At Willpower Event, Wellness Execs Stress the Importance of Quality, Building Consumer Trust

Leaders from AG1, Beekman 1802 and Evolv spoke at the Willpower Catalyst Series event in NYC, sharing their playbook for building trusted, category-defining wellness brands

What does it take to build a successful, sustainable brand amid what feels like an overflowing fitness and wellness market?

As part of its Catalyst Series, Willpower — a growth platform that connects consumer brands, service providers and investors across wellness, performance and lifestyle sectors— hosted top executives from AG1, Beekman 1802 and Evolv about what went into building their category-defining brands from scratch.

The event, held at social wellness club Remedy Place in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood, was hosted by Willpower founder Bill Murphy, who moderated the discussion. Around 80 founders and brand leaders attended.

“Most brand events are a tax on the leaders,” Murphy told Athletech News of what makes the Catalyst Series different. “Late nights of drinks, badge scanners, hundreds of surface-level conversations… a flight home worse than when they arrived. The Wellness Lounge was 80 operators with aligned values, in an oasis of wellness and recovery…. That’s growth through community at Willpower, and it’s the room every brand going from $10 million to $1 billion should be in.”

During the fireside chat, executives explored what it’s like to build a brand or category from scratch, and best practices for attracting and retaining customers.

“Your product is your service and product must be at all times at the top of our game,” said AG1 senior vice president consumer product and customer experience Leala Francis. “We are a premium brand, and so therefore you should know your customer better. It’s the first thing I did — went deep on insights.”

Francis emphasized the importance of clearly defining who your core customers are, what they need, and their attitudes and behaviors. For supplement giant AG1, she saw the importance of tapping into those who want to form healthy habits but may struggle to stick to them.

“There are many things in our category that build trust, many that erode trust,” she said. “Keeping a customer is not easy in this world. If you’re a founder, this is the first thing I would do: Understand the barriers to consumption.”

David Baker, chief revenue officer at clean skincare brand Beekman 1802, underscored the importance of customer relations in the wellness industry.

“We really believe in that neighborhood mindset. We built the trend neighbor-by-neighbor-by-neighbor, and it’s such a word-of-mouth plan,” he said.

Those human-to-human relationships are key for the brand, he explained, with Beekman prioritizing its customer service to keep its most loyal customers on board.

“Whenever you acquire a customer, they must trust you as a brand, and that is trust in: What do you taste like, what do you do? Do I believe in the benefits? Have you got clinical proof, clinically studied benefits?” AG1’s Francis added.

A core part of that retention strategy begins with what the product is, explained Becca McCarthy, the co-founder, president and chief operating officer of Evolv, makers of an oral GLP-1 supplement.

“When you launch a new business or product, you have to be obsessive from the beginning,” McCarthy said. “If the product works, there’s your retention strategy.”