Katie Sturino, the content creator, body-acceptance advocate and founder of Megababe, a body care brand that makes solution-oriented products like a best-selling thigh-chafing stick, is going to have a big summer.
For starters, on May 9, Sturino appeared on “Making the Shift: A New Way to Think About Weight,” a Weight Watchers special hosted by Oprah, which was live-streamed on WeightWatchers’s YouTube channel.
The appearance resulted from Sturino’s reaction to the previous March special, “An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution,” which featured medical experts as well as everyday people, of which Sturino was openly critical on Instagram. In the video she posted, Sturino said, “[Sima Sistani, Weight Watchers’s CEO] got so close to saying, ‘We really got this wrong, and we’re sorry for saying it was just willpower or that one body is worse than the other, and we’re sorry for all the toxic things we put into diet culture.’”
Sistani responded to Sturino’s criticism and ultimately made a public apology on behalf of the company. On Instagram, Sistani said, “[Sturino] noted that I participated [in the conversation] and that I came this close to apologizing. Katie, I want you to know I am sorry. What I said on that special, that it’s not your fault: I learned that from you. And not only is it not your fault, I can’t speak for the intent of people who led this company before I joined two years ago, but what I can speak to is who we are now and who we are going to be moving forward. And part of that is acknowledging the past, where we played any part in the shame that people carry with them — I apologize.”
Sturino already has a large personal platform, which includes 805,000 followers on Instagram. But she told Glossy that appearing on the Oprah special was the biggest platform she’s ever had to amplify the message she’s been sharing all along: that women should live their lives to the fullest, regardless of size.
On the special, Sturino told Oprah, “I am personally tired of women feeling bad about their bodies for no reason. I’m done with it … let’s make the change.”
An appearance with Oprah is undeniably huge and resulted in an Instagram Story in which Sturino wrote that she was “currently in the process of finding a new life goal since [she] got to meet Oprah.” But her brand, Megababe, has some big things happening this summer, too. From May to August, it will host its first IRL pop-up at the Boston Seaport.
“I have always wanted a physical retail presence [beyond the brand’s retailers, which include Ulta and Walmart]. This is the first time we’ve been able to make it a reality … we’ve been in discussion with WS Development [the team behind the Boston Seaport] for a while about where to pop up, but it all just seemed too overwhelming. Now, we finally have the right people on our team,” Sturino said. The pop-up will offer the full suite of Megababe’s product assortment, and guests will receive a free refrigerated Shower Sheet — the brand’s version of a full-body wipe — which, Sturino said, will be refreshing on hot summer days.
Megababe launched in 2017. The delay in dedicated retail has essentially come down to patience, according to Sturino. While many companies “were taking a lot of funding and spending it on marketing, and not focusing on profitability at all, we never followed that model. We were always focused on profitability and grew really slowly which means we missed out on a lot of big marketing opportunities early on,” Sturino said. While “still small,” the brand is “now in a place where we can invest in some of these more traditional, visible marketing channels,” Sturino told Glossy. The business, which is now worth over eight figures, Sturino told Glossy, grew over 40% in 2023 and has been up at least 33% every year since it launched seven years ago.
In terms of traditional marketing channels, in addition to the pop-up, the brand made its biggest marketing investment yet by launching its first-ever 360-degree marketing campaign, including a TV commercial starring model Hunter McGrady. Sturino said she wanted to advertise on streaming, having watched TV, been advertised to and observed the impact herself. The campaign features stills, social media, digital and OOH assets, and will be featured on buses in New York, Boston and Chicago later this summer.
Regarding the campaign’s “Superwoman” theme, Sturino said, “Who embodies that woman more than Hunter McGrady?”
“It’s a lot of pressure to decide what direction you’re gonna go in. … This is a very deliberate decision to put our money in this area. But I do feel it’s necessary for brand awareness to have that type of visibility on the streaming services,” Sturino said of the brand’s first ad. “The product is incredible. So many people need it. … It’s just that getting in front of those people is really challenging because the world is so noisy. And this really feels like the first time we’re gonna be able to break through some of the noise.”
After all, Sturino said, “Ten years ago, would you ever have seen an advertisement about chafe?”
