• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, December 14, 2023

With New Year’s resolutions just around the corner, Noom is introducing a flurry of new advertising aimed at communicating how individualized the psychology-based app can be. It’s also promoting the company’s ability to prescribe weight-loss medications through Noom Med, an individualized obesity care program, along with sleep tools, women's health applications and an AI food logging tool.

One campaign, called “New Recruits,” uses actors and a comic approach to highlight the many ways Noom can adapt to personal preferences (like exercise loathers and vegans) or problems (such as high cholesterol or midlife weight gain.)

“It just made sense for us to communicate those new changes in the program in a fun and kind of light-hearted way,” says Russell Der, Noom’s creative director of growth.

The second campaign focuses on testimonials of six Noomers, including those who obtained prescription weight-loss medications through the app.

Der tells Marketing Daily that both campaigns, created in-house, are airing on TV and OTT as well as social media channels, including Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Pinterest.

Der says that in addition to watching new sign-ups, the company closely monitors shifts in brand awareness, engagement levels, and activity in the many user-created support groups that have mushroomed in social media channels. “People share their successes and celebrations, as well as their stumbles. It’s a positive place, existing outside the Noom curriculum.”

While the world is full of demoralized dieters who have tried and failed at many programs, the Noom ads aim to find people at the moment “when they know that they need to make a change," Der says. "And they are excited to start making these changes and understand it doesn't happen overnight. Their success on Noom turns into a very positive cycle.”

The holiday season and early January are typically the weight-loss industry’s busiest times, and these new ads are scheduled to run until mid-2024.

The marketing approach also reflects how the massive adoption of drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro has upended the dieting industry.

WW, the parent of Weight Watchers, has also pivoted to include prescriptions. Its chief executive officer, Sima Sistani, recently offered public apologies, explaining how the company “got it wrong” and contributed to fat-shaming when people couldn’t lose weight on its programs based on diet, exercise, moderation and peer support.

Some people simply need medication to lose weight, Sistani recently told CNN. “I want to be the first to say 'I’m sorry.’ We know better now, and we will do better now.”

Noom claims to differ from other weight-loss programs by focusing on psychology and behavior changes, with daily lessons on the app that help users explore food triggers and discover foods and workouts that they genuinely enjoy.

The app works, Der tells Marketing Daily, with users losing twice as much with Noom as they do on their own. “The education Noom offers helps people understand why they make food decisions."

Noom has had its share of growing pains. The app launched in 2016 focused on connecting dieters to individual coaches. That proved too expensive a business model, and in 2022, it laid off about 10% of its staff, pivoting to a new coaching model.