Avalon Organics is a brand of The Hain Celestial Group, which specializes in natural products for the food and personal care industries. Based in Lake Success, New York, the company is well known for brands like Arrowhead Mills (in food) and Alba Botanica (in personal care).
Change for the better
The rebranding is meant to carry the Avalon Organics heritage into the future, with a contemporary look and a wider product range. “We're thrilled with the new direction the brand is going in,” says Julie Marchant Houle, vice president and general manager for Personal Care at Hain Celestial, in a statement to the press.
“With the updated packaging and revamped formulas, the Avalon Organics brand will continue to enhance the customer's experience and lead as a brand with optimal effectiveness while meeting a strict organic standard,” she explains.
The company takes care to state in its press release about the rebrand that its products comply with the NSF/ANSI 305 Standard or the USDA National Organic Program standards. Beyond that, the statement points out that all Avalon Organics products are formulated without GMOs, parabens, petrolatum, artificial colors, or phthalates.
Extensions and efficacy
New product lines and updated formulas will be on the shelf this month. Avalon Organics retails through the brand’s own e-commerce site, at Whole Foods Market, Target, and Walmart as well as in grocery and drug stores.
“While a majority of the formulas within the newly labeled packages remain unchanged, new products have been developed and several product lines have been reformulated to increase their efficacy,” according to the company press release.
The rebranding is also meant to “strengthen benefit communication” so consumers know what to expect. And Avalon Organics continues to cater to consumers with a penchant for personal care items that “nuture.”
Motivating factors
In November of last year, the Avalon Organics brand and Jason Brand Cosmetics, also a Hain Celestial brand, settled in a California class action labeling suit. The suit claimed that Avalon and Jason products sold for 4 years prior to May 2011 were misleadingly labeled so consumers would believe that they were mostly or wholly organic.
$7.5m was set aside to compensate class members with approved claims. And of course, Hain made no admission of wrongdoing in the settlement.
It’s unclear if that issue had any influence on this month’s Avalon Organics’ product and packaging updates. But these sorts of legal issues can certainly take a good brand off course and impact consumer trust.