October 3, 2015

The Deliciously Ella Empire Expands With The Launch Of ‘Love Yourself’

The rise of ‘super blogger’ Ella Woodward or as she’s more commonly known, ‘Deliciously Ella’, has been nothing short of meteoric since the launch of her blog a little over three years ago. Not only has Woodward managed to achieve extraordinary personal success, but a huge global following has allowed her to tap into a range of different niches within the wellness industry – all of which have been met with critical acclaim.

Woodward’s blog receives in excess of 2.5 million hits per month and the Deliciously Ella app, released in 2014 went straight to number one in the food and drink sector in Britain and the US. Her social media statistics are staggering, with 582,000 followers on Instagram, 165,000+ on Facebook and 73,000+ on Twitter. The release of the Deliciously Ella recipe book earlier this year made history as the fastest selling debut cookbook of all time and at present accounts for 15% of this year’s UK book sales.

Now positioned as one of the market’s biggest commercial successes it seems Woodward is not content resting on her laurels, instead the business savvy lifestyle guru is amping things up with a new venture.

Love Yourself, an online platform dedicated to helping the consumer kick-start a healthy, plant based lifestyle, fuses advice about eating and general well-being with workout videos. Fans will have to pay £35 for the privilege of accessing the 12 week plan.

‘I wanted to create something simple and accessible that would guide people through healthy living and help them start their journey to feeling their best,’ Woodward tells Welltodo.

It’s a strategy that’s seen huge success for some of her peers including The Body Coach, Yoga Girl, and Kayla Itsines, whose ‘Bikini Body Guide’ has garnered her a 3 million strong following on Instagram and was the impetus behind a sold-out world tour earlier this year. The popularity of these e-guides demonstrates a powerful shift in the way consumers are interacting with the health and fitness industry and Woodward’s social media presence will certainly add the launch of her own.

Explaining the concept behind the new platform and her choice to make the leap into fitness, Woodward admitted to Welltodo this week that it was her own initial confusion about how to live a healthy lifestyle and how to make healthy eating fun that inspired her to share her knowledge with others. Her foray into fitness though, is much more recent.

‘In the last year or so my interest in fitness and looking after myself in all senses really developed and I wanted to share that side of healthy living with everyone too,’ Woodward said.

‘The fitness videos are all 20 mins long, so whatever your life involves you can fit them in. Likewise the meditation videos are accessible as I want this to be for everyone,’ she adds.

So how does Woodward feel her guide differs from the growing number of alternatives already available? ‘I think it’s much more an inspiration guide than a strict plan or regime. It’s totally focused on helping you to feel your best, whatever that is. It’s not all image based and it’s absolutely not about sharing before and after photos with the world. It’s about helping you feel good in yourself. I also wanted to reflect how different we all are. Our bodies are different, our lifestyles are different and our time commitments are different – one size just doesn’t fit all,’ she states.

Notably, Woodward has also chosen to collaborate with a handful of influential British wellness figures who will take the reigns when it comes to the fitness side of things. Hollie Grant of PilatesPT, Lottie Murphy and Steffy White all make an appearance on the site and will no doubt help the platform to reach a larger audience through social engagement with their own significant fan bases (an area that’s becoming increasingly important within the wellness industry).

Based on past accomplishments however, it would appear that Woodward doesn’t particularly need the extra help.