Nature’s Sunshine was founded greater than 50 years ago and was a pioneer in the herbal supplement space. But as the brand checked out their place in the post-COVID landscape, executives didn’t like what they saw.
“We’re the best kept secret,” said Stephanie O’Farrell, vp of selling at Nature’s Sunshine. “We’ve been around the longest, but no one knows who we’re.”
To that end, the brand has been working since 2022 with Stagwell-owned agency Crispin to “create work that works,” as the shop says. A remit that originally focused around performance marketing and media optimization has culminated with the launch this month of Nature’s Sunshine’s first integrated brand platform, inclusive of a brand new brand tone and visual language across its marketing.
“Be More Earth” is the embodiment of the brand’s ethos around counting on what it sees as the planet’s innate healing powers to drive all parts of its business — from sourcing ingredients around the world, manufacturing all the pieces it sells and quality testing all the pieces in its solar-powered facility — a process the brand believes provides a competitive advantage. Nature’s Sunshine had considered one of its strongest quarters ever in Q4 2024, with net sales up 8.5%.
“We desired to create some calmness and a few simplicity [in the space], and get to the crux of what is really vital, and that is about the magic that Earth can actually provide to the healing journey that customers are searching for,” O’Farrell said.
More than simply ‘label candy’
Crispin oversees strategy, brand platform and positioning, design, web and media for Nature’s Sunshine, and the agency’s studio practice created a brand new visual identity that the brand hopes will probably be seen as awe-inspiring in a crowded market. The pandemic accelerated attention and investment in the health and wellness category as consumers reexamined their relationships with their bodies, but an influx of brands has created chaos and complexity as they navigate a brand new wave of products.
“Everybody’s showing up with a vitamin bottle with natural ingredients and saying, ‘I’m prime quality, I’m sustainably packaged. I’ll make you are feeling XYZ,’” O’Farrell explained. “The hope was to… show up in a more real, approachable, authentic, organic way and reintroduce people to the power and the beauty the world actually has.”
Illustrations by artist Thomas Danthony bring together lifestyle, nature’s beauty and the company’s products with a straightforward style that relies on colours each soothing (teals, green, umber) and vibrant (red, magenta) to ascertain earthy, environmental textures.
The approach looks to separate Nature’s Sunshine from emerging brands that depend on “label candy” to hook consumers while the brand goals for its “prosumer” base: individuals which might be enthusiastic about health and wellness that may do their very own research — not only grab an $8.99 bottle off the Walmart shelf.
“It’s about understanding their needs, states, who they’re and the information they’re searching for, after which ensuring that throughout their consumer journey we’re meeting them with the information that continues to peel back the layers of the onion,” O’Farrell said.
Meeting consumers
A brand platform doesn’t work with no sound media strategy, and for Nature’s Sunshine, meaning showing up not only in the digital-social feed, but creating experiences on the web and with the right PR, influencers and opinion leaders. The recent work launched March 3 across the brand’s owned channels with paid media via Meta, Pinterest, Reddit, Vox, YouTube, connected TV and influencers.
The recent look of Nature’s Sunshine across performance assets.
Courtesy of Nature’s Sunshine
“This is not just a targeting exercise,” O’Farrell clarified. “The hope is that we are able to actually meet consumers where they’re actually having some level of dialogue or where they’re trying to find solutions.”
As examples, the executive noted how consumers head to Reddit to search out solutions, conversations and community around health and wellness, while turning to Pinterest for brand spanking new recipes and workout regimens. These channels allow the brand to supplement its paid media in traditional formats like search and display.
“[Those are] great places to be a part of the consumer dialogue versus just a conventional ad unit,” O’Farrell said.
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