Building a Trusted Brand in a Crowded Category: The Gut Personal Story with Bridgitte Mallinson

How do you break through in the crowded supplement market where new products are getting launched left and right?   

In this episode, Bridgitte Malinson, founder of Gut Personal, breaks down how she built a cult-favorite wellness brand by blending clinical credibility with community-first marketing. From strategic PR placements to organic storytelling, she focused on building trust through earned media and expert validation, positioning the brand as both authoritative and approachable. Instead of relying on paid ads or empty trends, she focused on real connection, education, and personalized experiences that make customers feel seen. 

For brand founders, this is a masterclass in modern brand building: how to make your product feel aspirational, how to leverage PR to build credibility and awareness, how to turn affiliates into true brand advocates, and how to stand out in a saturated category without losing credibility. 

If you’re building in a space that feels crowded,  this conversation will show you how to make it matter, make it trusted, and make it grow. 

New podcast episodes drop every Wednesday, hosted by Cris Gordon, Head of Beauty at MMC.  

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📲 We'd love to hear from you: hello@hellommc.com 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

It's so funny when I tell people I have a supplement brand, they're like, oh my god, product development, that's so difficult. No, that's actually the easy part. You know, I'm so that I just was like the thing that I had to learn.

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Where do you think that brands of all the supplements have to be considered for creating a brand for the first three years?

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Because it's been money ads. My mom will go to the doctor and she's like, I'm tired, I'm not going to the bathroom. The doctor feels like that's normal. No, no, no, no. You kind of have to worry and wonder about like what I should be taking. We can help.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

I think in the last year, I think the biggest thing that's changed, it's a brand new day, and you know what that means. It's time for another episode of Brandly Speaking with your host, Mont Chris Gordon. Today we sit down with Bridget Mallinson, the founder of Gut Personal, a supplement brand that's taking the world by storm by leaning into what makes them different. They're not just leaning into their own marketing, but they're also leaning into product development, the community that they're building, and the creative behind the brand. This is something that allows us as founders to navigate the world of wellness in a whole new way. Can't wait for you to listen. Hi, Bridget. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you so much. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. Well, I'm gonna jump right into it because we're here at South by Southwest and you are obviously here. I want to hear a little bit about what you're doing while on the ground at South by as the founder of Gut Personal.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Yeah, so we are a supplement company for women and a functional medicine practice. And we not only stand for the health of women and really changing that, but also the wealth of women. And so we have 30 female angel investors. And so I'm at South by to get more angel investors and pitch my company, which is just kind of like a wild thing. As a registered dietitian, I never thought I'd be doing this, but here we are.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Well, I love it. And you know what? I think it goes to show a lot of people who are out there kind of navigating what their next step in their life is gonna be that you were able to take a marketable skill and then turn it into a company that's now helping hundreds of thousands of women.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Yeah, that's the goal. The goal's a million. So we're getting there. We're getting close. Well, that's great.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Tell us a little bit about when what year did you start gut personal? 2021. Okay, wow. Well, I've been a fan. I mean, I think I've been using gut personal supplements since like 2021.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Probably. I mean, one of your best friends, Meg Cool, who we both love, um, is one of our investors. So you probably heard about it through her and you know, I heard about it from everyone.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Everyone's talking about it. Please, it like pops up in all the right places. I I went to a retreat and there were two supplements in the room when we did like a room drop. And I thought that was so genius because one of them was the magnesium, which when you're traveling, you're all over the place. I mean, I'm like a diehard fan of magnesium, but you need that. And the other was it was the vanilla scented gut soother. Gut soother. Yes. And there was like a mixture of like. And I loved it. I was pregnant at the time and I was like, okay, just like me eat a little something. But it was it was so great to see it pop up in those ways. And I think as the like PR and marketer in me, I think what you've been doing is really smart. So tell us a little bit about how you're actually popping up with South by. Are you like doing booths? Are you doing some like gorilla marketing?

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Yeah. So actually this morning we did a movement event for moms, for Austin moms. And um it was with my friend Nikki. She does like this movement meditation dance. It's like so good. And I went to her and I was like, I really know, and I think this is actually a theme with Gut Personal and how we're really marketing, not only here at South by Southwest, but in general, is finding these niches of people, like really finding like our target market and like infusing ourselves into their life, into like their wellness routine, into their like movement. So we hosted a movement session for moms this morning. It was so good. And we just gifted them, you know, gut personal. I shared about our mission, and then I actually gave them extra product to give to other moms. I love that. Because I think in this day and age, like community IRL is so important. We're leaning into that in a huge way. Like partnerships are so important, our affiliate program. And so I'm really thinking about how can we do that like an in-person way? And so that was excellent for that. And then we've done a couple, you know, investor events. Like last night we were at Cherub, and I'm on that platform to get angel investors because that's so important to us too.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Yeah, I love that. And I think that you bring a lot of people along for the ride, and that's so important in brand building today. Even the large kind of heritage brands are learning from indie brands in that way. And obviously they're doing it in their own way in a way that works for their infrastructure. But I think these events, these community-driven events are someplace that is really strategic and a smart way to like use the dollar because it probably doesn't cost you as much as some of these like really big marketing moments. For example, at a South by, when you can sponsor a huge event for hundreds of thousands of dollars, or in your case, you can go direct to the community that you want to make an impact with and you can do something on a smaller scale, but still get a really big impact and ROI from that type of moment.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Yeah, I mean, it's when you have a small budget, like even, you know, as a startup, like, you know, it's you have to be really intentional with that. And I think like as I've been growing gut personal, you know, I started gut personal 2021 before babies, and now I have two babies, and I actually feel like us moms were so intuitive with like what's actually going to move the needle. And for us right now, it is so community driven. And I think I'm as I've become a mom, I've just leaned more into my intuition with building the business. And I think to your point, yeah, like big companies want to do the IRL, big companies want that community, but as a small company, like we it's it's so our bread and butter, and it's so so aligned for us.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Yeah, and it's almost like you need it in order to, it's it's not even a non-negoti, it's a non-negotiable at this point. Absolutely. Yeah, that's great. Well, I'm excited. So, from someone sitting at home with a vision for a wellness brand, but no MD or PhD behind their name, there's often a sense of imposter syndrome. In your experience, is a medical background a non-negotiable for a founder in the space, or can a clear mission and the right team bridge the gap?

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Oh my God, that's such a good question. Okay, so I'm just gonna give you a little story. So prior to 2020, my last career, I was a supplement buyer at a holistic pharmacy. And this holistic pharmacy, you know, you can imagine you come in and there's all the high-quality supplement brands. They're all white and boring, but they work really well. And they have all MDs behind them, or PhDs or dietitians like myself, but they're boring and no one knows how to use them, and there's no community building. So you have those type of brands, and then you have influencer brands. Great marketing, great team, great brand, like everything is good, but they don't have that medical background. So, you know, you have these big brands that are like um, you know, just for bloating. You take a product just for bloating, but it doesn't actually heal you, and you have to take it all the time. You know what I mean? You can never get rid of it because it's not healing you from the root cause. So, how I built gut personal is trying to bridge both of those, like an MD, RD brand that's really high quality supplements, terrible marketing, terrible personalization, terrible connection with more the influencer. I'm really good at connection. I'm really good at marketing. So I think to answer your question, you don't have to have an RDMD background. However, I think it's been really helpful for me because the products really work well. Because I was have been in the space for over a decade. So I've actually worked with clients and been able to see like how do we really heal from the root cause instead of just band-aid approach that a lot of these influencer wellness brands are doing.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Yeah. And I think you bring up such a good point because we have been talking a lot about as an agency. Um, our agency has everything from consumer to corporate to healthcare to now our new beauty practice. And we have experts in every arena. Um, we have Dr. Kevin Shaw, who is an expert in healthcare. And he and I had a discussion actually about the intersection of beauty and healthcare, and how a lot of these brands are kind of finding a middle ground, but they're also having to navigate like getting clinicals. And supplement brands is one that we brought up a couple of times because there is a very gray area for supplement brands. Yes. And it's hard to know either if they've run any clinicals or if it's backed by someone with an expertise, um, or if it's just like marketing jargon and marketing fluff, what is working, what's not. And it's it's also really hard from a founder-led brand standpoint because you have limited resources, limited funds. And so you have to make certain decisions to sustain the brand.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

But a good product that works is the baseline. And we always say that, right? Especially now. The consumer's not going to spend their money if at the end of the day it's not good and it's not actually working. And I can attest to the fact that I have used Gut Personal, they work amazingly well. My kids use the Defender Juniors. I mean, that has helped us avoid the flu and any of the other yucky things that go around school. And so you've done all the research, you've partnered with the right people, you obviously have an expertise, but what was really important to you when building the brand?

SPEAKER_01 9:21

I mean, so yeah, the product development was really easy for me. Like that, that part, it's so funny when I tell people I have a supplement brand, they're like, oh my God, product development, that's so difficult. No, that's actually the easy part. You know, I'm a dietitian, a functional dietitian. The marketing was like the thing that I had to learn. And I think, you know, I hired a really expensive marketing agency to launch Gut Personal. And I spent a lot of money on that. And I'm glad that I did because, you know, it had to launch the brand. So and I didn't know how to do that. Um, and so I've had to learn. But then what's come like really like one of my gifts is connection and relationship building, right? And so when you're when you're growing a brand, that is so important. So I've been able to do that. But the marketing side, honestly, and you know, I've hired you to help us with like how should we do this in a bigger way? You know, so you just have to have like the right experts. You have to know what you're good at and then what to hire out.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Yeah, I think that's a really good lesson for a lot of people building brands and also even brands that are larger. It's like hiring the right people strategically throughout phases of the business. Like the business is gonna change every year. Yes. I mean, at this pace, every couple of months, like the market is changing. I mean, it's brands are having a hard time keeping up. And so having strategic people in your corner that you can rely on in those moments of navigating change becomes a way to sustain growth and longevity for your brand.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Yeah, absolutely. And I think too, with those like targeted people like you with PR and brand building, and then also like right now we're hiring a fractional head of growth and and just really knowing when to hire those people because you know, as a small brand, as a startup, you can't hire everyone in the beginning. I wish I could, right? Um, and that's part of fundraising, that's part of what we need. But even still, you don't want to use investor dollars to just go hire everyone. You have to know those inflection points. You have to know when to do it.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

And the runway. Yes. So, from where you sit, what do you think is, and maybe it's like looking back, I would have changed this, or if I knew this today, I would have started X, Y, and Z. When you have funds that you're gonna have to ultimately spread out over time, where do you think brands in the world of supplements specifically? Because obviously there's everything from considering clinical trials, which are costly, to marketing, which is costly. Again, to PR, which can be costly, all the things. Where do you think that brands in the world of supplements have to be considering for you know creating a brand from the start?

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Partnerships, affiliate program, like really helped build our company for the first three years. We didn't spend any money on paid ads.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

So tell us a little bit about those that partnerships and what you've created with your affiliate program.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yeah, so we do we work with affiliates on a commission basis, and you know, of course, it's changing kind of right now with what affiliates want and what creators want. But for the first three years from 2021 to 2024, that was the main way we grew. And so, you know, our affiliates give their followers a discount, they make commission, and it worked really well for us. And we had, you know, a program of a couple hundred people. But what's interesting about having a couple hundred people, you have like your top 10 people that will actually drive sales, and then you have your drive sales people, and then you have your drive brand people, right? Where like I want this person taking this because I want to be affiliated with them and the quality of person that they are and the quality of person that their followers are. That's one person. And then you have, you know, a lot of our top 10 are like health coaches, right? Where they're constantly recommending it to their clients. They're they're seen as the expert in the wellness space. So we kind of see our affiliates in two different ways. And um, yeah, it's kind of changing. I mean, it's kind of adjacent to the beauty space of what's changing. Like, I want to know your whole routine. I just don't want to know one brand you're taking.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Yes, I know it's funny. And I think that's also a really interesting point. In the world of supplements, there is some like mix and matching happening, but obviously your brand has so many different kinds that ultimately you could be used across the board for a lot of things, and maybe people are buying some ancillary supplements. But is that something that you're finding even in the last like year has changed with how people are incorporating things into their supplemental, like supplement routine?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Um, I think so. I think in the last year, I think the biggest thing that's changed with the affiliate marketing is is the routine versus like this one-off product. Like I want to see it all versus like I just want to know what magnesium does. Yeah. So I feel like that's what's changing the most. Um, like personally, you know, in my routine, I've been adding some like optimizers in, you know, I'm postpartum right now. And so like changing up what I'm prioritizing personally. And I think we're we're seeing that too. Like people are really starting to deeply heal, but then they're like, oh, I'm adding in creatine because I want my brain to work better. I want more lean muscle.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

And creatine is the even my husband's talking about creatine. My husband doesn't talk about anything that's ever in the media. So I'm like, what? What? Yeah. I'm like, what have you been on Instagram? Yes. Because everyone is talking about creatine. Obviously, everyone's talking about. I mean, it started with the trend of everyone just talking about protein and protein maxing and getting all your protein. And now it's like muscle and building muscle is the key to longevity. So everyone's out there like F45, just like working out. And now it's like creatine, but if you don't take your creatine, like your muscle's gonna break down faster. There's a lot of information. It's like information overload, but you're hearing it from so many different ways. But creatine has been like taking the market by storm. Yes. Like that's insane. From from your perspective, do you think that supplements are trend-based, or it's just that people are now, they have more access to more information about the body and longevity, so they're getting more curious.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

I think probably getting more curious. Like people want to feel better than ever. And I think there's this tone of I deserve to feel better. You know what I mean? Like, I think in the 90s, if I think back to kind of what my childhood was, and my mom would go to the doctor and she's like, I'm tired, I'm not going to the bathroom. The doctor would be like, That, that's normal. You know what I mean? And like totally be dismissed. And now us women especially are like waking up to the idea of like, no, no, no, no. Like these symptoms, I'm not gonna live with them anymore. I deserve to feel really good. And what can I do to feel that way? So, you know, how we're usually helping clients is like, okay, let's get to the root of it. Like, let's actually figure out why you don't feel that way, shift that. And then once we heal that, we can like optimize and feel really good.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Yeah, I know. I've I've myself gone through like quite the health journey. I mean, I've taken like every test from like SIBO to like the I've done it all. The poop test. Literally, like you name it. I'm like blood work every other week because I have like severe gut issues, which I'm now working on. But it can be really overwhelming if you don't have someone guiding you through that, you know, that process because it's information overload. And again, we were talking about this in the world of like healthcare. Everyone is going on like TikTok or AI to diagnose themselves with something. And that's also kind of a little bit of a scary world because you they're not leaning in on an expert to ask questions back to them so that they're having this discussion. Yeah. And so you have this platform and this way of communicating with your clients. So that, and I I don't know like how many people realize that this is really a key differentiator in your business in general, is that like, yes, it's the supplements, but also it's the care.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

I mean, absolutely like the care, the follow-up support. So whether, you know, you come to us and you're feeling like really crappy in your body and you're having a lot of gut issues, we do testing. But if not, like if you don't want to do testing, we offer calls with our registered dietitians free for free. No company is doing this. And, you know, some people may say, like, oh, that's not scalable. You're paying someone for a free service. But listen, when you walk into a pharmacy, like when I was working in the holistic pharmacy, people would walk in, they'd be like, I'm bloated, I'm constipated, and I have acne. Like, help me out here. I would probably ask like three follow-up questions. Okay, so where is the acme? And when do you feel most bloated or tired? Then I could think about with my functional medicine lens, okay, what's the root cause of that to give you the right couple supplements? And so we're actually doing that at scale. And we offer free dietitian calls to just personalize supplements because you shouldn't have to worry and wonder about like what should I be taking? We can help.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Yeah. And you shouldn't have to just be winging it.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Oh, absolutely. Especially not with supplements. You could be taking too much of something, the wrong thing. I mean, probiotics sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 18:04

And you might have to change your supplements. I just I just learned that the hard way. Three months in. I'm like, what? I just got used to remembering how many of these pills I had to take, and now we have to change it. But you know, having somebody there and it makes it more accessible for people. Because let me just tell you, it is not cheap to figure out your gut health. No, it's not. It's an investment.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

But you know what? I I was thinking about this recently because someone said that. And then I was like, but do you know how much wasted time I spent in doctor's offices? Time and like copace. How much that added up to get to the end and feel no better. And so I think there's like this trade-off, and I, you know, it's not cheap. It's it's really not. Like, you know, my husband's like, dear God, you know, all the all the things that I take, you're like, thank God I have a company. It's like all the pills.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

Bring it in, bring it in. Um, I'm like, and this one is to help with my glowing skin. Yes, I know. I'm in the beauty space. And I'm like, and also the serious stuff. Like, I also have my stuff, but I'm like, and also this is for hair growth.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

I mean, seriously. Like our gut and skin probiotic. Speaking of like creatine popping off, gut and skin is just so big right now. So I I just feel like, um, yeah, people more than ever want this.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

They do. And I think that you're giving people a more accessible way to talk to an expert if they're feeling either intimidated or they're feeling like financially it's a barrier to entry into figuring out their own health. Because listen, in the long run, I always say you don't pay for it now, you pay for it in the long run with your health. And that's the truth. But at the end of the day, the consumer is getting smarter with where they're putting their dollar, they're being more strategic with where they're putting their time. But a company like Gut Personal, you're giving people access to your team so that they can actually ask the right questions, be asked the right questions back and come up with like a formula that works for them. And then maybe in three months go back and be like, hey, like this hasn't changed. What do you recommend next? Or this is seems to really be working, but now I have this thing. So I think that you're creating kind of like a an easy avenue, which I really commend because a lot of brands are navigating now how to offer a certain service that competes with the fact that people are just asking like chat GBT. They're like diagnosing themselves on chat GBT. And I mean, it's scary. And and listen, it's a good thing and it's a bad thing. Yeah. Right? Like we have more access and more resources. So that's wonderful. Yeah. And I think that allows us to get smarter and to go to our doctor with more questions that we want to advocate for ourselves. And at the same time, like maybe we're avoiding certain conversations with professionals that are critical. Yes. In order to actually optimize our health.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I've I've played, I listen, I love ChatGPT and I've played with like supplement questions. And sometimes it's spot on, and sometimes it's really wrong and like scary wrong, where you're like, ooh, I actually wouldn't do that like at all. I wouldn't take high dose probiotics when I have SIBO. You know what I mean? I learned that too. I mean, yeah, I learned it enough from Chat GPT. Chat GPT told me the same thing. You really do. Yeah, and then you don't feel good, and then you don't trust supplements. And supplements are not the problem, it's the recommendation and it's the plan for you. It's not just you need another pill to heal, you need that right plan. And so, yeah, that's that's really what we do. And, you know, who knows uh if AI will replace that? I hope not. And I I would guess not.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

I think that there's ways that AI, that companies will optimize with AI, but at the end of the day, I think that it's always gonna come back to needing real advice from a human who has either lived experience, has a caseload of people. I think that yes, brands can use and leverage AI to maybe like funnel a lot of their pre existing information into and then help kind of get to the source faster. But at the end of the day, like having a professional beside the business will always be a value to a business. You know, it's like you need that credential in in some. Capacity and if the capacity changes, like it it's a pendulum, right? It goes changes one year, and the next year something else becomes more important. Yeah. Um, well, the wellness aisle is more crowded than ever. And because consumers are becoming more, and I don't know if you're seeing this, but I do feel like they're becoming a little bit more like weary.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Uh-huh. Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

Everything. It's funny to me because everybody wants to optimize their health. It's like longevity and biohacking. It's like the thing. But also, like people are a little bit scared. Yeah. They're like, does this really work? Right. You know? And so are you getting people that are coming to you? And is there any defiance on them incorporating supplements? Are there they asking more questions? Are you seeing like more inbound inquiries of people who are like trying things, or because you've been able to build trust, maybe you're not facing those issues as a supplement brand. But I'm just curious, you know?

SPEAKER_01 22:58

We we probably don't um we don't hear that as much because of the way wet that we market, right? Is very much like affiliate-driven, word of mouth. If we start doing more ads, then we get more um questions. Questions. Questions, in like uh well-meaning questions, but like, you know, are you third-party tested? Of course we are. I mean, every supplement company worth taking is third-party tested. You know what I mean? So I think consumers are getting more educated, but mainly the main ways that we market and the way main ways that we acquire customers, like they come to us already trusting us because they're trusting someone else.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

Well, it's so funny too, because we asked a question to a crowd yesterday, actually, when I was with Dr. Kavan, and we said, when you buy your supplements, and we made by a raise of hands them answer a few reasons why they take those supplements or they invest in their supplements. And, you know, one was like the marketing, one was like because a celebrity use it, one was like because you've been referred it by someone who has taken it. That was the biggest show of hands. It's like this word of mouth recommendation. It's like someone heard another person say that this supplement worked and that they, you know, absolutely love. I mean, I saw Megan Hool post about Defender that I got Defender, and I was like, oh, Regina wears pink, so I wear pink. I'm like, well, now I'm gonna get it and I'm gonna like use it for my kids. And then you and I talk about it all the time because I think that there is this opportunity to learn from like the people around you that you really trust, or that you've built some type of like rapport with affiliates and affiliate programs. And from a PR standpoint, we all we sometimes have to like educate our clients on exactly what that is. It's different from like straight UGC content. Oh, absolutely. You know? Yeah. And you as a brand have done it really, really well. It's like, of course, there's a place and a need for UGC. And there's a lot of supplement brands that are leaning into UGC on like mass scale. Yeah. But at the end of the day, those affiliate programs, they're typically tapping into like a micro, micro community of people that really trust them. Yes. That are already kind of like in their circle. Yeah. And so it's really cool that you've been able to strike that balance. Yeah. Um, would you say that today it's still where you put the most time and resources into that affiliate group, or is it now expanding?

SPEAKER_01 25:19

No, that's such a good question because you know, I just took a maternity leave and um coming back, I was really trying to realign with what was my role in the business as the founder and partnerships and specifically our affiliate program is so important to the business that I actually spend time there, that I text our top 10 affiliates. Like my top affiliate, we text multiple times a week. Okay, I give her ideas, we just connect, we connect on how her daughter is. Like, I'm so well connected personally to our affiliates, and that's something it's not that I don't want to give up because we used to have a director of partnerships, and she was wildly helpful, but I know that I drive so much success for the business when I'm involved in it. And so, you know, that that's really important for us and where I'm spending time as a founder. I think there's this, there's this thought right now with founders just need to be like founder-led brands, and we just need to do content. And like, listen, I'm the CEO as well. And so I have to drive revenue, even if it's not a founder-y thing. Um, and so where my gifts are, I have to spend time doing that. And that's our affiliate program.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

Yeah, and you know, I tell a lot of founders and a lot of executives and a lot of team members, and it's always been kind of a mission that I believe in when leading team in general, but like spend time in your highest and best. Yeah. Right. And yes, there's always gonna be things that maybe aren't your absolute highest and best that you have to do. And maybe in some cases it's people who like know that they have to get in front of the camera and do some founder content. And so they do it because they have to, but ultimately, 80% of their time is spent doing their highest and best because then you're like in your flow. Yes. And when you're in your flow, the success follows from there. Yeah. And you're kind of putting all the right people in the right places. Yeah. Well, I'm glad to hear that you kind of know exactly where you not only fuel the company, but where it also fuels you. I feel like you like really shine in that arena. I see you in like the close friends and all the like things, all the the channel on the broadcast channel. Well, you taught me to do that.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

You're like, so we need a broadcast channel. I was like, hell yeah, I love this. And it's just been, I mean, it's it's these small things that we can learn from each other that I've learned from you, you know, and and um that have been like really fruitful. So it's great. Oh, I'm so glad to hear that.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

Yeah. All right. Well, what was the most successful, like scrappy marketing campaign that you've done since starting the brand?

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Okay, I I'm I'm just gonna think of the most recent because it was just hilarious. And this is where we're leaning into content in just a way that feels really funny to me and fun and light, and like not trying to go viral, like just being us. So we just launched Creatine and um we printed out a big sign, like a I don't know, kind of like a fabric sign from Staples, probably like $80. And we put it on the side of my Mercedes and drove around my neighborhood in Raleigh. And I parked the car outside of like the bougie um yoga studio that I go to. And it was, you know, your wellness girly creatine is coming. And it was pre-launched, and then um we ran around um Raleigh and like I had my dietitians like hold up the sign while people were walking by. And it was, it was so cringe, so hilarious, and it's my best performing content in the last year.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

Oh my god. And when did you launch the creatine?

SPEAKER_01 28:49

We launched it um beginning of February.

SPEAKER_00 28:51

Okay, amazing. How's it been doing? It's wonderful. Yeah. I feel like it's a real moment for creatine. I mean, I mean a real moment. Is it a powder? Is it a powder? Okay, okay. You do so well with the powders. What helps you make decisions on whether something's gonna be powder form, a gummy form, a chewable form, a pill form?

SPEAKER_01 29:08

So, like our magnesium and our gut soother, those are like our best-selling products. We really want to help women create better rituals, like something that really feels like they're giving back to themselves. Pills sometimes don't feel that way. And so, like our night, right?

SPEAKER_00 29:23

Not when you're taking 20 of them every three hours. I mean, God bless. Just throw them back, right? I mean, one of my friends was like, no, take three at a time. I'm like, three at a time. Oh, I can do that. I'm making it. Oh my God. Are you kidding? No way. I know. No way. I literally take one at a time. So you imagine it takes me an hour to get through supplements. That's why I love gut personal because they just mix it in my drink. I'm like, oh, this is so much easier.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Yeah. I mean, so yeah, powders help create a ritual and you don't have to take pills, but it it's funny, like our gut soother, we get asked for it to be a pill. And so just people want different things. But, you know, a lot the powders do great. Yeah, they're awesome.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

When it comes to the creatine, knowing that the market is getting more crowded with it, how do you stand out as a brand?

SPEAKER_01 30:09

I think, you know, our whole mission is how we stand out, you know, really helping women feel amazing, getting to the root cause. Our creatine's not meant to be better than someone else's. Like it is the highest quality, it's the right form, it's the right dose, and our creatine's unflavored. So you can add it into other things that you're already doing. It's not just one extra step. And you have to take it every day. You don't. You don't? No, no. And I think, you know, most supplements you don't need to take every day. Like magnesium, yes, please, dear God, take it every day because we're so deficient. But you don't, you don't have to do it every day. And so I just think about our whole ecosystem and our mission when we create products. I'm not trying to create a product that is like so differentiated. It's kind of just fits into our girlies' routine.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

You know what I mean? I don't have to do something crazy with creatine, like add ginger to it or add amino acids.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

Do you know what I mean? Does it ever get overwhelming to look at the market and see all these different brands that are popping up and some of them have a lot of funding or a big celebrity? Like, how do you as a founder stay hyper focused on your brand and building your brand and not let all the noise of what other brands are doing dictate your decisions?

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Oh my God, it's such a good question because I could get so in the weeds, right? And I think there's been maybe like last year where I was so in my head of like, oh my God, they have such great marketing, they have so much funding, like they're growing way faster than us, and um, we have as good of products, but it it just doesn't serve me, right? And I don't think it serves any founder to look at what other people are doing. If I go back and I was, you know, tearing up the other day, thinking about like how many lives we've changed, like literally, like thinking of the women and just being in a room. I think I was doing a meditation and I just saw this room of women who like we had helped, and I saw like familiar faces. And I was like, that's why I'm doing this. You know, yes, I'm gonna have a huge exit at the end, but I'm like doing it for that mom that needs to have more energy. I'm doing it for um, you know, the kid that can't poop or can't sleep, who's was my daughter. You know what I mean? I'm doing it for the individual, and then it's gonna scale. And if I look at what too many other brands are doing, I lose sight of that.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

Yeah. So what I'm hearing and what I'm very proud of is that you have a very clear mission. Yeah. And a lot of people start brands because they either saw a hole in the market or they know that they were gonna be good at this one thing, but then they forget to do the work of actually identifying what their larger mission is because that's your North Star. It's your guiding light. And and that's the work that we do is to really help brands find that mission and allow that to be the lens of which you say yes and no to certain things. It kind of also keeps you going at times where like there's doors shut in your face. It's like you know that if it can serve the bigger mission of what you have and what you are doing to change the world or make an impact, that you'll keep going when it's really hard. So I love hearing that so much because the proof is in the pudding. It's like when you have a mission, it keeps you going, even on the hardest days, or even when there's like competition knocking at your door. Um, and I think that it's very, very evident in every decision that you make as a founder that it lives and breathes through you. Is there anything that you're doing with the team, or from a comms perspective or from a marketing perspective, where that mission right there is like woven in every day? Like, how are you kind of keeping it at the forefront?

SPEAKER_01 33:40

Within my team internally, oh my gosh. Okay, so this is something that we're really like focused on as a team is pouring into ourselves first before work. And so if we don't live that, which we've had team members who are definitely not living that, then how can we, how can we say, like, you need to take care of yourself? Our tagline, one of them is you deserve to feel amazing. But if we're not pouring into ourselves first, like how can we actually live that? And so something I've been infusing on our Monday team calls is like, how did you support yourself in feeling amazing? How do you need to support yourself in feeling amazing this week?

SPEAKER_00 34:14

And it's actually been really powerful for right to really powerful. That's a great tidbit of advice for a CEO in any company. Yeah, is just asking the question back to your team and then being able to like allow that to be like a talking point amongst everyone. And then it also gives you a good barometer of how you can support your team too.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

Absolutely. Yes, because I'm like, did you go on your walk today?

SPEAKER_00 34:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

Yeah. Or, you know, they're holding me accountable too. Um, you know, being postpartum and getting back into an exercise routine. I've talked to them. I'm like, okay, I I am not available Monday mornings, Wednesday mornings, or Friday mornings, because that's what I need to do. So if I lead from that, if I do that, it infuses, and then we can also, you know, talk about it too.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

Yeah, I love it. And I also have to say, I'm just so I admire you so much as a as a mom myself and someone who understands like the ups and downs of entrepreneurship and brand building. I really admire you for all that you're doing while raising kids. It's not easy, but you have such a passion and it like really shows and it's and it shows in the product. It really does. And I think that like if we talk about the baseline of a of a product coming to market being that it needs to be good, I feel like gut personal is such a great example of that because the products are so good, they really work, and they have a founder behind it that really believes in it and wants every single day to make sure that you're giving the best for the community. So if someone buys gut personal today for the first time, what do you hope that they leave with clarity?

SPEAKER_01 35:42

Clarity on what they need to do to feel better, to feel amazing. Yeah.

unknown 35:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:47

Yeah. For themselves.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

Good. All right. Well, last bit of this is we do branded banter. Oh. It's rapid fire. All right. Rapid fire. This is my favorite part of podcasts. And listen, what quick answers, one answer, do the best you can, all right? Perfect. What's your one holy grail product? If you lost it tomorrow, you'd replace it immediately. Magnesium. A thousand percent. Amazing. I'll also second that. What's one product you're trying you're officially breaking up with and never buying again? Oh, Jesus. Beauty or wellness? Any, yeah, beauty or wellness category. Oh my god, nipple covers. Free the nipple. Founder led or celebrity brand. Founder led. Let's go, baby. We don't have to be celebrated. Organic influencer seating or pay partnerships. Depends on the alignment with an influencer or creator. Virality or longevity? Longevity. Big budget campaign or scrappy idea with cultural relevance. I mean, hello, creatine scrappy. There we go. What's the most overrated word in marketing right now? Community if you don't do it right. One word that'll define the next era of beauty and wellness brands. Authenticity. If you were launching a brand tomorrow, what's the first thing you'd obsess over?

SPEAKER_01 37:03

Community?

SPEAKER_00 37:07

Team, team, team. I love it. All right. Well, thank you so much, Bridget, for joining us. We're so excited to have you on Brandly Speaking. And I'm just so honored to be not only a customer, but also someone that I look to, and I really look up to you and everything you're building. So thank you again for your time. You're the best. Thank you so much. This podcast is for informational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies or positions of MMC or any of its affiliates. Guest appearances do not constitute an endorsement.