The Real Reason So Many Wellness Brands Sound the Same
Close your eyes and picture a wellness brand.
Chances are, you’re already hearing it:
“Find your balance.”
“Nourish your mind, body, and soul.”
“A journey to holistic wellbeing.”
It’s calming. It’s serene.
It’s also completely interchangeable.
The wellness industry is full of good intentions - and identical messaging. Somewhere along the way, brands became so focused on sounding right that they forgot to sound distinctive.
Why this happens
Because “safe” language feels... well, safe.
It whispers sweet nothings that no one can disagree with - but no one remembers.
When I work with wellness brands, the breakthrough often comes when they stop asking,
“What should we say?”
And start asking,
“What do we believe that no one else is saying?”
That’s where the magic lives.
When a brand swaps generic calm for a point of view with character - whether playful, provocative, or refreshingly honest.
BoPoWorks: From Body Image Boutique to community hub
Take BoPoWorks in New Jersey.
Originally named Body Image Boutique, they sounded more like a cosmetic surgery clinic than the radically inclusive wellness space they truly were.
I renamed them Body Positive Works – or BoPoWorks for short – and reimagined their tone of voice around realness over perfection, community over comparison, and yes, cake over kale (sometimes).
“We walk with our tribe.”
“We talk straight.”
“We are imperfectly perfect.”
“We give judgement the finger.”
Suddenly, they weren’t another studio promising transformation.
They were a welcoming hub for people tired of being told their body needed fixing.
The impact?
A surge in engagement, a shift in perception, and more bums on mats – from people who might have otherwise avoided a wellness space altogether.
Euphoria Retreat: Come home to yourself
For Euphoria Retreat in Greece, the tone was different – but the principle was the same.
They didn’t need more serenity.
They needed a message that meant something to their guests.
So, we wrote:
“We’ve watched what happens when people put down their phones and look each other in the eye. They laugh more. They connect. They remember they’re human. Then they take that feeling home.”
“Come home to yourself.”
Not a promise of perfection.
But a deeply human invitation.
Wellness for people who hate being told to relax
Then there was the client who ditched their “journey to balance” tagline in favour of something closer to the truth:
“Wellness for people who hate being told to relax.”
Suddenly, they weren’t just another option.
They were the only option for their audience.
Brand takeaway
If your wellness brand sounds like every other wellness brand, it’s not because you lack personality – it’s because you’ve hidden it.
The strongest wellness messaging doesn’t speak from convention.
It speaks from conviction.
Standing out doesn’t mean shouting.
It means daring to sound like yourself – however soft, bold, grounded, or gloriously irreverent that may be.
