Gwyneth: the wellness queen of Hollywood hits the UK!
After starting life as a newsletter sent from Gwyneth Paltrow’s kitchen, Goop is now worth $250m and last week held a UK summit. So just how did she do it?
Gwyneth Paltrow brought Goop
– her controversial but lucrative wellness empire – to London last week, for a two-day wellness summit. Billed as a ‘mind-body-soul’ reset, In Goop Health comprised panels with Gwyneth and chats with doctors, scientists and influential ‘thought leaders’. A £1,000 summit pass gave fans a day of breathing exercises, sessions with healers, energy studios and a Goop ‘swag’ bag, while a £4,500 weekend pass entitled the buyer to more Goop ‘perks’, and a hotel room at the Kimpton Fitzroy.
It’s the latest step in the company’s remarkable global journey, which began as a simple newsletter that Gwyneth sent out from her kitchen table in 2008. The weekly mail-out was initially designed as an outlet for Gwyneth’s travel recommendations, recipes and health questions: now, however, the company makes its own products – from bath salts to cardigans – has launched pop-ups and podcasts, employs 90 people and is valued at an incredible $250 million.
Behind every successful brand is an army of devotees, but who are Goop’s loyal followers? ‘Goop resonates with the modern woman,’ summit attendee Abigail told Grazia. ‘It’s contemporary, upbeat, fun and energetic.’ Elizabeth, a 44-year-old lawyer and health coach from America, is also a frequent attendee. ‘Goop reinforces the way I choose to live – it reconnects me with what I think is important,’ she told us, while insisting a Goop transformation day with medium Susan Grau was life-changing. ‘I was crying within the first five minutes. She tapped into me on an energetic level which changed me for the better. She knew who I was from the second I sat down: she put me at ease in my life.’
Despite instilling such loyalty, Goop has faced criticism. Last year, the company was fined $145,000 for ‘deceptive marketing claims’ regarding a flower essence. But according to Elise Loehnen, Goop’s chief content officer and Gwyneth’s right-hand woman, the company’s success comes from Gwyneth’s ability to ignore the scepticism – and stay committed to her mission to bring alternative therapies to the masses. ‘She’s a big force in mainstreaming them and making them part of a mainstream conversation,’ Elise told us. ‘Gwyneth understands that this is her role in culture.’ And what’s it like working with the actor-turnedentrepreneur? ‘She is in there shoulder-toshoulder working on it – she cares about all the details,’ Elise said. ‘She has a ton of meetings, she looks at everything, she fully proofs everything in the newsletter, and she welcomes ideas from all corners of the office. Every month she has lunch with a different team – she throws them questions and they ask her questions. People feel seen, and are not just cogs in the wheel.’
If Gwyneth is feeling validated by Goop’s success, it shows. Last week, she and her husband Brad Falchuk took a trip to Florence, feasting on pasta and gelato and wandering around the city like any other newly-weds on holiday.
Still, soon it will be back to work: Goop is working with Netflix on a six-part documentary. ‘Netflix was an obvious partner,’ Elise said. ‘They’re also very disruptive. Cheating the way that things have traditionally been done.’ Gwyneth has been involved every step of the way and has been given complete freedom by the company. ‘They’re letting us do our thing.’
The future will hold more expansions for Goop, with more pop-up stores and wellness summits. But it’s not about making as much as possible happen in as short a time as possible. ‘We could have done things much faster and would have ruined it,’ Elise told Grazia. ‘Doing things right takes time.’