Biosil Unveils A New Look, Merchandise And Ad Campaign To Fortify Its Position In The Beauty Supplement Space

Biosil, which reports it’s among the top three brands in the beauty supplement market, is getting back to basics.

The 28-year-old ingestible beauty brand owned by Belgian pharmaceuticals company Bio Minerals NV has undergone a rebrand that highlights what drives its business and what it doesn’t put in its supplements (along with what it does). Biosil’s updated packaging identifies that its products are vegan, gluten-free and don’t have genetically modified organisms. The changes were informed by research the brand conducted starting in 2020 along with the firms 113 Industries and Haystack Consulting that tapped focus groups, surveys, online communities and artificial intelligence tools. 

Richard Passwater, medical education director at Bio Minerals NV, says the research “helped us understand our current packaging had become outdated, contained too much scientific information and not enough easy-to-spot information of interest to modern beauty shoppers such as our company’s social and environmental positions.” He points out that Biosil employs a solar-powered factory. Good Karma Agency was the primary design agency on the rebrand, while Fleur Bult handled photography and Suze Kuit led the creative direction.

Passwater continues, “In addition, we learned our product options were often difficult to differentiate from one another on the shelf and the research suggested that many people were using Biosil as a part of a supplement stack generally containing a biotin product, antioxidants good for the skin and/or vitamin C. We saw this as an opportunity to make these customers’ lives easier by introducing new line extensions containing additional complementary ingredients to Biosil that will enable someone to take fewer pills and save them money.” 

Biosil is rolling out three new capsule offerings with MSRPs of $42.99 per month—Collagen Generator Plus with Vitamin C, Healthy Aging and Advanced Hair & Nail Care—that will hit 1,800 Walmart stores and Walmart’s website with the renovated packaging. Other products will be transitioned to the revised packaging over the next 12 months. A patented complex called ch-OSA promising to protect the body’s natural collagen is the star of Biosil’s products. The products don’t have collagen. Instead, ch-OSA is a collagen generator. An example of an ingredient complementary to it that Biosil is weaving into products is selenium. The brand includes selenium for cognition, immunity and thyroid function in its Healthy Aging capsules. 

Along with Walmart, Biosil’s retail distribution network spans Whole Foods Market, Sprouts Farmers Market, The Vitamin Shoppe, Mothers Natural Market, Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Life Extension, Mom’s Organic Market, Fred Meyer and Erewhon. The brand’s website began selling merchandise less than two years ago. Prior to that, it was an education vehicle. Before the three latest capsule offerings, Biosil most-recent launch, Liquid Capsules, arrived in the United States in September 2019. Liquid Capsules are currently the brand’s fourth bestselling product. 

Below, we ask Passwater to elaborate on Biosil’s rebrand and discuss a connected television campaign that’s timed with it. 

What are the four main elements of Biosil’s rebrand?

1. Updating Biosil packaging with a more modern and attractive look and feel. The new packaging maintains our Biosil blue color while updating the packaging design and messaging to help shoppers better understand the difference between Biosil and competing brands, and to better differentiate Biosil from the many competitors copying our current trade dress design.

2. Increasing consumer access to purchase Biosil by: 1). launching our own e-commerce website, and 2) strategically expanding into select grocery, pharmacy and mass market stores where our customer base tells us they expect to be able to purchase the product.

3. Launching new products so many people don’t need a supplement stack, but rather just one Biosil product. 

4. Formulating new differentiated products that better match the unique needs of our diverse target market.

How do the new branding and products represent an evolution of Biosil?

Biosil increases collagen production throughout the body. Collagen forms the framework of all connective tissue in the body, so collagen production and Biosil are important for a wide variety of applications. For many years, we focused evenly on promoting Biosil’s benefits for the various collagen-based tissues that Biosil supports such as bones, joints, blood vessels and skin.

Over time it became increasingly clear that most of the commercial interest in collagen generation and improved collagen metabolism centered around hair, skin and nail health. In 2008, we made the decision to change our packaging and consumer messaging to primarily focus on hair, skin and nail health, and we continue to evolve more into a beauty brand each year. This latest rebrand is another big step redesigning our packaging to better contain the information important to beauty conscience shoppers using the style of language and graphics they prefer.

For example, the new packaging has much less and easier-to-read text, [and] contains a variety of icons to quickly identify Biosil products are vegan, non-GMO, gluten-free and free of common allergens. We also better explain that Biosil doesn’t contain collagen. The directions for use are clearer and the feel of the packaging is higher quality and more representative of the quality of the product itself. The box has a QR code where customers interested in clinical trial results or other more technical information can still easily access such data. 

The new products also allow us to offer differentiated solutions to our diverse target market. For example, women people focusing on hair health can now purchase Biosil Advanced Hair and Nail Care while women more focused on overall wellness can purchase Biosil®Healthy AgingTM.

How much do you estimate the rebrand will affect sales? 

The only thing constant in life is change. The most recent market sell-through data is showing Biosil is still performing strong, but is showing problematic signs where among collagen products. Consumers appear to be trying to save money by switching to lower cost private-label products or discontinuing use. We believe that being the only vegan collagen generator and protector backed by over $20 million of research is helping to keep Biosil on an upward trajectory and expanding accessibility will help as well.

We feel the rebranding is necessary to evolve and stay relevant keeping Biosil as a top three brand in the beauty supplement space. It’s difficult to put a target figure on what direct impact the rebranding will have in conjunction with the other initiatives such as the TV campaign and increased digital and retail presence as well as the challenges caused by the continued financial situation.

Can you tell us about your advertising campaign? 

Beginning this month we are launching a nationally connected TV campaign focusing on building broad awareness for Biosil to drive sales to our retail partners. The campaign is targeted to reach more than 12 million women 25 to 54 years old. This is our second-ever TV campaign. Independent analysis of SPINS sales data by TABS estimates our first TV campaign conducted in October 2022 boosted retail sales in specialty health food stores by nearly 40%. 

We are supporting the TV campaign with an all-around digital plan and influencer campaign on social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube to build brand awareness and drive traffic to both in-store and online retail locations. In addition, we are always on the lookout for fun projects to educate potential consumers about Biosil’s clinically proven benefits.

We have an exciting upcoming partnership in May 2023 for Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental health issues such as stress and anxiety are significant causes of collagen breakdown as well as hair and nail problems. Biosil helps protect and rebuild collagen, elastin and keratin networks, helping to prevent and reverse many of the damaging effects caused by stress and anxiety.