Blackmores launches first brand blitz in six years to push Australians back to full health

Vitamins maker Blackmores is seeking to capitalise on pent-up demand for the outdoors as it launches its first major brand campaign in six years.

Supplements giant Blackmores is aiming for 1 billion customers by 2025.

Vitamins maker Blackmores is aiming to capitalise on lockdown lethargy, launching its first major brand campaign in six years, as Australia’s two biggest states open up and more people get off the couch and enjoy the freedom of the outdoors.

The company, headquartered on Sydney’s Northern Beaches – where fitness was usually an obsession any time of the year but had been subdued during NSW’s prolonged lockdown – was due to launch its master brand campaign domestically on Sunday night before hitting overseas markets.

The campaign is part of the company ramping up its strategy to broaden its revenue base to sell to one billion customers by 2025, which has included looking beyond China and exporting to India for the first time in August.

It comes as the federal Health Department warns more than half of adult Australians are failing to meet the minimum daily physical activity requirements – with Covid-19 compounding idle behaviour, putting people at greater risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other health conditions.

Blackmores chief executive Alastair Symington said the “Good Health Changes Everything” campaign aimed to connect the company’s 90-year history in a contemporary setting.

He said while Covid-19 had created a greater emphasis on health, it had also left many Australians “feeling worse than before the pandemic regarding their physical and mental wellbeing”.

“As the country reaches the more than 80 per cent vaccination rates where Australians are now going to re-engage with their health journeys … there will be a real need for empowerment from consumers to take back control of their wellbeing,” Mr Symington said.

“At the same time it (the campaign) builds on the concept that Blackmores has always been a leader in providing natural health solutions for over 90 years in a contemporary, forward looking way.

“It then allows us to then reinforce the trust that we are looking to provide anyone re-engaging with their personal health. So this concept that good health changes everything is really the beginning of a well constructed, multi-level health initiative that focuses on all aspects of living a healthy life.”

Blackmores chief executive Alastair Symington says the company is aiming to help catapult Australians back into physical activity after months of lockdown.

The campaign, which will include national television advertisements, features images of Australians participating in a range of activities to enhance physical activity and wellbeing, including mediation by the beach, boxing and playing basketball with friends.

It is Blackmores’ first brand campaign since 2015 and aims to cement the company’s position as a leading provider of supplements and vitamins.

“We’ve seen advertising in the category decline through Covid-19 … If we go back to 2017-18, advertising in the category had declined and so for us to begin to reinvest back into the category, it provides more positive news around not just the brand but around taking control of your health outcomes as well,” Mr Symington said.

“We have such a rich history that has shaped the conversation around natural health for the better. This is something we will continue to take with us into the future, locally and globally – whether it’s to our strong Asian market, resulting in a launch in India, or our home base Australian market.”

The federal Health Department has acknowledged Covid-19 restrictions have created more sedentary behaviour, which it said can put people at a higher risk of health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and depression.

“Too many Australians are not active enough for various reasons, including poor health, injury and lack of time,” the Health Department said in advice issued earlier this year, adding that 55 per cent of adults fail to meet physical activity guidelines.

These guidelines, for most adults, include 2.5 to five hours of moderate intensity physical activity – such as a brisk walk, golf, mowing the lawn or swimming – or 1.25 to 2.5 hours of vigorous exercise like jogging.

“Covid-19 has added extra barriers to being active, especially for organised sport. Health concerns and restrictions – like school closures, gym closures and lockdowns – mean Australians had to change how and how often they are active,” the Health Department said.

“This has affected children the most. An Ausplay study found that while almost three in four adults stayed active in 2020, only one in six kids exercised outside of school.”

New NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has fast-tracked NSW’s reopening, with some aspects of normal life and freedoms to return sooner than expected.

While school will resume as scheduled for kindergarten, and years 1 and 12 on October 18, all others will be back in classrooms on October 25, a week to a fortnight earlier than expected.