Athletes, Algorithms & Authenticity
Why wellness is the next marketing frontier, and who’s already winning.
🎤 Hey Narrative Controllers,
Let’s start with this:
The average person sees between 6,000 and 10,000 ads a day.
But if we’re being real, most of that content feels like digital wallpaper, forgettable and irrelevant.
Meanwhile, the brands that win hearts, dollars, and followers are the ones built around clarity, culture, and connection.
This week, we’re looking at the intersection of wellness, branding, and narrative control, because the smartest brands are finally realizing something we’ve been screaming for years:
Mental health is a marketing pillar, not a side campaign.
💡 CTRL Lesson of the Week:
Wellness is the Brand.
From Nike’s “You Can’t Stop Us” to Gatorade’s Fuel Tomorrow, major brands are pivoting toward health, identity, and personal empowerment.
But here’s what you really need to know:
🧘🏽 70% of Gen Z say mental health is more important than career success.
💰 Brands with strong wellness narratives see 30%+ higher engagement and loyalty.
🎯 Wellness-driven marketing isn’t just for wellness brands, it's becoming a trust accelerator for everyone from fintech to fashion.
If your brand ain’t speaking to mental clarity, balance, and real-life grit, you’re already behind.
🔧 Tools of the Week
StartingPoint – Your AI-powered client dashboard. Great for small firms managing workflows, meetings, and FAQs.
Mojo AI – Turn long-form content into snackable social posts with brand voice embedded. Reels, threads, blogs… done.
Special Tool: SpeakerHub
Ready to get booked and paid for your expertise?
SpeakerHub helps speakers, consultants, and thought leaders create professional profiles, get discovered, and land gigs.🎤 Build your speaking brand.
📈 Track your impact.
💰 Grow your revenue stream.👉 Sign up with this link to access the platform and support the CTRL fam.
📌 Personal Branding Power Move
This week’s task: Find your “why now?”
Whether you're a freelancer, creative, or comms lead, update your LinkedIn headline with a “why now” hook. Examples:
“Helping founders craft irresistible brand narratives — because clarity is currency.”
“Marketing strategy built for 2025 attention spans.”
Stand out. Speak up. And give us a reason to care—now.
📈 Trend Watch
Trend: “Quiet Luxury” in Communications
It’s not just a fashion thing.
Quiet luxury = clarity, confidence, and substance over spectacle. Brands are moving from loud hype to earned authority. Watch the shift in visual branding, ad copy, and influencer tone, think fewer filters, more receipts.
🎁 OPPORTUNITY
🚀 AI for Your Brand
I’ve partnered with a Google Certified Partner to bring you a free workshop on how Google Vertex AI can level up your marketing, content, and workflow.
→ 2-hour session, includes custom prototype for your biz.
📩 Hit me up if you’re ready to get your firm AI-savvy.
🔒 Exclusive Interview Insight
Kevin Jordan, Founder of Maxx Performance + Maxx App
Straight from Leaders & Learners.
Kevin is building more than tech—he’s building a movement. A few gems just for y’all:
🧠 "Mental health affects your money, and your money affects your mental health."
He’s branding wellness as essential infrastructure for athletes, not an afterthought.
📲 “We’re all athletes.”
That was his storytelling key. He crafts his narrative so everyday people feel like they’re in training for their best self, just like a pro.
⚠️ “Transparency builds trust.”
Kevin talked openly about firing his entire offshore dev team after 2.5 years and starting over. That’s founder-branding in its rawest form: messy, honest, powerful.
🔥 His comms advice?
Market a movement, not just a product. When culture meets clarity, you get power.
Paid fam: If you're building a brand, app, service, or strategy, go back and watch this episode. This is how you tell a story that SELLS.
🎥 Watch now on YouTube »
📢 Final Word:
Branding is no longer just logos and slogans. It’s wellness. It’s truth-telling. It’s culture with a mission.
CTRL your narrative, or the streets will. And not in your favor.
See you next week.
~Tonya McKenzie
Chief CTRLer
Founder, Sand & Shores
Host, Leaders & Learners
#CTRLtheNarrative 💥