On Monday, sunscreen brand Supergoop launched its first-ever multi-platform digital media campaign.
The campaign’s theme is based on the concept of a local morning TV show called “WSPF,” with a flagship three-minute video that includes segments on sports, weather, fashion and cooking. The campaign, called “Good Morning Supergoop,” coincides with the health awareness holiday Melanoma Monday on May 3 and runs until the end of July. Though Supergoop is a 14-year-old company, it is embracing OTT ads for the first time on Hulu and Roku, and is investing in a YouTube masthead takeover. Other key campaign pillars include social media ads, paid influencer activations across TikTok, custom emojis within Venmo and advertising on the Accuweather app targeting people with the highest UV index forecast.
Supergoop earned $40 million in 2018, according to Glossy’s previous reporting. A spokesperson for the brand declined to share 2019 and 2020 sales, and the investment in the current campaign, but said its DTC business doubled between 2019 and 2020. Seventy-five percent of DTC customers in 2020 were new to the brand. According to the brand spokesperson, wholesale retail sales saw double-digit growth in 2020, even with retail partner store closures.
“Over the last couple of years, we have been telling our story, but [that story] has really focused on product and our incredible launches,” said Amanda Baldwin, Supergoop president. “This is an opportunity to take a step back and focus on why we [make SPF products] in the first place. It’s exciting for us.”
Sun care ended up being one of the sunny prospects of the skin-care category, even during the quarantine period in Spring 2020. Overall, according to Transparency Market Research, the sun-care market is expected to grow by 6% to around $25 billion by 2024, likely due to a mix of product education by brands, shifts in merchandising by retailers and changes in government policy. Supergoop also leaned into promoting on social media products to protect against blue light during Covid-19’s early lockdown. According to Spate data, between 2020 and 2021, the search for “blue light” within the sunscreen category grew 196% year-over-year. Supergoop also launched an online product finder in Oct. 2020, guiding users through a quiz to help them navigate the brand’s 40-plus sunscreen products.
“Our message around blue light probably resonated even more with the pandemic, that plus UVA rays coming through windows wreak havoc on your skin and are damaging,” said Holly Thaggard, Supergoop founder.
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Other campaign elements include working with more than 17 people on Supergoop’s paid social campaign in global markets like the U.K., Canada and Southeast Asia, including Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova and racing driver Aurora Straus. A direct mail campaign will also take place throughout the summer. Its TikTok campaign consists of unpaid and paid influencer content on social, including the primary video ad running in global markets.
“I’ve always known that we’re not going to change consumer behavior by using a serious tone or by scaring people,” said Thaggard. “What’s right for our brand is to take this playful, joyful approach and inspire consumers to change behavior to form healthy habits and to embrace SPF every single day.”
