Rogaine Recasts Itself as a Brand for Women and Men Alike
Rogaine added some 150,000 consumers in a year, with women now making up half of medicated-treatment users, as its "Summer of Gains" platform recasts hair loss.
Updated
The brief
- About half of Rogaine's medicated-treatment consumers are women, and the brand has added roughly 150,000 consumers versus last year, per global head Salim Mokhtari.
- Hair-loss prevention is estimated at $3.14 billion this year and projected to reach $4.45 billion by 2031, according to Mordor Intelligence.
- Rogaine's 'Summer of Gains' platform launched this summer, including a New York pop-up, the Gain Lounge, during National Hair Loss Awareness Month in late August.
Rogaine has added roughly 150,000 consumers in the past year, and about half of the people using its medicated treatments are women, according to Salim Mokhtari, global head of Rogaine. That shift sits at the center of a full reinvention of how the brand goes to market.
For hair-loss prevention, Rogaine holds the kind of category-defining name recognition that marketers associate with Kleenex, Band-Aid or Sharpie. But name recognition alone no longer carries the brand. Changing attitudes toward hair loss among younger generations demand different messages, Mokhtari told Marketing Brew.
"There's a massive shift in the way consumers in general perceive hair loss as a problem—as a beauty problem—but also how they interact, therefore, with products," Mokhtari said. He pointed to a broad democratization of offerings and an expansion of scalp- and hair-health products overall as forces behind the changing views. "We're seeing [sentiment change] from being, 'A problem that I deal with by myself, and I don't really know what to do,' to 'I own the outcome of my hair health as an important step of my beauty [routine].'"
Summer of Gains
The brand's answer is "Summer of Gains," a marketing platform rolled out this summer that pitches proactive hair-loss prevention in a positive light to women and men building hair care into their broader beauty regimens. In late August, during National Hair Loss Awareness Month, Rogaine hosted an experiential pop-up in New York City called the Gain Lounge, designed to educate and entertain attendees.
"Moving the conversation from being very lonely, shy, and ashamed to putting the conversation around gaining confidence, embracing yourself is a core fundamental shift," Mokhtari said. "The whole point of calling it 'Summer of Gains' is really shifting the conversation from Rogaine and from hair loss to gaining more."
The strategy also leans on creators, including dermatologists, on social media, where younger consumers experiencing hair loss spend their time. Mokhtari described the approach as "community-based" and said the strategy comes down to showing up on social "truthfully, authentically."
A growing market
The category is expanding. Hair-loss prevention is estimated to be a $3.14 billion business this year, according to Mordor Intelligence data, and the research firm predicts it will reach $4.45 billion by 2031.
The conversation has moved from an insecurity many men dealt with privately to a beauty obstacle to overcome. Creators have built large followings documenting their hair regrowth journeys, and some even film trips to Turkey for hair transplants. That openness means some people now act to prevent hair loss earlier, a shift Mokhtari said has benefited Rogaine directly.
The changing conversation has also widened the target consumer. Many women experience female pattern hair loss, but the typical target demographic in the past was men. Now brands in the category are pursuing women, aiming to become a regular part of their larger beauty routines. Women are "highly engaged," Mokhtari said, because "losing hair can have an even bigger emotional impact."
The company frames its dual-gender positioning as a duty. "Rogaine is not a man's brand…It's a both-gender brand," Mokhtari said. "We take it as a responsibility to design products that can be used by men that fit their actual routine…but also designing products [that are] equally good, equally breakthrough for women to be able to fit in their routines."
The GLP-1 factor
The rise of GLP-1 drugs may also be fueling category growth. Hair loss can be a common side effect of the drugs, CNBC reported, giving hair-loss-prevention brands another potential pool of consumers.
As the market expands, Rogaine's marketers see their role as educators. "We have a responsibility to showcase what's actually working, and drive that conversation with a lot of openness, authenticity, and proximity," Mokhtari said. With the category projected to grow by more than $1.3 billion by 2031, that conversation—and the brands that lead it—stand to gain the most.
Based on bloomberg.com
Filed under brand-strategy, hair-care, experiential-marketing, creator-marketing, consumer-trends
Tom Whitfield
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Staff writer covering consumer brands and retail at Marketing Herald.