Tenth Avenue Leads Investors Introducing Hello Line To Oral Care Market
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Hello Products changes the oral care aisle, “which looks today a lot like it did 30 years ago,” says Tenth Avenue Holdings principal Joel Citron. Investors also include Harmony Partners and William Morris Endeavor.
Investors convinced that Hello Products LLC can shake up the oral care market back the firm’slaunch of “the first-ever seriously friendly oral-care brand for consumers.”
Tenth Avenue Holdings is the lead investor and the private equity firm’s co-CEOs Joel Citron and Laurence Denihan joined Hello’s board of directors. The funding amount was not stated.
“We believe that Hello’s products bring a velocity of change – comparable to the technology industry – to the stasis of the oral care aisle, which looks today a lot like it did 30 years ago,” Citron said in a March 18 release.
Investor Mark Lotke, cofounder of Harmony Partners, is similarly optimistic about Hello’s groundbreaking potential. The company “has assembled a great constellation of partners that will enable Hello to make a significant impact in a category that hasn’t seen material innovation in decades,” Lotke says.
The hello line, available in food, drug and mass retailers, consists of 99% natural products: toothpaste with a suggested retail price of $4.99; mouthwash – $5.49; and breath sprays – $3.79. The firm also markets a toothbrush – priced per store – made with biodegradable corn resin and recycled plastic, according to the firm’s website.
Hello investors and board members also include Chris Bodine, former executive VP of merchandising and marketing at CVS Health Corp.; and [Seventh Generation Inc.] CEO John Replogle, formerly CEO of [Burt's Bees] and general manager of U.S. skin care at Unilever PLC.
Oral care products in the hello line
Image courtesy of Hello Products LLC
“I spent a lot of time in the oral care aisle during my 36-year career and learned not to expect a lot of excitement,” says Bodine. “Hello is innovative, revolutionary and disruptive – and totally appealing.”
Replogle says Hello founder and CEO Craig Dubitsky is “a visionary entrepreneur” with a “transformational brand … in a category that needs to be reinvented.”
With funding from those and other investors, including William Morris Endeavor, Hello intends to invest in new product development, marketing and sales expansion, among other initiatives.
Intraoral Truce
Hello touts safety among its “biggest concerns,” and the brand’s mouthwashes are alcohol-free and devoid of harsh chemicals and artificial colors, sweeteners and dyes.
As to whether a formulation so natural and mild can also effectively kill germs and fight bacteria, Montclair, N.J.-based Hello maintains its products deliver results while taking a playful jab at conventional messaging in the oral care space.
“We clearly didn’t get the memo that there’s a war that’s been waging in your mouth,” the firm says on its website. “We don’t believe in killing or fighting, especially when it comes to your mouth! Hello works by keeping your mouth fresh and moist and working with your body’s natural defenses to flush out the bad stuff – that’s our kind of party.”
Hello mouthwash relies on xylitol, menthol and purified water to provide cleaning and freshening benefits “without that harsh burning sensation that scares a lot of folks,” the company says.
The brand offers a “dosing guide” at hello-products.com that uses an interactive graphic to indicate the amount of product a user would need in various breath-conscious scenarios, including “Ate egg salad-flavored chips,” “Interview for management position,” “Date with celebrity from 90s,” “Makeout room,” “Traffic court hearing” and “Attending group therapy.”
The brand’s toothpaste is formulated with anticavity active sodium fluoride and “a special type of silica” to gently polish teeth and help remove stains, the company says. It notes that it does not use hydrogen peroxide or other “harsh chemical whiteners” that can damage tooth enamel.
The brand’s toothpaste also is free of stannous fluoride and triclosan, an ingredient that generates controversy and concerns from activist groups (Also see "Lawsuit Seeking FDA Triclosan Action Stays Alive On Appeal" - Pink Sheet, 25 Mar, 2013.).
Overall, Hello takes a simplified approach without compromising on functionality – i.e., the ability to stave off plaque and tartar buildup while whitening and strengthening teeth. “Rather than piling in the ingredients, we have simply given the product everything you need for a friendly mouth, and none of the stuff you don’t,” the firm says.
Hello worked with BMW Group DesignworksUSA on the line’s design. Hello packaging is clean-looking, predominantly white and highly sustainable, and the brand aims to continue improving its ecological footprint. Hello mouthwash and toothpaste packaging is recyclable, it notes, and the brand says it has avoided excess packaging by doing without an outer cardboard carton.
Hello’s streamlined toothpaste “tottle” also eliminates frustration by ensuring “no more crinkled tubes.”
The firm acknowledges it “couldn’t find a way to make every single delicious tiny-fraction-of-an-ounce come out of a toothpaste package.” Instead, the brand adds “a little extra” paste in each tube, free of cost.