Case Study

Cadia

Expanding into a $913b opportunity.

Industry
Real Estate
Stage
Enterprise

Welltower, an $85B real estate investment trust (REIT) managing 1,600 healthcare properties across the US, UK, and Canada, spotted an unprecedented opportunity. The wellness real e...

Welltower, an $85B real estate investment trust (REIT) managing 1,600 healthcare properties across the US, UK, and Canada, spotted an unprecedented opportunity. The wellness real estate market was projected to reach $913B by 2028, and Welltower saw a chance to expand beyond its traditional REIT model.

The opportunity demanded more than adding properties—it required Welltower to fundamentally evolve from a company that simply collected rent into one that created and operated distinctive wellness communities. This meant building new capabilities, shifting mindsets, evolving the business model, and diversifying their portfolio. Our challenge: guide Welltower’s transformation from passive investor to active operator and lifestyle brand.

Our program began with developing their product strategy. Dubbed "Whole System Vitality," this product approach aims to integrate building design, community spaces, and natural elements to support physical, mental, and social wellbeing. The data validated our strategy: communities with integrated wellness services showed 30% higher resident satisfaction, 20-30% lower healthcare utilization, and 25% better retention rates and commanded 10-15% premium prices.

Our two-year program touched every aspect of the business as we:

  • Advised on new capabilities in brand and product
  • Shifted the company culture from thinking only of property transactions to resident experiences
  • Refreshed the Welltower identity to signal its wellness ambition
  • Created Cadia, their new consumer-facing wellness properties brand

What began as a successful REIT emerged as something new: a pioneer in holistic wellness communities, uniquely positioned at the intersection of real estate, healthcare and lifestyle.

COLLINS
Rejane Dal BelloJulen SaenzRūta PaškevičiūtėLynn OhRebeka ArceArielle KroloffTim CairnsDarius Dazhi WangEric ParkMaggie BeckhamSanjay P HukkuTaamrat AmaizeJanet Ginsburg

Augments

Augments are add-on components or properties that enhance a design system’s performance. They introduce new capabilities, expand functionality and improve how the system works across contexts.

Augments

Augments are add-on components or properties that enhance a design system’s performance. They introduce new capabilities, expand functionality and improve how the system works across contexts.

CX Bridge

A logic of function that translates the brand’s identity system into customer experience principles. By bridging brand values with customer journeys, it ensures every interaction feels intentional, frictionless and distinctly on-brand.

Flex Deck

A logic function embedded in the identity system to ensure brand coherence across diverse applications—critical for any high-performance system, as research shows coherent brands are 2.1 times more likely to achieve salience.

Endurance Function

Because a brand accrues power over time, we engineer our identity systems to be both timely and timeless. Our designs avoid fleeting trends, favoring bespoke visuals and timeless principles.

Memory Marker

A designed visual or experiential cue that anchors the brand in memory. This signature detail amplifies brand salience and mental availability, driving distinctiveness that supports market growth.

Custom Icon System

This icon system uses a continuous loop motif to express connection, care and flow. Designed with systemic consistency, each mark balances clarity and character—ideal for scalable use across signage, product and wayfinding.

Custom Typeface

A logic of function that translates the brand’s identity system into customer experience principles. By bridging brand values with customer journeys, it ensures every interaction feels intentional, frictionless and distinctly on-brand.

Culture Sync Logic

A logic of function that encodes into the system the ability to localize while preserving global identity. It ensures expressions remain culturally authentic and consistently recognizable.

Impact

Led Shift From Passive to Pioneer

Expanded Welltower’s business model from investment to active community operation, positioning it as a leader in the $913B wellness real estate market.

Unlocked a Premium

Developed and validated the “Whole System Vitality” approach: a strategy that could command 10–15% price premiums, drive 30% higher satisfaction, 25% better retention, and 20–30% lower healthcare utilization.

Evolved Internal Mindset

Equipped leadership with the strategy, tools, and language to evolve from a property-focused REIT to a resident-centered wellness operator—aligning teams around a new vision and building lasting internal capabilities.

$913B

Total Market Opportunity

Credibly positioned Welltower to compete in the $913B wellness real estate sector by crafting a distinctive offering and brand tailored for long-term market expansion.

Established a Consumer Brand Platform

Launched Cadia as a standalone consumer-facing brand—providing clarity, consistency and growth potential across a $2.8B property pipeline.

Enhanced Long-Term Competitiveness

Defined “Whole System Vitality”, reframing wellness as infrastructure and a path to durable competitiveness.