Changing lives one
cell at a time

Unlock the
power within MitoQ

The MitoQ brand had been lumped into the low-value supplement category, its point of difference wasn’t well known, and its functional visual identity and clinical focus on science meant it was perceived as something that only aided athletic performance.

These factors meant that, for the brand to continue to grow, it needed to change. While the MitoQ team knew they needed to unlock their unique difference they didn’t know what that looked like or how to get there.

“It turned into something far, far bigger than anyone within MitoQ was anticipating,” says Liz Hancock, Head of Global Communications. “Born Ugly was instrumental in showing us what the future could look like.”

The power
of small

Through our deep ‘no stone left unturned’ discovery approach, we understood that whilst their main markets of US and China had cultural differences, they had a unifying mindset rooted in a deep human truth, the desire to make a positive impact in their world and beyond.

We quickly saw the parallels between our human truth and product – the energy exchange from one to many – which we called the ‘ripple effect’. This in turn inspired our shift in brand strategy, pivoting from ‘powering through’ to ‘empowering’ creating a strong authentic brand truth for MitoQ to create their own ripple effect, by supporting empowered individuals to make a positive impact with infinite potential, no matter how small.

As CMO John Marshall says: “We showed that if you start at your cells, it can cascade onto much bigger things. We can show how making a difference in one person’s life can then flow out beyond them to their families, workplaces, communities and the whole world.”

Experience led
positioning

MitoQ needed to play by their own rules, in their own category. If they were no longer going to be part of a supplement world, where were they going?

We identified the shift to reposition them as the leaders for empowering cell health in a new cell health category with the opportunity to create and own the language and behaviour in that space. This impacted everything from how the product portfolio should be set up and evolve, to the services MitoQ could offer in the future.

Importantly, we moved them away from a product economy driven world, to an experience and values economy driven one. This experience led positioning creates a space where MitoQ facilitate, support, and motivate their audience as a partner for life, creating new growth opportunities and future value.

Energising the visual world of cell health

As we pursued a new strategic direction and definition, we worked in parallel on the design strategy for the whole brand expression toolkit, as we sought to bring the new space of cell health to life in a distinctive and ownable way for MitoQ.

We created a brand that engages just as well in the real and meta worlds its audience lives in, flexing for all its different channels and narratives. Whether it is making the explanation of deep science accessible to consumers and setting up the language for a new category to engaging with individuals on a lifestyle and community dimension. It needed to be able to do this for the very different markets of China, the US and beyond.

Defining and creating a new space visually, verbally and experientially unlocking the future

Reenergised, United and Empowered

The partnership helped not only unlock new sources of value beyond product for both MitoQ and the consumer, but also reenergised, united and empowered the teams within the brand globally, as they chart their course in a new and exciting space together. Together we created, and continue to build, a brand that has a global philosophy and the flex to enable it to connect with all its’ audiences – from the brand story to how it is activated across all channels creating truly extraordinary impact for everyone it touches.