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P&G just launched a new direct-to-consumer brand for women going through menopause, as it tries yet another response to the DTC threat
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P&G just launched a new direct-to-consumer brand for women going through menopause, as it tries yet another response to the DTC threat

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  • P&G has launched Kindra, a new direct-to-consumer brand geared at helping women navigate menopause.
  • Kindra is the first brand to come out of Launchpad, the innovation studio formed by P&G Ventures and venture firm M13 to build new consumer-facing brands. It will operate independently of M13 and P&G's portfolio.
  • P&G has taken a multi-pronged approach to innovation by acquiring, incubating, and now launching an independent consumer brand.
  • The hope is that ultimately these brands can be folded back into one of P&G's six sector business units.
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After deodorants and skincare, P&G is now coming after the menopause market. The consumer packaged goods giant has launched Kindra, a new direct-to-consumer brand geared at helping women navigate menopause.

Kindra is the first brand to come out of Launchpad, the innovation studio formed earlier this year by P&G Ventures and venture firm M13 to build new consumer-facing brands. It will operate independently of M13 and P&G's portfolio, and absorb Pepper & Wits, a menopause brand that P&G Ventures had incubated internally.

"The vision is to create new brands and strategies for P&G, both inside and outside the company," Leigh Radford, VP and general Manager at P&G Ventures, told Business Insider. "We believe that the next billion-dollar business will be the result of entrepreneurs, startups, and P&G coming together."

Kindra wants to destigmatize menopause through its products and community-focused approach

Kindra aims to destigmatize menopause and help women manage the process, both through its products as well as cultivating a community, according to HongJoo Sun, cofounder and CEO at Kindra. It's launching with three varieties of dietary supplements and a vaginal lotion, which it claims are clinically proven to help manage hot flashes, mood swings, and vaginal dryness associated with menopause.

"Like periods, the conversation around menopause has been neglected for way too long," Sun said. "Our purpose is to create a safe space for women to have real conversations, get access to personalized resources and be able to tap into the technical know-how as they navigate the process."

The company will launch a concerted marketing effort across platforms to promote itself and boost brand awareness in January 2020. Centered on the tagline "Now this is how we menopause," the campaign will feature women who are thriving during menopause, said Sun. It'll also go heavy on branded content on its website including blogs by medical professionals, and plans to launch a menopause tracker feature.

P&G has taken a multi-pronged approach to innovation

P&G, like Express and Clorox, is well aware that new challenger brands are shaking up everything from retail to consumer experience, and has been trying to mitigate the threat as well as adopt more of a startup mindset. It has acquired DTC companies like Native, incubated startup brands as part of P&G Ventures, and now, invested in a new independent brand via its partnership with M13.

"E-commerce and direct-to-consumer are growing," P&G chief brand officer Marc Pritchard told Business Insider in January at Davos. "We think the small can help the big get faster, and the big can help the small grow faster."

While P&G Ventures is an early-stage startup studio that finds areas for P&G to grow outside of its current categories, as Digiday reported; Launchpad is responsible for turning the startups into sustainable businesses by combining P&G's scale and expertise in areas like research & development with M13's digital savvy and network of investors and advisors, said M13 cofounder and managing partner, Courtney Reum.

"P&G knows what they're good at, but scaling a brand from inception to $25 million in sales is not what big, legacy companies are typically excelling at," he said. "That's where we come in."

The hope is that ultimately brands like Kindred that P&G Ventures and Launchpad build can eventually be folded back into one of P&G's six sector business units. P&G and M13 will provide strategic support as board members, even as these companies make their own decisions around vision, strategy and, product expansion.

"Ideally, we are creating these businesses so that one day we can bring them back in, continue to scale them, and get access to a whole new category of consumers that we weren't reaching before," said Radford.

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