Says Dwyane, “Our campaign is built off of us. And so, when we say, ‘build to last,’ like…this is built to last.”
A Thorne blooming with new possibilities
For Thorne, the campaign with the Wades—their first-ever global one—marks a turning point in a company that began almost 40 years ago as a manufacturer that sold directly to doctors.
Founded in 1984, the brand was acquired by its current leadership in 2010 and branched out into conventional medicine, collaborating with The Mayo Clinic and the United State Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOC), and establishing strong clinical credibility amongst its clientele prior to launching direct-to-consumer in 2018.
We’re so aligned, which is what we’re kind of trying to weave into the brand campaign.
Michelle Crow, Thorne CMO
“Within the last few years, we invested in one national brand awareness campaign each year to really get the message about Thorne out,” Michelle Crow, Thorne’s CMO, told Adweek. “Why we’re different. Who we are. And then, this year, we wanted to do something different. We’re really trying to build a trusted, luxury, consumer health brand.”
Crow told Adweek Thorne historically leaned into animation in previous brand marketing, citing a reluctance to “dive into live action” to maintain a luxury aesthetic. But the brand could not pass up an opportunity to work with the Wades, who they’d learned were already devoted clients.
“They’ve been fantastic partners,” says Crow. “They’ve been really fun and honest, and I think the thing that has been most exciting is their genuine interest in learning more about where they’re at and what they should be doing whether it’s [a] different diet, exercise or supplementation or testing. It’s been kind of a very open, collaborative approach to working together, which has been great.”
She continued, “Philosophically, we’re so aligned, which is what we’re kind of trying to weave into the brand campaign from a messaging and creative standpoint. So, kind of really paralleling the grit, patience, determination, relentless pursuit of excellence across the Wades as well as those are kind of the key values of Thorne and who we are and our legacy.”
Crow told Adweek the brand was excited to feature both Dwyane and Zaire, who she notes are in “such different phases of their life,” because it gave them an opportunity to show consumers the breadth of their product offerings and how there’s “something for everyone at every age and life stage.”
“Once you’re in our ecosystem, you really stay with us for a long time because we could be your partner for life,” she said.
Still, with a network of over 47,000 health professionals and 6 million consumers and a direct sales pipeline to over 100 professional locker rooms across sports leagues in the United States, the brand sees an opportunity to become an even more formidable player in the health and wellness space soon.