• by Les Luchter , July 10, 2023

Equating athleticism with the mental and physical demands of trying to have a baby, Ritual has launched “For the Real Body Builders,” the largest-ever marketing campaign from the seven-year-old subscription D2C marketer of women’s vitamins and supplements.

In the company’s first-ever TV spot, pregnant and TTC (trying to conceive) women are shown in a variety of pleasant and not-so-pleasant moments to promote Ritual’s prenatal multivitamins. Creative is handled in-house.

“When we surveyed our customers, we saw that 70% of them had experienced unforeseeable challenges, miscarriages, and pregnancy loss,” Kat Schneider, Ritual’s chief executive officer and founder, tells Marketing Daily. “And yet, only 4% felt like they were heard by brands during this vulnerable phase.”

Ritual is “one of the first brands to show what it’s actually like to try to get pregnant -- having an impact on culture by making women feel seen in marketing,” Schneider says (For another example of a brand using images of women trying to get pregnant, see here).

“For the Real Body Builders” is running on connected TV and streaming platforms, such as Hulu, Peacock and Disney, “with the goal of reaching women who are in the life stage of thinking or trying to conceive,” Schneider says. Tatari handles TV and online video buying.

“Our influencer partners will also be posting their own videos on their social media channels in a more raw format,” she adds, “sharing their honest stories about trying to conceive, and bringing attention to this important life stage.”

The campaign will run from four to six weeks. “We are hoping to make a big impact in a short period of time,” Schneider explains, with success to be measured primarily through ad recall. “We will also be looking at the lift in awareness, consideration, purchase intent, website traffic, and sales.”

Ritual has also launched a pregnancy hub which Schneider says will include “science-backed and educational content that helps support parents of all kinds” and includes influencers bringing “a spotlight to their honest TTC journeys” as well as three free months (a $69 value) of Poppyseed Health. The latter service provides 24/7 texting with doulas, midwives and nurses for women in “all stages of pregnancy, postpartum, and loss.”

“We also know that we can’t talk about pregnancy without addressing the Black maternal mortality crisis in the U.S. right now,” Schneider says, “so as part of our commitment to advocating for maternal care, we’re urging our community to help pass the Momnibus Act.”

That Act, now before both houses of Congress, aims to put an end to conditions that have resulted in Black women being more than three times as likely to die than white women due to pregnancy-related causes.