How Headspace Became a Mindful Media Giant

“As much as I would love everyone to have Headspace in their pocket and to use it every day… I know for a variety of reasons that’s not always going to be the case.,” says Headspace’s Morgan Selzer. While millions use the Headspace platform every day to relax, learn, focus and think, in order to fulfill its mission 'to improve the health and happiness of the world', Headspace realised that they'd have to go beyond their own spaces to meet people where they are.

That's why Morgan Selzer joined in 2019, bringing with her a wealth of experience from the entertainment and TV industry, having had stints at MTV, the Style Network and Country Music Television. She was charged with helping the brand find new ways to get to connect with audiences beyond the Headspace app, transforming it into a true entertainment brand.

“Those who download our app and use our product, they know the value, but for a lot of people the idea of meditation and sitting with your eyes closed is really scary and intimidating and overwhelming,” explains Morgan. “The idea was, ‘what can we do in the entertainment space to educate folks about being mindful, show them it’s not as scary as it looks and maybe even whet their appetites and get them excited about using headspace. It was really figuring out how we could show up in the TV and film space and the podcast space.”

With its warm and colourful aesthetic and gently friendly tone, Morgan says the brand had plenty of licence to get a bit playful in other spaces. “Headspace is a brand that has never taken ourselves super seriously, which I think is a good thing. It allows us to push the envelope in the ways we can show up in public spaces. I’m so thrilled,” she says. “Now, as chief content officer, I oversee all of the content that we do both inside the app and outside. It’s been really fun to take what I’ve learned in making hit TV shows and applying that to mindful content.”

Since then she’s ushered the brand to platforms like Netflix and even traditional broadcasters like the BBC - to great success. The Netflix partnership ‘Headspace Guide to Meditation’, even netted a Daytime Emmy win and three nominations. Under her tenure, Headspace has also entered the podcast space, with Radio Headspace, a short show to help people reframe their days, launching in 2020 and call-in podcast Dear Headspace launching in 2022.

“The folks at Netflix that really wanted to figure out how Headspace could show up in a way that felt true to both Headspace and to Netflix and what they were trying to accomplish,” recalls Morgan. “It did get expedited by the fact that we were in a global pandemic and there was really a need for this kind of content.”

In the UK, Mindful Escapes was a show that brought together Headspace’s meditation mastery with the BBC’s world-leading natural history unit. It was aired on BBC Four in 2020, and cut down to shorter Mindful Earth clips on the Headspace app.

This expansive approach has also been instrumental in Headspace being able to help children develop mindful techniques and tools too. In 2020, Morgan’s team, in collaboration with Sesame Street and YouTube launched a series of Monster Meditations on YouTube and YouTube Kids, which went on to win a Kidscreen Award, a Gold Telly Award, and an Emmy nomination. The  successful shorts have been viewed more than 33 million times. And this year, they’ll be kicking off a new YouTube series with host Lily Singh, called The Mindful Adventures of Unicorn Island.

“As parents, we all know - fortunately or unfortunately - that our kids watch a lot of TV. So how can we integrate certain social and emotional learning techniques and mindfulness techniques into the shows? Each episode contains an actual mindfulness exercise that kids can do while they’re watching the show.”

These shows and projects are developed both in conversation with streaming platforms but also in-house, where the team works with Headspace’s teachers and experts in health and happiness to come up with interesting concepts they can pitch out to streaming outlets, broadcasters and more. 

But Headspace isn’t limiting itself to platforms and spaces traditionally associated with content or entertainment. Since 2011 it’s been partnered with Virgin Atlantic, bringing its meditations to flyers struggling with travel anxiety or trying to get to sleep. And, in 2021, it took mindfulness and calm to stressed out drivers by joining forces with GPS platform Waze.

“In LA, obviously it’s very stressful driving around in traffic. You can actually change the voice to be that of Eve, one of our teachers, and you can drive around with Eve for a more mindful and relaxing experience,” she says.

Morgan initially joined Headspace as VP of content for so-called ‘expansion channels’ - that is to say all of these external places that would take Headspace beyond the app. In 2021, she was promoted to chief content officer, giving her a view over all of Headspace’s content, wherever it sits. One recent in-app content series she’s particularly proud of is the partnership with the National Parks Foundation, which takes meditators to the soundscapes of Joshua Tree, Yosemite and more. Last year, they launched a carefully tailored Women’s Collection full of content created to help women dealing with specific challenges like health, sex and relationships, and strength through solidarity.

Zooming out to look at the online content platform ecosystem, Headspace is a brand that’s very much (to steal a phrase) zigging while others zag. Mindless consumption, fuelled by super short, fast-paced spurts of content, has become the norm - and Morgan says that Headspace’s gentle rhythm and pace is very much an antidote to that.

“There’s a lot of technology and distraction out there. Unfortunately we have to compete for those same eyeballs. But I think we really stick out in the way that we do it,” says Morgan. “Even if you’re looking at our content on social media, it’s purposefully slower to show that not everything has to be this crazy, hyped up, pacey content.”

Looking forward, inevitably the subject of artificial intelligence comes up. On brand, Morgan says that Headspace is taking a deliberately mindful approach and resisting rushing in. “We’re not experimenting with AI yet. It sort of terrifies me, and I’m sure there’ll be a time and a place for it. But obviously we want to approach that very mindfully and responsibility. We’re talking about it and seeing the best place for it in our business, but we’re not there yet.  What the National Parks partnership really sped up was kind of the antidote to all of this,” she says. How do we bring the magic of nature to everybody who can’t experience that?”

As technological change accelerates, Morgan says that what Headspace can do is help people navigate the uncertainties and anxieties they may experience. She also notes that the team are seeing an appetite for disconnection and moments of calm and slow within the maelstrom. “I think AI opens up such wonderful opportunities but it’s also really, really scary. So how can we help deal with those feelings of uncertainty? And what content can we create to be a safe haven for people who might be feeling really anxious about it all,” she says.

The more spaces Headspace shows up, the more people it can help deal. While there’s a business strategy to the work that Morgan’s team is doing, ultimately as a mission-driven company she says that the greatest satisfaction comes from hearing from people who have been personally helped by stumbling onto Headspace programming. She recalls a viewer who watched the Netflix show who wrote in to explain that the meditation techniques had helped them deal with chronic back pain.

“These are the letters we get sent from people… It really makes you feel so good about the work you’re doing.”