Wellness versus Comfort: Trends that are at odds in new CBD launches

The launches are both tapping into the health and wellness angle, which has been well established and has only grown stronger since the outbreak of Covid-19. Credit: Mike Fig Photo / Shutterstock.

Covid-19 has caused both the health and wellness and comfort and uncertainty trends to develop rapidly as consumers seek products that grant a sense of reassurance and security; however, these trends clash when it comes to recent CBD launches.

Two innovative beverage launches are combining CBD with vitamins in a bid to address consumer concerns around physical and mental welfare during the global pandemic; Ocean Spray Cranberries has launched CarryOn, a new sparkling CBD drink containing vitamin C and E, while Calm Drinks has launched a new immune-boosting CBD product, Calm Water Immunity+CBD, which claims to be the ‘world’s first multi vitamin drink infused with CBD’. However, while these launches align with consumer demand for easy and accessible ways to get an immunity-boost, consumer distrust of the unfamiliar impedes the potential growth of this category as a whole.

The health and wellness angle

These launches are both tapping into the health and wellness angle, which has been well established and only grown stronger since the outbreak of Covid-19. Health and wellness always influences purchasing decisions for nearly a third of consumers globally* and has consistently remained the #1 factor for consumers in GlobalData’s 10 week COVID-19 tracker surveys, which ran from 1 April to 3 June. These launches specifically tackle two major current consumer issues. Firstly, the vitamin addition helps consumers feel like they are proactively fighting against the virus, by boosting their immunity and strengthening their physical health. The CBD infusion, on the other hand, is said to address stress and anxiety, already one of the top three concerns of consumers at the end of 2019**, which is only exacerbated by the lack of social contact, job instability, looming recession and drastic changes in consumer’s everyday routines that are currently being experienced worldwide.

The comfort and uncertainty counterpoint

However, CBD is still approached with mistrust by many, as more than one in ten consumers believe it to have a negative effect on the body, according to GlobalData’s 2019 Q3 global consumer survey**, while 40% of global consumers said they are not familiar with it at all. Not understanding the ingredient or conflating it with marijuana has left consumers wary of CBD. This has resulted in CBD launches to be at a disadvantage in light of the comfort and uncertainty trend emerging from Covid-19. GlobalData has found that risk-free and trustworthy attributes are one of the top three factors influencing purchasing decisions during the pandemic.

Faced with a myriad of uncertainty from economic, political and social disruptions, many consumers are seeking out the familiar and comfortable, and are less interested in ‘risky’ or experimental ingredients. The potential growth of CBD innovation is slowed by this but it will grow regardless, as health outweighs uncertainty factors when it comes to purchasing decisions right now. Additionally, with more companies investing in CBD launches and innovations and growing consumers’ awareness, this discomfort is likely to decline in time, leading to an improvement in CBD’s reputation.

* Coronavirus (Covid-19) Consumer Survey Results – Weeks 10 (3 June) – Global

** GlobalData’s 2019 Q3 Global Consumer Survey

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