Compared to other big markets, beauty supplements—marketed to improve outward appearance, oftentimes the skin—are a niche category in the US. Euromonitor data ranks the country seventh, after a handful of Asian and European countries (Japan taking the lead).
“Ultimately, Lycored aims to take skin health supplements from a niche market to mainstream success in the US,” the company, which manufactures tomato-based ingredients, said in a press release.
"Our goal through this campaign is to challenge the traditional notion of beauty by sharing the message that the beauty we feel on the inside is what the world sees on the outside," said Zev Ziegler, vice president of brand & marketing at Lycored.
"As we shed light on how the concept of beauty is not about looks, but about a feeling inside each of us, we aim to educate the public on how the same can be said for the role in which ingestible skincare plays in promoting beauty from within. Specifically, although sunscreen is used to prevent damage from direct sun exposure, sun damage actually happens incidental to daily living; proving the best way to protect ourselves on the outside every day is to also supplement from within," Ziegler added.
Social media to amplify Lycoderm
Lycored’s website includes a summary of studies on its skin supplement Lycoderm, including one published in Experimental Dermatology from 2013, as well as a list of its US patents. Composed of tomato extract and carnosic acid from rosemary leaves, the supplement was designed to deliver intracellular protection from common oxidative stress.
Though the product itself is marketed for outward appearance, the #rethinkbeautiful talks about how beauty is defined, and what emotional connection comes with being beautiful. A campaign video for the ingredient features men and women shot close up, as a series of thoughts on beauty are narrated in the background accompanied with piano music, ending with the line “Beauty is what you make it.”
The campaign’s strategy reflects the category’s landscape in the US today—for example, when NutraIngredients-USA conducted a series of person-on-the-street interviews, we found that US consumers generally can believe ingesting a supplement may affect their outward appearance, but most equated “beauty from within” with an attitude and emotional state.
“The #rethinkbeautiful campaign comes by way of foreshadowing results from Lycored's Lycoderm clinical study, which will support, as well as showcase, the brand's broad spectrum of skin enhancement parameters that translate into both health and appearance benefits,” the company said.