BIOCIDIN BOTANICALSThis company has seen its flagship product experience double-digit quarterly sales growth, with no signs of stopping.
“The new roadmap acted as our foundation and contained the guiding principles we needed to bring our new brand to light.”
Magnifying the Microbe: Bold Brand Strategy Leads to PE Exit
Case Study by Pure Branding
How did we do it?
In the spring of 2022, Biocidin Botanicals launched the first major rebrand in its 30+ year history. With a new brand name and brand strategy, a unique visual language and an energetic voice, Biocidin Botanicals revitalized and elevated its place in the healthcare professional (HCP) community. It also connected directly to consumers in a way that intrigued and enthused them.
The results have been remarkable. For example, the company’s flagship product, Biocidin, introduced in 1989 and a consistent top seller, has enjoyed double-digit quarterly sales growth since the rebrand, with no signs of slowing down.
Profound strategic and creative elements emerged from a multiphase process with Pure Branding, but credit for the rebrand activation’s success goes to the Biocidin Botanicals team and how it has embraced all of these critical tools. Biocidin Botanicals CEO, Maria Ackerman, expressed the mood following the work, “Wow, what an adventure with Pure Branding these past 15 months! I’ve never felt such team spirit and collaboration as I have through this journey! We are over-the-moon happy and grateful!”
Enthusiastic team alignment was essential for a successful rebrand. Equally important was the Biocidin Botanicals marketing team’s discipline and confidence when activating its strategy.
Investigating and Validating the Authentic Core of the Brand
Pure Branding was brought in for a complete rebrand methodology that included Diagnose, Test, Prescribe and Express phases.
This culminated in four full-day workshop sessions with the leadership team, during which strategic opportunities were identified and brand strategy hypotheses were developed. Biocidin Botanicals leaders were introduced to Pure Brandings’ US Supplement Consumer PureSegmentation research since they were exploring expansion into the consumer marketplace. This was followed by comprehensive market research that validated the strategy with Biocidin Botanicals’ key integrative HCP audience.
“The Five Forces brand opportunity and strategy workshops, along with market research validation, gave us a strong foundation for the next steps in the rebranding process,” said Lisbeth Darsh, Biocidin Botanicals Director of Digital Strategy. “Without those critical steps, we might have veered off in a less fruitful direction. The Pure Branding process kept us grounded while allowing us to explore our brand in new ways.”
Let the Activation Begin
Launching a rebrand with a new brand name, promise, look and voice requires careful attention. Working with Pure Branding, the Biocidin Botanicals team mapped out a launch plan and brought together its writers for a weeklong content-intensive workshop facilitated by Pure Branding’s Director of Research and Strategy, Peter Littell.
The Biocidin Botanicals marketing team began putting all of the pieces into place: the website that supported the strategic direction; the announcements to its customers and the trade; the new packaging that expressed the transformative microbial-balancing and immune-supporting formulations; and the new trade show booth and brand videos that demonstrated the wisdom, collaboration and caring that are core to the brand.
“This was a critical step to follow closely, and we relied heavily on what we had crafted,” said Shawnee Mora, Biocidin Botanicals Vice President of Marketing. “The new roadmap acted as our foundation and contained the guiding principles we needed to bring our new brand to light. We now had all the elements to build our creative assets and could execute our marketing and education in a more focused and uniform way than ever before.”
Two Years Out, Still Benefiting from the Same Roadmap
It’s not unusual for a brand to lose its focus and stray from its strategic path over time. New people come in and may want to make their mark, or creatives may want to try something radically new. What distinguishes the Biocidin Botanicals team is that they’ve made the strategic roadmap a critical collaborator within their ongoing creative process.
“The brand roadmap helped the creativity of our marketing team by providing us with guideposts and bumpers,” said Darsh. “Creative work can sometimes feel like a maze. With our brand roadmap, it was like having a handy tool to keep us from going down fruitless paths and stop us from bumping into dead ends.”
“The comprehensive foundation we laid while working with Pure Branding continues to be a guiding light, helping us identify opportunities and trends and navigate an ever-changing market landscape,” said Wilkins. “It positions us to respond in ways that are true to who we are with maximum impact, assuring the ongoing benefits of our collective efforts.”
In November, 2024, Biocidin was acquired by Kainos Capital, joining their prior acquisition of CellCore Biosciences.