• by Christine Bittar , December 5, 2006

Natural toiletries/cosmetics brand Burt's Bees is expanding its product line and retail presence. The once hippie-esque niche brand, which started with beeswax-based lip balm, plans to launch 16 new items across six different categories.

Next year's entries include a collection of products targeting moms called Mama Bee, in addition to hair care items, body care items, and chemical-free sunscreen. Shipping in March, Mama Bee should be in stores in time for Mother's Day gift-giving. The collection will be comprised of products for mom only, rather than for mom to use on a baby, and includes Belly Butter, Nourishing Body Oil with Vitamin E, and Soothing Leg & Foot Crème.

The new product activity accompanies a growth in company sales from $44 million in 2002 to more than $100 million last year. Founded in 1984 by Roxanne Quimby, who helped build the business with beekeeper Burt Shavitz, Quimby sold 80 percent of the company in 2003 to AEA Investors, a Manhattan-based buyout firm, for $177 million.

Since the buyout, Burt's Bees entered the hair care category, and in January will add Very Volumizing Pomegranate & Soy shampoo and conditioner and Hair Repair Shea Butter & Grapefruit Deep Conditioner. The new sunscreen is Chemical Free Sunscreen with Hemp Oil SPF 15, and uses microfine titanium dioxide minerals for UVA and UVB protection.

Other new products shipping in January include Thoroughly Therapeutic Honey & Grapeseed Oil Hand Creme, Radiance Body Lotion with Royal Jelly and Linden Flower & Aloe After Sun Soother.

A print and online ad campaign will break next year. Ad concepts are still being worked on, said a spokesperson from Burt's Bees' public relations agency.

The brand's first ad campaign launched last year, with print ads, radio ads, and a Web site via BrandBuzz, New York, which is part of Young & Rubicam. The campaign coincided with a push into more mainstream, mass retail outlets. Once sold primarily in specialty shops, book stores, and health food stores, Burt's Bees last year rolled out to CVS and Walgreens, and this year was introduced in Target.

The green company made its first entry into the color cosmetics arena in 1999, launching lip colors, powders and cheek colors. The color collection, however, has not been as widely accepted as some of the brand's other items such as lotions and soaps.

The spokesperson said "color isn't a priority," and the company is discontinuing some color SKUs, but will continue to sell lip shimmers. Lip shimmers are virtually the same as lip balm, only with color. Lip balm is still Burt's best-selling item, the spokesperson said.