iThrive, a health and wellness, recently announced the launch of its latest campaign, ‘Discover the Power of Magnesium: Reduce Stress And Calm Your Mind’. The campaign brings to life the benefits of Magnesium Bisglycinate. This is a bioavailable supplement designed to help reduce stress, promote calmness, and enhance overall well-being.
The campaign video features an overwhelmed and overworked personnel who is under a lot of pressure of work and so is his colleagues. But once he drinks Magnesium Bisglycinate, he feels relieved and stress free. The story depicts how the supplement helped him to take it easy. The agenda of the ad campaign is to remain stress free in the fast paced world.
Medianews4u.com caught up with Sumeet Salve, Head of Marketing at iThrive
Q. From a marketing perspective, what were the priorities and goals of iThrive in 2024? To what extent were they achieved?
In 2024, iThrive’s marketing strategy focussed on raising awareness about chronic conditions and functional nutrition as a solution, along with brand awareness, driving customer engagement, and establishing itself as a leader in functional nutrition and holistic wellness.
The key priorities and goals were:
A. Highlight the programme’s success in reversing chronic diseases like IBS, PCOS, thyroid dysfunction, and autoimmune conditions through functional nutrition.
Achievement: Successfully created compelling content, including client transformation stories, reels, webinars, and Instagram posts that showcased real-life results and increased program enrollments.
B. Launch and promote new packaging for iThrive Essentials supplements.
Achievement: The improved product branding resonated with the target audience, enhancing trust and increasing product adoption.
C. Educate the Audience Through Content: Campaigns like “Make the Right Choice” offered free health consultations, while engaging social content drove audience engagement and consultations.
The focus on client success stories, educational campaigns, events, and thought leadership significantly strengthened the brand’s visibility, credibility, and trust within the wellness community. While there is always room for further growth in scaling these efforts, the impact on audience engagement, program enrollments, and brand awareness was substantial.
Q. How did the theme of the campaign that looks to bring to life the transformative benefits of Magnesium Bisglycinate come about? What are the various facets of the campaign?
The campaign theme for Magnesium Bisglycinate emerged from the growing awareness and scientific understanding of the mineral’s transformative role in human health. iThrive Essentials Magnesium has been the top most selling product yet we feel there is a scope of awareness in the market. The campaign was crafted to highlight stress at the workplace, or stress anywhere, and how magnesium helps in keeping the calm.
The marketing team at iThrive was behind the theme, and they wanted to make it fun yet engaging for the mass audience.
Facets of the campaign – The campaign was structured to appeal to a wide audience. The major motives were education and awareness, Visual Storytelling, Campaign Slogan – “Find your calm, Improve your focus, Enjoy better sleep”
& “Pure | Potent | Proven Supplements” in India.
Q. In terms of iThrive’s media mix in 2024 was the focus more towards digital compared with 2023?
Yes, Indeed the focus was more towards digital as it is the most booming thing right now. Currently there is a growing demand for health and even more for online health. People are looking for solutions online and are more tech-savvy than ever.
Also compared to traditional marketing the ROI that digital platforms are getting these days is much higher.
We wanted to focus more on social media platforms like Instagram, Youtube and LinkedIn to capture various audiences. We also achieved a wider audience across different geographies, Social media and interactive content fostered stronger connections with the audience.
Q. Is it fair to say that branding is indispensable in the healthcare sector that ithrive operates in?
Absolutely, branding is indispensable in the healthcare sector, especially for a company like iThrive that operates in the niche of functional nutrition and holistic wellness. People are so used to conventional methods that trusting a new platform in healthcare becomes difficult for them unless they feel a connect with the brand. All these branding activities help in gaining more trust and credibility. It also builds an emotional connection with the customer, and in the health transformation, I believe that it is more of an emotional journey than a physical journey, so it becomes important for the audience to trust us.
Also, the healthcare and wellness industry is crowded with players offering overlapping services. Branding helps iThrive stand out by showcasing its unique approach—personalized care, root cause analysis, and holistic programs.
Q. What trends were noticed in this sector by companies including iThrive to strengthen their brand?
– The major trend that I noticed was influencers. Every company, whether in healthcare or non-healthcare, relies on influencers, but for me, the story is what matters. Influencers do help in bigger engagement but if the story is not impactful then it is a time-consuming effort and lasts for a short period of time.
– Another trend that was booming and even we at iThrive followed was testimonials, client stories, success stories as people want to see authenticity. And a real client story itself builds trust for the brand.
– Transparency is another trend. It is strange but true. With campaigns like ‘Label Padhega India’, people want to know everything in depth and are more aware. Even we hopped on to this trend and one of the slogans “Pure, Potent, Proven” signifies the same thing.
Q. To what extent did iThrive in its marketing message focus on correcting misconceptions when it comes to healthcare? Did it create lots of educational content?
Functional Nutrition itself is a new thing for the Indian audience. People have been used to conventional methods for so long that it has created a lot of misconceptions about basic things like food, supplements, and lifestyle habits. So for iThrive educational content has always been the key. We aim to break myths and make people as much aware as possible.
iThrive challenged the belief that chronic conditions like PCOS, IBS, or thyroid disorders are lifelong struggles. Through client success stories and campaigns, iThrive demonstrated how functional nutrition can effectively reverse these conditions.
Apart from social media content we majorly focus on SEO oriented content around awareness of chronic conditions.
Q. Influencer marketing was used a lot more across categories this festive season compared with 2023. How did iThrive utilise this marketing vehicle in 2024?
In 2024, as I observed the surge in influencer marketing across various brands during the festive season, I felt that our approach at iThrive needed to be different. While many companies leaned heavily on influencers to reach wider audiences, we chose to focus on something that truly resonates with our mission. As a healthcare company, we understand that trust is crucial. While influencers can effectively promote products, it’s much harder for people to trust services like the iThrive Academy or the iThrive Alive program based solely on influencer endorsements. That’s why we decided to prioritize authenticity in our marketing efforts. By sharing testimonials and genuine success stories from our clients, we aimed to build credibility and foster a deeper connection with our audience. Plus we have a inhouse team so talented that in each of our campaign its the inhouse team that acts with integrity and whole heart.
Q. What role is AI playing for iThrive?
AI is everywhere these days, and people often talk about how much it’s helping in marketing. But at iThrive, marketing is all about creativity and originality, and that’s something only humans can truly bring to the table.
Our marketing team loves creating unique ideas, writing meaningful content, shooting videos, and designing campaigns from scratch. We focus on creating something fresh and authentic because we believe the human brain is the most creative gift we’ve been given, and we trust it to guide our work.
While we use AI for support in areas like graphic tools, automation, data insights, or even fixing grammatical errors, the heart of what we do is always driven by human creativity and connection. That’s what makes our marketing truly stand out.
Q. What was iThrive’s approach when it came to rural marketing in 2024?
In 2024, iThrive’s focus remained largely on urban audiences, specifically those in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, as they align closely with our target demographic. While we haven’t actively ventured into rural marketing yet, we recognize its potential and are aware that some of our social media posts and informative reels might be organically reaching rural audiences. These posts, rich in educational content, could be sparking interest and spreading awareness about functional nutrition in those areas.
Q. How does iThrive use data analytics to address market gaps and needs?
At iThrive, we use data to better understand our clients and address their needs. Our CRM system helps us track interactions, gather feedback, and identify common health concerns, so we can personalize our services and programs.
We also look at trends to see which areas might need more attention. For example, data helps us figure out where awareness about functional nutrition or supplements is low, so we can focus our efforts there. By analyzing what people are buying and how they’re responding to our products, we continuously improve what we offer.
Apart for this the marketing data or survey that we do quarterly helps us know our audience better and what they actually seek for their health. As conventional healthcare is common it somewhere fails to heal people holistically. So for us data is very useful to gage that untapped audience.
Q. What role did personalisation in areas like health programmes play in helping the company scale in 2024? Will AI take the area of personalisation to another level in 2025?
iThrive’s main motto is fully customized and personalized programs for our clients. We believe that every person is unique and has different needs. So yes personalisation is at the heart of iThrive’s success, enabling the company to scale its offerings and deliver exceptional results.
As of AI it will definitely change the future of healthcare. More tools and apps will be overtaking. Advanced diagnostic tools, such as blood tests and functional assessments will keep growing for sure which will be on the positive side.
Yet the personal touch that one needs especially in healthcare is very important and that comes from a person. So no matter how much AI grows the emotional touch and trust will always be needed.
Q. In 2025 what can we expect from iThrive when it comes to marketing activities and tactics? Will the whitespace for growth lie across the country or in certain pockets and TGs? Abroad what are the expansion plans going to be?
In 2025, iThrive will be investing heavily in branding and marketing activities building on the success of its 2024 campaigns. You can expect increased focus on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn to deliver engaging content. Also our Ads and awareness budgets will be on a higher scale to achieve better.
Bigger and better-level campaigns are already in the process through which we would want to spread awareness about functional nutrition, supplements and overall health.
We are also aiming for niche and top-level influencer collaborations that will help us grow across the country.
Apart from India we are already catering to the Middle East and Southeast Asia due to their growing demand for holistic wellness solutions and high disposable incomes.
Also to conclude along with lots of knowledge and health awareness there will be a lot of giveaways, new podcasts, some international collabs and much more. I will just say stay tuned and watch out for iThrive and don’t forget to keep your health as priority.
