Yesterday, personal care product brand Boka announced a flagship brand partnership with American beauty product retailer Ulta Beauty, Inc. Boka products will now be available in over 800 store locations as well as online, and the partnership will remain exclusive through 2023.
Oral health care product brand Boka has experienced exponential growth in the last year, having gone viral on social media platform TikTok four separate times with a 135% spike in sales each time. The brand’s specialized offerings include two hero products: n-HA (nano-hydroxyapatite) formulated toothpastes and toothbrushes featuring Binchotan activated charcoal bristles.
To learn more about the brand’s success in the oral health care space, the development behind their product line, and the potential impact Boka will have on the personal beauty care product industry with natural product offerings, we spoke with Nisha Karna, Brand Director at Boka for her insights.
About the brand
The consumer demand for clean and sustainable personal health care products is booming, and the oral health care category is no exception. “Consumers are becoming increasingly focused on what they put in their bodies and reducing toxins across personal care and home products,” said Karna, and “Boka directly fills this need for highly efficacious products without toxins.”
Their collection of hero product toothpastes is a fitting example of meeting this consumer need. By formulating its toothpaste collection with n-HA (nano-hydroxyapatite) instead of more traditionally used fluoride, Boka toothpastes offer a natural alternative for a healthier consumer smile.
As explained by Karna, n-Ha is a restorative mineral which makes up the primary foundation of teeth and bones. “Found in nature’s micro-calcium component, Nano-hydroxyapatite is what really makes Boka special as it is especially great for sensitive teeth and does not cause further teeth sensitivity,” she said. Further, “with the same chemical makeup as enamel, it's capable of closing small pores on the tooth’s surface,” leading to visibly healthier teeth and gums with regular use.
Boka toothpastes are designed to be used in tandem with the Boka Brush 2.0, which is the first-ever electric toothbrush to feature activated charcoal bristles. In addition to preventing bacteria buildup on the brush head, the ultra-soft bristles provide “a gentle, thorough cleaning that doesn’t damage teeth and gums,” Karna explained. Further, the design is “tapered at the top to tackle plaque between the gum-line and teeth,” which can help to improve the appearance of teeth and gums and reduce gumline recession.
Flagship partnership with Ulta Beauty
The expansion into Ulta Beauty stores denotes the rise of oral health care products into the personal beauty care category and the consumer demand for ease of access to these types of products. As consumers return to in-store shopping following the COVID-19 pandemic, the partnership between Boka and Ulta Beauty is indicative of the increasing intersection between oral health care and cosmetic beauty.
“With Ulta growing its wellness offerings and democratizing prestige beauty for so many customers across the United States, we have ultimately decided to exclusively partner with them for the remainder of 2023,” said Karna. Further, she added, Boka will continue to maintain its “robust innovation pipeline in place that will offer safe, efficacious (and beautiful!) alternatives for oral care needs and move the brand beyond where it is today.”
On the heels of the flagship partnership announcement are further plans for brand growth and expansion throughout 2023. For example, “next month,” shared Karna, Boka “will be relaunching one of our hero products that sold out last year with an entirely new formulation.” Additionally, she shared, “later in Q3, we will be launching new flavors and an upgraded version of one of our existing products.” Finally, “in Q4, we’ll be coming out with an entirely new line of products utilizing our hero ingredient n-Ha,” she added.
As oral health care products continue to become a more prominent fixture in the cosmetic and personal beauty care product sector, brands expansion like Boka’s are likely to continue to be more commonplace, and it will be interesting to see if others follow its example in the coming months.
