How Supergoop is leaning into out–of-home and experiential marketing

Supergoop wants to encourage consumers to use its sunscreen year-round—but there’s no denying that summer is a particularly good time to market sun protection.

That means that in the warmer months, the brand implements an out-of-home advertising strategy that encompasses on-the-ground activations across the country. Supergoop has increased investment in its out-of-home advertising strategy 22% year over year, CMO Britany LeBlanc said, including through pop-up “Sunshine Shacks” that appear in different cities across the US.

The Sunshine Shack, which has been a brand fixture since 2019, gives people the chance to try out and purchase Supergoop products in person with the help of an on-site “SPF Menu” denoting different products for different needs.

“Out-of-home probably is a bigger focus of our strategy in the spring and in the summer just because people are out wanting to interact with us more,” LeBlanc said.

Supergoop has grown quite a bit since founder and former Texas elementary school teacher Holly Thaggard started the brand in 2007. It has seen 65% YoY growth, reaching more than $250 million in sales last year, and Supergoop products are sold at major retailers like Amazon, Sephora, and Ulta.

To fuel that growth, the brand has relied on a marketing strategy that emphasizes video across channels like Instagram and TikTok. Earlier this year, Supergoop partnered with Snap on a Snapchat filter that let users try out all five colors of Lipshade, its SPF lipstick.

During the months where sun protection is top of mind, Supergoop adjusts its marketing messages to emphasize sunscreen products, LeBlanc said.

“We shift messaging from beauty into more…’It’s summer; what’s the best SPF for you?’” LeBlanc explained. “We sort of shift what products we’re focused on. But we take an all-year-round approach to messaging, because we believe that sunscreen is something that should be worn every single day.”

This year, Supergoop’s pop-up presence expanded in an effort to reach additional customer bases beyond New York and California, where LeBlanc said the brand “has been marketing…more heavily.” In addition to New York City, the Sunshine Shack made its way to Atlanta and Denver, with additional stops planned through July and August, LeBlanc said.

“We’re looking for places where maybe sunscreen is especially needed, where people haven’t heard of Supergoop as much,” LeBlanc said. “We’re excited by the traction we’ve seen so far in those markets.”