Fresh Brand Friday: Wk 1

In my line of work I get to see a lot of brands.

Some are awful. Many are entirely forgettable.

But there's those few that stop you in your tracks and have you linger just that little bit longer. I've built up a list (and many browser tabs!) of the best and I've been planning to share them with the world for some time.

Today is the day. ??

Please bear in mind that many of these are brands that are "new to me".

Startups / scale ups / rebrands will all feature.

So if you've known them since before they were cool / sold out to the man, you keep that to yourself. We're here for a bit of brand love. An appreciation of design, colour, maybe even the odd bit of "chaos packaging" for lolz.

Anyway, let's get on with it!

Sundae Body

"Bodycare, but make it fun" says the Sundae website.

Bright and bold, fun and novel, this was one of the standout brands for me both for its colour palette and also a can that doesn't belong in the bath & beauty aisle.

It's wonderfully unmissable and I'm here for it.

They've recently launched into Sainsbury's in the UK - we'll see if it makes it onto the shelves of the store in deepest darkest Morecambe any time soon.

The Nue Co.

The Nue Co. unveiled a brand new, refreshed look for their supplement line this week.

With a reduced subtlety, the logo is bigger, the lids are bright and distinctive and while they were already playing in the premium arena, they've elevated things a little more.

Co-Founder Charlie Gower said:

"The process saw us embark on an editing expedition, getting rid of all the extra 'stuff' we have accumulated over the years to land on a simple goal: our why. We sieved through our passion for ingredients, sustainability and science and ventured into our desire to take health and wellness out of the medicine cabinet and into all the rooms in your home."

As the brand pushes into new retail channels, the refreshed and strikingly designed packaging will go a long way to grabbing attention on shelf.

PAIST

Looking unlike the majority of toothpastes you'll see - which are all science and legacy brand looking - the design grabbed me first. The messaging came second.

Co-Founded by Dr Elham Kordrostami, PAIST is D2C brand that has a simple message of no nasties, no plastic.

So they've ditched the usual tubes for an infinitely recyclable one and the formulations are free of artificial flavours, preservatives and SLS.

It's natural, it's vegan certified.

But most importantly for today, it looks pretty cool. And that's what grabs people's attention first, right?

Drink Oshun

2024 is the year of hydration and Oshun launched not that long ago and have caused a bit of a kerfuffle!

"Why does it look like soap if you can drink it?" exclaims one tweet.

"I'm calling this chaos packaging" decreed another.

They've been getting folks all riled up over the CPG bubble with their choice of pump enabled, amber coloured bottle and I'd say the unexpected controversy has done them the world of good.

The majority of hydration brands are often sports or science focussed but Oshun opted for a design that's the complete antithesis and wouldn't look out of place in Selfridges.

By the number of UGC posts cropping up (in fact, the image above was created by a customer!) it seems they're early adopters are very happily hydrated.

The top quality formula is unflavoured, can be added to anything, and "per serve" offers a very attractive proposition compared to other delivery methods.

Its very early days for the brand and I look forward to seeing where things go next.

I'm Ant, I help health & wellness businesses grow sales through strategic planning and focused execution. I've worked with many brands over the last ten years including Motion Nutrition, Puori, PROMiXX, Vivo Life and more.

I'm a part of the Gymfluencers Agency Group, heading up the Beautyfluencers division, offering high performing influencer, mass gifting and UGC activations.