How Megababe’s unconventional product launches led to growth

For beauty-meets-wellness brand Megababe, meeting customer needs means tapping into a white space in the market for unconventional products, especially those that hold stigma or embarrassment for the customer.

Its mission since launching in 2017 has been to create products that “Big Beauty ignores,” according to founder Katie Sturino. The brand’s lineup includes products often not found in the beauty aisle, such as antifungal cream for ringworm or athlete’s foot, an antifriction stick for chafing, and a hemorrhoid cream.

“We are solving for more practical discomfort and less for the aesthetic need or the aesthetic expectation that the beauty industry has put on women,” Sturino said.

Chill out

In June, Megababe took another step toward addressing its customers’ personal care needs by launching Coldies, which are reusable and wearable cooling patches that can be worn as a neck collar or as bra inserts.

According to Megababe, the product generated 40% of its June DTC sales in just six days; the entire collection sold out in one week and there’s already a waitlist of over 500 people for the restock.

“Megababe is a great example of how solving authentic consumer problems can create an entirely new category,” wrote Kimber Maderazzo, marketing professor at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business, in an email to Revenue Brew. “The brand didn’t simply compete within existing segments. It expanded the conversation around body care by normalizing issues consumers were already experiencing, but few brands were willing to address.”

Long-term growth

Sturino said while the Coldies success can be tied to its launch during the hot summer months, the product launch falls in line with Megababe’s long-term growth strategy, which is less seasonally focused.

Megababe’s product strategy also involves destigmatizing issues like hemorrhoids or excessive sweating through catchy product names like Bust Dust and Thigh Rescue.

“They don’t know there’s an actual product that can solve the issue for them, that was made for them, that doesn’t have embarrassing marketing, that doesn’t look like it’s from the back of your dad’s drawer,” Sturino said.

In terms of marketing these types of products that are new to the category, Sturino said the brand is “learning on the job” by taking in feedback from customers and being in touch with its community.

“Our biggest issue and our biggest competition quite often is that people just think, especially women, that they can just deal with it or they’ll use some weird hack that they were taught when they were 14.” she said.

Megababe is just getting started with its cooling category. Sturino said customers should “watch this space in 2027.”