Five-year-old Biossance has registered October 14 as International Squalane Day, in honor of its hero ingredient.
The brand is celebrating globally the new holiday it conceived in the 15 countries where the Amyris-owned brand is available to purchase. Some celebrations are elaborate. In Australia, for example, the brand is taking over Bondi tourist hotspot Icebergs Pool, by emblazoning its logo on the bottom. A tagline beneath the brand’s name reads “Skincare that saves sharks,” as the brand’s squalane is derived from fermented sugarcane. In the U.S., it’s offering on its website a gift with purchase, which is a special size of its 100% Squalane Oil, to introduce more customers to the ingredient.
Beyond IRL activations, social media campaigns and paid partnerships, Biossance will promote the event on BeReal. To do so, the brand tapped people, primarily across its own team, passing around the brand’s account for the 20 days leading up to October 14. It dubbed the campaign “Biossance Besties.”
“We’ve curated the schedule to feature a mix of content creators and Biossance team members, who are provided access to our account for one day. They log in and post content in real-time with the Biossance products they have with them. They’re showing their authentic usage and love for the brand, having it on them throughout the day,” said Heather Mitchell, Biossance’s vp of global marketing.
“All of our content channels will be focused on awareness, from our dot-com to our email program, to all of our social channels. BeReal is the new app that’s been trending,” said Catherine Gore, global brand president at Biossance. The brand announced its BeReal debut on September 25 via its Instagram (521,000 followers) and TikTok (16,000 followers) accounts.
“We chose to launch a BeReal channel because of the app’s mission to capture of-the-moment pics that represent the users’ everyday life,” said Mitchell. Thus far, Biossance team members’ BeReal posts have focused on how they use the brand’s products and make the most of squalane. “You might see people using it in their hair, as a cuticle cure. It’s meant to show all the different ways people use squalane as a regular hydrator. A lot of people use it as a moisturizer. You might see a few [of their] significant others pop in to [use it] as a beard oil,” Gore said. Of course, because BeReal is only imagery, with no video component, there are limitations to how much can be demonstrated on the platform.
After the campaign, the brand will “shift gears and strategies to lean into what’s working with BeReal,” Gore said, adding, “We’ll listen to the community. This takeover is a new step for us. But on the heels of it, we want to understand and learn, and then plan our content as a result. We’re always in pivot mode,” Gore said.
While Biossance has chosen to focus BeReal, it is also using more traditional platforms, as well. It has paid partnerships on Instagram Reels with Jonathan Van Ness (5.6 million followers), founder of JVN Hair, an Amyris sister brand, as well as Julia Von Berolzheimer (1.3 million followers) and Nicolette Mason (223,000 followers).
