From Invisible To In Demand
Challenge.
IFF Health didn’t have an awareness problem. It had a relevance problem.
IFF Health had just acquired HOWARU® Probiotics—an evidence-backed ingredient brand with strong clinical credibility—but they were invisible to a critical emerging audience: DTC supplement brands and co-manufacturers.
This group didn’t know the name well. Didn’t appreciate the breadth of their microbiome expertise. And didn’t realize the portfolio was even relevant to their business.
To make things harder, the world was in COVID lockdown. In-person events were gone. Trade shows were canceled. And traditional sales channels weren’t connecting with new entrants who were growing fast and thinking differently.
They needed to create visibility, spark curiosity, and build brand authority—without making it feel like marketing.
Solution.
A value-first approach takes the global win.
We didn’t recommend a product launch. We designed an experience.
EMERGE was a 7-hour, fully immersive virtual summit built to do what good industrial marketing does best:
Earn attention. Build trust. Move prospects into action.
We flipped the usual sales approach and created a value-first event designed for the audience—not the brand.
What made it work:
- Live, global production featuring content filmed in 11 locations
- Zero hard sells—just insight, storytelling, and application
- Real subject matter experts, including:
- Brenda Watson, CEO of Vital Planet
- Alan Murray, former CEO of GoodBelly
- Leading microbiome scientists and formulators
We focused on what their audience cared about:
- How to break into the microbiome category
- The growth of women’s health and brain health
- Trends and challenges in DTC formulation
- Why credibility and science now drive consumer behavior
And we didn’t stop at content. We supported the event with a full digital and outbound campaign:
- Pre- and post-event email sequences
- Targeted LinkedIn ads and social content
- Media outreach and press distribution
- SMS, call scripts, and sales enablement tools
The messaging was clear and confident: “Unlock the power of emerging microbiome wellness.” No fluff. Just clarity, relevance, and authority.
Results.
Novice audience yielded attendance 35% above goal.
IFF Health set a goal of 100 attendees. The event brought in 287 registrants and 137 live participants—over 35% above goal.
The event didn’t just drive attendance. It sparked high-value conversations, on-demand engagement, and real pipeline growth.
Most importantly, it reframed HOWARU® from a clinical ingredient into a strategic advantage for the next wave of wellness brands.
As the company’s global brand manager said: “We connected with a novice audience who left with a better understanding of both the microbiome category and their own opportunity within it.”
Recognition is not the same as relevance.
IFF Health had the name. We just gave it meaning—fast. No gimmicks. No jargon. Just a smart strategy that respected the buyer’s time and gave them what they needed to act.
35%
event attendance over goal
