Unilever beauty supplements launch in Canada next month

Just one year ago, Unilever announced having signed a deal to acquire OLLY Nutrition, the supplements and wellbeing brand co-founded by Eric Ryan and Brad Harrington in 2014. Ryan is perhaps best known in the personal care industry as the Co-Founder of Method (launched in 2001 and sold to Ecover in 2012).

At the time of the OLLY acquisition announcement, Amanda Sourry, President of Unilever North America, commented for the press saying, “We are delighted to welcome OLLY Nutrition to our portfolio of brands. OLLY is a strong, innovative brand in the fast-growing health and wellbeing space, and nicely complements our businesses in Beauty and Personal Care, and Foods and Refreshment. OLLY’s focus on making nutrition delightfully easy aligns closely with Unilever values and our continued commitment to improving people’s wellbeing.” ​

OLLY Nutrition is about more than gummy vitamins

As Sourry noted, OLLY Nutrition is “on a mission to make nutrition delightfully easy;”​ a premise Ryan restates in Wednesday’s media release about the brand’s expansion into the Canada market.

The brand’s collection of gummy supplements have been developed to be gluten-free, fun, and effective: “Behind every OLLY is a team of nutrition experts and a curated culinary expert crew who create flavours, textures, and sweetening systems to delight senses and satisfy cravings for indulgent and healthy goodies,” ​says the release.

And the OLLY approach seems to be working, even before the Unilever acquisition, here on CosmeticsDesign.com, nutrition and supplements expert Paula Simpson called OLLY Nutrition one of six brands “doing nutricosmetics right.”​​

Supplements with beauty benefits

Among the nine OLLY supplements set to launch in Canada next month, is the Undeniable Beauty gummy, which this week’s release describes as a “blend of Biotin, Keratin, and Vitamin C and E [that] helps maintain healthy hair, skin and nails, and [fights] the cell damage caused by free radicals.”​

It’s worth noting too that there’s a Sleep supplement, a Less Stress supplement, and a Probiotic supplement in the portfolio of products the brand is bringing to Canada.

“We are thrilled to welcome OLLY to our portfolio of brands,”​ said Ling Chung, Senior Brand Manager of Unilever Canada. “Taking vitamins and supplements shouldn't be such a chore. OLLY makes nutrition delightfully easy by offering great tasting supplements and communicating benefits in a way that consumers understand. Why communicate Melatonin when what you really mean is Sleep?”​

Starting in May, OLLY products will be sold in Canada, on Amazon, Walmart, Loblaws, Shoppers Drug Mart, Rexall, London Drugs, Metro, Save-On, Well.ca, and Sobeys.

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Deanna Utroske is a leading voice in the cosmetics and personal care industry​ as well as in the indie beauty movement. As Editor of CosmeticsDesign.com, she writes daily news about the business of beauty in the Americas region and regularly produces video interviews with cosmetics, fragrance, personal care, and packaging experts as well as with indie brand founders.