Procter & Gamble last month acquired supplement brand Thorne for $3.8 billion in a move to shore up its portfolio in a rapidly growing space. Founded in 1984, Thorne surpassed $500 million in annual revenue and notched 63% growth in direct-to-consumer sales in 2025.
“This is an important step for P&G’s Personal Health Care business,” Paul Gama, CEO of P&G Health Care, said in a statement around the acquisition’s announcement. “Consumer interest in self-care, prevention, wellness, and personalized health continues to grow, and Thorne strengthens our position in premium wellness with a trusted, science-backed brand that complements our existing portfolio.”
But despite its heritage of working with healthcare practitioners and high-quality bona fides, Thorne until relatively recently had not taken the time to learn about consumers, including their motivations, questions and hesitations about supplements and personal health.
Tackling that dilemma is Chief Growth Officer Mary Beech, the executive responsible for both marketing and e-commerce since her August 2024 appointment. Beech previously served as chief marketing and transformation officer for Scholastic after stints at Sarah Flint, Kate Spade and Disney.
“We were meeting a consumer who had an incredible sense of overwhelm and confusion in the market… so we had to think about what we needed to change about how we approach consumers to help them make that confident, empowered decision,” Beech said.
Thorne enlisted Redscout to help it learn about consumers, making Thorne the third company at which Beech has worked with the brand consultancy. Redscout built its insights in three ways: using digital diaries, a nationally representative quantitative study and small group interviews to test how the brand’s value propositions resonated. Thorne learned that messages about its scientific rigor were less important to consumers than it thought.
“[We had to] pivot our thinking to being consumer-first versus being Thorne-first, in terms of our messaging, which is a hard change to make when you have so much potential to talk about,” Beech said.
A platform that persists
The work resulted in a brand platform with the consumer at the center that’s called “Thorne rewards curiosity with excellence.” Redscout also helped Thorne develop a guide for its communications — referred to internally “know me, show me” — that combines consumer insights with the brand’s value propositions.
To bring the brand platform to life, Thorne teamed with Project 3 Agency, the shop launched by rapper Kendrick Lamar, and debuted the “Now I Know” campaign in January. Along with an anthem video, the campaign has been extended to tell women’s health stories around perimenopause and libido with dancer Misty Copeland and actor Lana Condor, respectively. The campaign also moved into sports performance products with creative featuring NBA star Cade Cunningham.
“The idea of understanding and feeling confident and empowered to make a choice because you know that Thorne is a good choice, [something the campaign] was able to pull through so clearly, and that doesn't always happen, so it's testament to a good platform,” Beech said.
Direct-to-consumer brands have sometimes had difficulty maintaining their identities once acquired by larger CPG companies, as Dollar Shave Club did under Unilever. Having a strong brand platform and campaign framework will be crucial as Thorne becomes part of the P&G family.
“Taking that time and a considerable investment, both in hours as well as in dollars, to deeply understand our consumer and their needs, and then develop a messaging platform that allows us to reach them in the best way has given me confidence as we look to grow our household exposure and our awareness with consumers,” Beech said.
The company will continue using the “Thorne rewards curiosity with excellence” brand platform next year, ending this year with a second brand anthem focused on curiosity. In 2027, Thorne plans to focus on the middle of the funnel, educating consumers about its products by leveraging its partnerships with the Unrivaled league and the Miami Open.
“Thorne has a pretty unique filter for itself when it comes to what it will and won't do in marketing,” Redscout CMO Ashley Shaffer said. “Their playbook is very specific, and I really admire the discipline that comes with saying, ‘We're going to be rigorous about how we answer consumers' questions. We're also going to have the products to back it up.’”
