Meditation Apps Battle for Airline Partners

In its early days, meditation app Headspace signed a big partnership deal with Virgin Atlantic back in 2011. Passengers would get in-flight access to guided meditation sessions led by Andy Puddicombe, the app’s founder.

By appearing on Virgin’s flights, Headspace got exposure and brought meditation further into the mainstream. The move made Virgin Atlantic seem cutting-edge, and it eventually launched a race for meditation apps to start partnering with airlines. At that point, however, Calm — Headspace’s current rival and now a partner of American Airlines — hadn’t even come onto the scene.

Looking back, it’s a natural fit that an airline and meditation app would want to team up. Nothing creates tension like a flight delay, a forced bag check at the gate, a middle seat, or cramped legroom. And of course, some people have a real fear of flying.

JetBlue and Inscape launched the latest airline and meditation app partnership last week. JetBlue is known for offering some out-of-the-box perks (blue potato chips, anyone?), so the fact that it’s going with an app that’s less well known isn’t too surprising — especially since Inscape is designing somewhat cheeky, flying-specific guided meditations, like Land With a Smile and Tranquil not Turbulent.

Headspace’s in-flight content is also getting an upgrade. The app announced back in August that new meditation sessions called Sleep by Headspace would be coming on board Virgin Atlantic flights.

We predict that most airlines will have a meditation partner in the next year or two. And if Inscape keeps up its clever content, it just might become Headspace’s new rival.

For feedback or news tips, reach out via email at [email protected] or tweet me @lesliebarrie.

— Leslie Barrie, Wellness Editor

Travel

JetBlue Partners With Inscape Meditation App: These days it seems like every airline wants to partner with a meditation app. Virgin Atlantic and Delta have teamed up with Headspace, and American Airlines has partnered with Calm. JetBlue, meanwhile, has inked a new deal with Inscape, the meditation app started by the founder of Intermix luxury boutiques. Passengers can listen to niche sessions like Relaxed Red Eye Sleep and presumably have a restful flight. Read more here.

Fitness

ClassPass Goes Corporate to Increase Revenue: Talk about a work perk. ClassPass, the booking platform for studio fitness classes, has teamed up with companies like Southwest Airlines, Etsy, Facebook, and Glossier to offer employees fitness memberships. Considering many people shell out $199 per month for ClassPass credits, it’s a clever way for companies to woo employees — and a good opportunity for ClassPass to bank more revenue. Read more here.

CBD

Companies Plan for Big CBD Sales Over Holidays: ’Tis the season … for customers to stock up on CBD products. Cannabis retailer Miss Grass — which has seen a 400 percent revenue increase from November 2018 to November 2019 — is banking on CBD as a hot holiday gift this year. Its holiday strategy includes selling curated gift sets and opening a pop-up store in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan. Based on the ever-growing buzz around CBD, other CBD brands would be wise to go big for the holidays too. Read more here.

Athleisure

Lululemon’s Direct-to-Consumer Business Is Gangbusters: Take a few steps inside a Lululemon store, and — like it or not — you instantly feel like you should sign up for a yoga class or jog a lap around your local park. It’s harder to create that feeling without the in-person experience, but Lululemon has managed to pull it off, with 25 percent of its total revenue coming from e-commerce. As that number is expected to grow, other brands should take note of its model. Read more here.

Food & Drink

Ice Cream Might Be the Next ‘It’ Plant-Based Product: While Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat currently dominate the faux-meat space, a new brand, Eclipse Foods, is hoping to take over the plant-based ice cream category. It’s not that the genre is new, but Eclipse Foods believes that its treat has a texture that’s indistinguishable from the dairy variety. With the right marketing, it will likely be a hit with the wellness — and lactose intolerant — crowd. Read more here.

Skift Wellness Editor Leslie Barrie [[email protected]] curates the Skift Wellness newsletter. Skift emails the newsletter every Thursday.

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