Supplement brand Olly launches body washes and serums to fuel its next phase of growth
Olly wants to become shoppers’ go-to brand for both their daily multivitamin and their body wash.
On Tuesday, Unilever-owned Olly announced the launch of a new body-care line called Olly Mood + Skin, which it is positioning as a new brand under the Olly banner. The Olly Mood + Skin line consists of a variety of body scrubs, serums and washes each named after a different feeling, like “calm,” “renew” and “revival,” and designed to pair with one of Olly’s existing supplements.
Bryan Ferschinger, chief revenue officer at Olly, said the brand has differentiated itself in the supplement space by taking a “benefit-first approach” to how it packages and promotes its products. A melatonin supplement, for example, is simply called “Sleep” to cater to those who may be unfamiliar with the ingredient but are looking for a supplement to help them get more rest.
Now, Olly wants to take a similar approach to the personal care category. The company believes it can become a part of its customers’ routines, from morning to night; if they want to feel zen throughout the day, they may start off their day with two of Olly’s “Goodbye Stress” gummies, followed by a shower using the brand’s “Calm” body wash.
Olly, founded in 2013, is an outlier among supplement brands in its decision to enter the body-care category. Supplements and body washes aren’t typically merchandised together, so the brand will be entering a whole new aisle with this launch. But, Olly is betting that it has enough brand loyalty to convince someone to buy its body wash from the same brand that makes their daily multivitamin.
Olly is owned by Unilever, which acquired the brand in 2019 for an undisclosed amount. During its most recent earnings call, Unilever executives did not break out sales results for Olly but said the brand is a strong performer in its Beauty & Wellbeing segment and is continuing to grow by double digits.
While Ferschinger acknowledged that it is “unusual” for a supplement brand to get into body washes, he said the brand has always been about whole-body wellness. The way he sees it, the new personal care line “takes care of your mood and skin from the outside in. And then we have our vitamins and supplements that basically take care of you from the inside out.”
To launch the line, “we very much had to learn the category dynamics for personal care,” Ferschinger said. To do so, Olly tapped the expertise of its parent company, Unilever. “We did quite a few different rounds of focus groups. We did some in-person groups with folks just talking about their overall personal care routine: What matters to them? What do they think about?” Ferschinger said. Olly also conducted shop-alongs with customers. “We did a lot of steps along the way to make sure we understood the dynamics happening within people’s lives today and how that translates to personal care,” Ferschinger said.
Those who track the industry do acknowledge that the way people are shopping for supplements is changing. “A lot of the growth we’re seeing [in the supplement space] is really through social, and we know a lot of that is impulse purchases,” Sherry Frey, vp of total wellness at NielsenIQ, told Modern Retail in a previous interview. That also means that people aren’t shopping for supplements necessarily because a doctor prescribed them, but instead because they want something to improve a specific feature, like their energy levels or mood.
To promote the launch of Mood + Skin, Olly is tapping comedian Heather McMahan for a campaign that will largely live on social titled “Unlicensed Shower Thoughts,” where McMahan acts as a candid shower therapist. Ferschinger said Olly will also be leaning “heavily on influencers” and, in particular, using its network of influencers to drive retail sales and encourage people to pick up the product at their local Target or Walmart.
To start, the new Olly Mood + Skin line will be available nationwide via Target, Walmart, Amazon and Olly.com. At Walmart stores, the products will be found in the “emerging” set of personal care products. “We’re very focused on personal care at retail this year, but then we’ll start to look at how we can branch this out and do some bundling.” That will especially be easier online, he said, where Olly can talk to customers about “starting to think about this as a routine and a regimen that you can create.”
That speaks to the key challenge Olly faces in getting into the personal care category. It’s not just about getting people to try one body wash, but rather to think of Olly as a go-to brand when looking for products that will improve their energy levels or the feel of their skin. In turn, the hope is that customers will come to build a regimen that incorporates multiple of the brand’s products.
Ferschinger, for his part, said, “It’s an area we believe we have a right to play in and win.”