not simply want more information. They will want help deciding what to do next. 12

Early proof points already visible

Professional translation is becoming more valuable in a noisy market. As connected devices make it easier to share health data beyond the individual, Deloitte’s 2026 healthcare analysis suggests the value of healthcare professionals increasingly lies in helping people interpret data and act on it, pointing to a future where everyday metrics may flow more directly into ongoing care rather than sitting unused in consumer apps.

Self-monitoring is already creating a new kind of self-pressure. McKinsey’s Future of Wellness survey 2025 identifies a growing cohort of “maximalist optimisers” who are actively embracing health-tracking devices and other digital tools, suggesting that deeper self-monitoring is likely to become more normalised even as the need for interpretation and reassurance grows. Wellness is becoming harder to switch off from. McKinsey’s Future of Wellness trends survey 2025 notes that younger consumers report worse overall health and higher exposure to health-related content on social media, creating the conditions for wellness to feel more ambient, more pervasive and more mentally demanding.

The tools for personal tracking are becoming increasingly aspirational and mainstream because they promise control. However, more tracking does not always make people feel more in control. For many consumers, it simply adds another layer of pressure to manage.

Sleep anxiety is the first clear warning sign. A 2024 Brain Sciences study found that orthosomnia – anxiety or obsessive concern about achieving “perfect” sleep metrics – affected between 8.6% and 14% of participants depending on the threshold used. Meanwhile TIME magazine has reported on sleep anxiety, finding roughly 23% of users aged 18 to 35 state that sleep tracking apps actively make them stressed and anxious about their nightly performance.

The long-term advantage will sit with brands that do more than surface data. They will help consumers interpret it, contextualise it and understand what action to take.

Enduring needs Beneath these shifts sit a set of enduring human needs that are unlikely to change. In Health, Wellness & Beauty, needs such as vitality, control, confidence, selfimprovement and longevity are rooted in universal human truths; the desire to feel well, stay capable, trust our choices and invest in a better future self.

“Subjective vitality is the conscious experience of possessing energy and aliveness – a core marker of being fully functioning and psychologically well.” Ryan & Frederick, Journal of Personality, 1997

“To be happy” is the

#1 health and wellbeing goal for Australians.

The Growth Distillery, Health of the Nation 2026

Vitality is the felt sense of having energy available to live well: a baseline state of feeling alert, capable and engaged in daily life. As long as humans live in bodies that get tired and minds that get depleted, the need to feel steady, energised and able to meet the day does not go away.

“Expectations of personal efficacy determine whether coping behaviour will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained.” Albert Bandura, Psychological Review 1977

39% of Australians say they alone shape their health opinions, ahead of doctors and friends. The Growth Distillery, Health of the Nation 2026

Australian consumers aren’t just after superior products; they are actively seeking to take charge of their own wellbeing. That is the engine behind wearables, at-home testing, tracking apps and self-directed care, and it’s why the need for control endures even as the tools keep changing. 16

“Confidence refers to the strength of belief but does not necessarily specify what the certainty is about. Self-efficacy refers to the belief in one’s capability to produce given levels of attainment.” Albert Bandura, Encyclopedia of Psychology

68% of Australians say they only buy health products they have confidence in, and 63% are unlikely to switch from products they feel confident in. The Growth Distillery, Reframe Health 2025

Confidence in this category is about consumers feeling sure they are making the right call: on a product, a routine, an ingredient, a treatment or a piece of advice. When advice becomes infinite and unverified, certainty becomes the scarce resource. That’s why confidence will continue to be crucial. 17

“Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation and perceptions during a workday, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work – even small wins.” Teresa Amabile & Steven Kramer, The Progress Principle 2011

39% of Australians say they are looking to achieve new health goals, and get their health to a better place. The Growth Distillery, Reframe Health 2025

Self-improvement is the need to become a better version of yourself and to feel that progress is real. Amabile and Kramer’s work showed that visible forward momentum matters more than grand end states, which is why small wins are so powerful. The desire to keep getting better is hardwired; what changes is whether the systems around people make that improvement visible, believable and worth the effort. 18

“To the extent that people feel more continuity between their present and future selves, they are more likely to make decisions with the future self in mind.” Hal Hershfield, Journal of Experimental Psychology 1977

(50%), is ranked as the second most important health goal to Australians, next to happiness (54%), with a further 39% wanting to live a longer and healthier life.

Healthy ageing

The Growth Distillery, Reframe Health 2025

Longevity is about acting today on behalf of the person you will become tomorrow. As the category shifts toward prevention, healthspan and healthy ageing, that futureoriented instinct only becomes more valuable. 19

Tailwinds to leverage

68% of Australians are eating for functional benefits such as gut health and energy.

PRE DI CTE D TAI LWIND #1 Sustainable wellbeing will beat transformation and perfection.

The category will continue shifting away from peak performance, radical resets and over-optimisation. Consumers will still want progress, but the shape of that progress is already shifting away from intense resets and toward consistency, routine and visible small wins.

Early proof points already visible

The definition of progress is already becoming more practical. The Growth Distillery’s New Australian Health Narrative, found that 57% of Australians are content with their current health status, while happiness has overtaken weight loss as the nation’s top health goal. Consumers are rewarding outcomes that feel useful in everyday life. The same Growth Distillery report shows that 68% of Australians are eating for functional benefits such as gut health and energy rather than weight loss, pointing to a more practical definition of progress.

benefits such as energy and reduced fatigue alongside longer-term outcomes. That’s a strong sign that consumers want future gains to feel tangible in the present. These behaviours suggest a future that rewards support systems that are practical and easy to stick with.

Healthy ageing is moving from niche ambition to mainstream priority. McKinsey’s annual Future of Wellness survey revealed up to 60% of consumers across markets believe healthy ageing is a “top” or “very important” priority, showing how strongly future-focused wellness is moving into the mainstream.

Brands that reduce confusion, strengthen trust and make progress feel possible in everyday

Consumers want long-term promises to feel tangible in the present. The same McKinsey wellness research notes that longevity products are more likely to resonate when they emphasise short-term

life are likely to be best placed for the next phase of growth.

Tailwinds to leverage

45% of luxury beauty shoppers are influenced by medical professionals.

PRE DI CTE D TAI LWIND #2 Trust will concentrate around credible experts and proven environments. As the market becomes noisier and more contested, trust is likely to be built through stronger signals of proof. Clinical credibility, expert guidance and visible results are already gaining weight, suggesting that the next phase of growth may favour brands that can make evidence feel accessible, useful and human. In a market flooded with creator claims and machine-made summaries, expert-led content in trusted environments becomes easier for people to believe and easier for AI to recognise as authoritative. 22

Early proof points already visible

The clinical voice is back in demand. 45% of luxury beauty shoppers are influenced by medical professionals when choosing products, up from 40% in 2024 (Euromonitor, Voice of the Consumer: Beauty Survey 2025). Science-backed claims, visible results and medical-grade formulations are now signals of premium value, not niche credentials. Doctors remain the strongest shorthand for truth in health. Edelman’s 2025 Trust and Health special report shows that doctors remain the most trusted voice to tell the truth about health at 82%, even as younger audiences broaden the set of voices they listen to.

systems might provide, reinforcing the long-term value of expert interpretation and human reassurance. Remote patient monitoring is an early signal of where this is heading. As connected devices make it easier to share health data beyond the individual, Deloitte’s 2026 healthcare analysis suggests the value of healthcare professionals increasingly lies in helping people interpret data and act on it, pointing to a future where everyday metrics may flow more directly into ongoing care rather than sitting unused in consumer apps.

High-value consumers are already leaning toward science-backed quality. McKinsey’s Future of Wellness trends survey 2025 identifies “maximalist optimisers” as roughly 25% of wellness consumers and more than 40% of market spend, with a clear preference for science-backed, high-quality products and advice from doctors. Human interpretation still carries a reassurance premium. A study from the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) on Australians’ attitudes to AI in health care found that 4 in 5 Australians value continued human contact and discretion more than any speed, accuracy or convenience AI

This points to a future in which authority becomes more valuable when it is paired with clarity, accessibility and relevance.

THE WRA P Health and wellbeing practices will keep shifting in an AI world, with an increasing amount of personalisation, wearable data, diagnostic access and more creator-led discovery. While this category has long rewarded radical transformation, the future demands a more enduring and constant value proposition.

Beyond 2027, the stronger opportunity is likely to sit with brands that make the right choice simpler, more credible, easier to act on and easier to stay with.