AdMiration feature: Therabody’s “Introducing the New Wand in Indigo”

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we looked at consumer response to Therabody’s “Introducing the New Wand in Indigo” ad, which promotes their new depuffing wand in a way that is unique to their category. 

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data.

The ad opens to a woman about to step through the screening area in an airport, as a TSA staff member opens her carry-on luggage. As he flips the luggage open, Therabody’s new wand sits brightly on top of her clothes, with the words “The ALL NEW Theraface Depuffing Wand” appearing on screen.   

The TSA man picks it up, asking the woman what it is, to which she responds, “Oh, that’s just my depuffing wand. It’s like for your undereye.” The man looks at it suspiciously and says, “I’m going to have to check this for security purposes.” As he opens the cap, the woman exclaims, “Oh no, don’t do that here!” But the cap is already open and starts to emit a wave of sparkly indigo, which completely takes over the silhouette of the man, as epic music begins to play. 

The sparkly silhouette begins applying the wand on the heat setting, with the word “heat” appearing on screen as he does, followed by the same for the “cold” setting. Another TSA staff member is shown watching this all happen with raised eyebrows behind the scanning monitor, but he keeps going, suddenly in a white bathrobe and headrap. 

With a final sparkle and burst of music, he finds himself back in front of the woman's luggage, holding the wand, but still donning the spa-like set instead of his uniform. The woman is left speechless as the man replaces the cap with a little smile and says, “Looks good, have a good day!” As the words: “Defuff. Glow. Transform.“ appear on screen. 

The ad closes with a shot of the new wand and a call to action to their website: Shop now at therabody.com. 

3 facts

• Therabody’s ad performed extremely well, landing in the top 5% of ads in potential to drive short term sales (Sales Impact: 95) and top 15% in potential to drive long term brand equity (Brand Impact: 86).

• While great all around, the spot was even more resonant among women. It was seen as highly relevant (3.9 vs. norm of 3.6) and set Therabody apart from other health and beauty appliances (Brand Distinctiveness 4.1 female vs. 3.8 norm).  While everyone found it funny, women found it both amusing and loved it.

• The ad does a great job of making people want to try the product. Purchase intent jumps from 38% to 69% as a result of the ad, and importantly this wasn’t just by taking consideration from other brands, but also by bringing new people into the category. The percent of people who wouldn’t consider any such product before the ad was 29% and it dropped to just 15% having seen the ad.  

2 learnings

• Music can have a big impact on the tone of your ads. In this case, as soon as the music began to play, the viewer's experience was transformed (much like the TSA agent) as the wand was put to use. The music shifted the dull, stark airport security line scene into one of epic proportions, leaving viewers feeling its impact — aligning with a notion of the epic feeling the product leaves you with.   

• It is possible to be both fun and informative. In fact, being fun and engaging helps you to communicate in an accessible way for people. While the ad achieved a laughter score of 19% versus a norm of 8% and levels of surprise at 7% versus a norm of 3, it used this engagement to communicate new information (4.1 versus 3.7) and associate the product with ease of use (65% versus norm of 43%), being innovative (40 versus a norm of 22%) and its effectiveness (48% versus a norm of 40%).

1 reflection

Can you find a way to visually demonstrate the emotional benefit of your product rather than falling into the usual functional product demos often seen for personal care and beauty products? Tapping into emotional benefits is a great way to make people feel good about your brand and determine whether they want it in their lives.

This ad does two things really well: It focuses on the benefit to the person (not the product benefit) and it shows the benefit (not telling). It’s a great example of a brand breaking the mold — creating a humorous ad that tells a story, with viewers saying things like “I like that he felt transformed after using the beauty item” and “Showing how relaxed it makes you feel after you use it. I'm definitely looking into using this product.”

Therabody’s “Introducing the New Wand in Indigo” was created to help promote the launch of three new products that expand the brand’s range, designed to enhance recovery, pain relief and skin health.

These products include: 

1. Theragun Mini, 3rd Generation

2. ThermBack LED

3. TheraFace Depuffing Wand in Indigo

The ad was created fully in-house by their own creative department, led by John Solomon. 

In their shoutout to the team on LinkedIn, they stated, “The moment the team pitched ‘Sailor Moon’ as inspiration for the new TheraFace Depuff Wand Indigo, we knew we had to make it happen. At Therabody, innovation doesn’t stop at our product line—it’s in our storytelling, too. Our in-house marketing team, led by John Solomon, created this film to launch a bold new colorway for the TheraFace Depuffing Wand, turning the mundane experience of trudging through TSA into something…well, magical.”

Monty Sharma, President and CEO of Therabody shares, "At Therabody, we are dedicated to creating cutting-edge solutions that seamlessly integrate into daily life. Whether it's the portability of the new Theragun Mini, the multi-therapy approach of ThermBack LED, or the skincare innovation of the TheraFace Depuffing Wand, these products represent our commitment to science-backed wellbeing through technology."

Therabody’s “Introducing the New Wand in Indigo” ad performed exceptionally well with consumers, landing in the top 5% of ads in potential to drive short term sales and top 15% in potential to drive long term brand equity (Sales Impact: 95, Brand Impact: 86).

Unsurprisingly, the ad resonated even better among women (Sales Impact: 98, Brand Impact: 96). However, given the category, it’s remarkable that the ad was so well received by both men and women overall. 

Both genders find the ad to be distinctive (4.2 female vs. 4.0 male) and they both have similar brand recall (67% female vs. 64% male) for the spot. 

Since the ad is largely targeted towards women, it's no surprise that women found the ad more relevant (3.9 female vs. 3.5 male). But women also saw the ad as setting Therabody apart from other health and beauty appliances (brand distinctiveness 4.1 female vs. 3.8 male) and it made them feel more positively about Therabody (brand appeal 4.1 female vs. 3.9 male).  

This makes sense as beauty brands tend to advertise much more straightforward product demos, but Therabody really broke the category code with this spot — displaying the product in a fun way and showcasing how it can make you feel. 

Both men and women also found the music in the ad to be appealing (musical appeal 4.1 vs. 3.8 norm) and felt like they learned new information from the ad — but this was slightly higher among women (new information 4.3 female vs. 4.0 male). 

Across the board, purchase intent jumped from 38% to 69% after viewers watched the ad, underscoring how well the ad did in making people want to try the product. It’s also worth noting that this wasn’t just by taking consideration from other brands, but also by bringing new people into the category. The percentage of people who wouldn’t consider a product like this before watching the ad was 29% and it dropped to just 15% after watching.

Overall, both genders found the ad to be very funny (18% female vs. 20% male), but women had a stronger emotional response (overall emotion 70 female vs. 59 male) and felt a lot more love for the ad (36% female vs. 20% male). 

The emotional spikes for women were at their peak for “Like” when the product was introduced in the woman’s suitcase (with more “Like” as she describes it). “Laughter” hits several peaks when the TSA staff member says he needs to try it and the music begins and especially when he is suddenly in a robe and towel. And “Love” peaks as he tries out the product under his eyes and again as he tells her to have a good day and the end product card is shown on the screen.

For men, there was an overall mix of “Like” and “Love” throughout the beginning of the ad, switching to predominantly laughter after the music begins all the way through the end of the ad. And while women experienced a mix of love and laughter during the ad, for men it was mostly laughter. 

Here’s what some people had to say about the ad:

• "I liked the visual of the TSA guy using the wand and wearing a spa robe."

• "The characters in the ad were funny and the Therabody brand came out as attractive."

• "She was checking in at the airport which we all have to do. The officer looked believable. I liked that he felt transformed after using the beauty item."

• "Showing how relaxed it makes you feel after you use it. I'm definitely looking into using this product."

• "I really liked it - the comedy of it all and the information about the product that has prompted me to google where I can find it for the best deal."

• "It was funnier than other beauty ads that tend to be more glam focused."

• "I like how it shows when you use the Therabody it's like you are in your own bathroom getting a makeover."

What a hilariously different beauty ad from Therabody! What did you think? Let us know by interacting with our coverage of the ad on LinkedIn.

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