A unified media company focusing on Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) recently was created when five companies – Gaiam (lifestyle media), Zaadz (social networking site), Revolution (health and wellness), Lime (multimedia) and Conscious Enlightenment (multimedia and credit services) – announced they will launch Gaia.com(unity) this fall.
"Gaiam’s vision for Gaia com(unity) is to become the global community of like-minded people that aspire to effect positive change on the planet," said Jirka Rysavy, founder and CEO of Gaiam. "Gaiam coined the term LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) in 1999 to describe the global movement of expanding consciousness and growing awareness of personal and planetary health. The term is now used worldwide to describe this movement and magazines in several countries carry the LOHAS name. With this new community, we are entering the next stage of LOHAS development and would like to extend an invitation to entrepreneurs around the world, who are passionate about personal and planetary wellness and authenticity, to join us."
Briefly on the five groups involved:
> Gaiam is a lifestyle media company catering to people who value personal development, natural health, ecological lifestyles and inspirational entertainment. Gaiam has approximately eight million direct customers, including over 100,000 paid subscribers to its community and subscription clubs. Gaiam’s home media is carried by almost 70,000 retail stores in the U.S., the widest direct distribution coverage in the country for any visual media provider. Gaiam also distributes approximately 20 million catalogs per year.
> Zaadz is the leading social networking site in the LOHAS space with 85,000 members and 850,000 unique visitors per month. "Zaadz was created to inspire and empower people to be the change they want to see and to change the world in the process," said Brian Johnson, founder and CEO of Zaadz. "We’re excited to combine forces with a group of companies who share our mission of positive change and I have no doubt that together we’ll accelerate the rate of change we can affect in the world."
> Revolution is a leading consumer-centric health company founded to transform how people approach their overall health and wellness. By putting individuals at the center of their own health care, Revolution Health allows them to make informed choices and offers more convenience and control over their individual healthcare decisions.
> Lime is a multimedia lifestyle company with multiple platforms focused on leading a healthier, greener, and more balanced lifestyle. Lime is available on broadband television, Sirius Satellite Radio channel 114, on demand with cable providers nationally and at lime.com on the web and mobile phones. Lime previously acquired Wisdom TV and has a library of over 1,000 hours of visual content. LIME was majority owned by Revolution. "When we got involved with Lime almost three years ago, none of the major media companies were focused on sustainability and we saw an opportunity to launch LIME as an independent media brand," said Steve Case, founder and CEO of Revolution LLC. "Now that the ‘green’ movement is becoming more mainstream, we concluded it made sense to participate in the creation of a unified LOHAS community and platform with our longtime partner Gaiam."
> Conscious Enlightenment owns and operates the Enlightenment Card, a socially conscious credit card, Conscious Choice and Whole Life magazines (with distribution in metropolitan cities from Chicago to Los Angeles), Yogamates.com, a social network and video channel and MonthlyYogadvd.com, a DVD and online video streaming subscription club. "Conscious Enlightenment was created to educate people about the alternatives that exist to create a more sustainable and peaceful world," said Christopher Miglino, founder and CEO of Conscious Enlightenment. "Gaiam has been a leader in the LOHAS and cultural creative space for some time now, and we are excited about the synergies that exist between our companies and our ability to reach a broader audience."
