Pioneering brands like Netflix and British department store Selfridges are responding to curiosity about the health-boosting aspects of mind-altering substances, driven by the ‘psychedelic renaissance’ (rising consumer and scientific interest in hallucinogens). New documentaries, content platforms, ‘trip’-mimicking store experiences, metaverse-hosted therapy, and psychedelia-fuelled messaging are all growing in relevance.

Supporting consumers’ recovery from Covid’s aftershocks, astute beauty, sports brands and art institutions – from Dutch retailer Rituals to Palais de Tokyo – are now nurturing ‘mental wealth’. Media players are producing new platforms and programming aimed at preventing mental distress, while therapy organisations are supplementing closed clinics with high-street spaces.

Covid-19 has supercharged the appetite for 360° medi-beauty – 74% of consumers globally want the industry to make them feel – not just look – better (Unilever, 2021). Consequently, beauty and ‘tweakment’ brands like Haeckels (UK) and Modern Age (USA) are taking a much more intensive, ‘functional’ approach to self-care, encompassing sex, sleep, ageing well and gut health.

With lockdown affecting many children’s mental, physical and developmental health – and screen time rising generally – brands are assuming caregiving roles, helping kids connect in-person and online. From Lego’s laundrette playscape to Nike’s move-to-win Roblox world, the best harness their imaginations, reflecting new forms of socialised wellness.