Brand Profile: The Mineral Movement: Suntribe’s Next Wave of Natural Sunscreen Innovation
We caught up with Karl Roos, founder of Suntribe, to hear how the brand has evolved, what exciting products are launching this year, and why more customers are choosing mineral over chemical sunscreens.
Since we last spoke, how has the development of the brand progressed?
It’s been going really well! We’re seeing a year-on-year increase in demand and interest for what we’re doing, so we’re super stoked about that! We’re focusing really heavily this year on speeding up our product development projects. There’s new mineral sunscreen technology out there that’s just dying to be put to use in some cool new formulas.
We currently have 4 formulas in development, in addition to the 3 brand new formulas we’re releasing this year, so it’s all hands on deck!
Mineral Zinc Sun Stick
How was the feedback from customers regarding the new products launched since last year? And which was your most successful model and why?
It was really good, we made a general overhaul of all our formulations and fine-tuned some products based on our customer feedback. Our most successful models last year were the re-made versions of both our SPF 50 Active Sunscreen and our SPF 30 Kids Sunscreen. Also our new Green color of our Zinc Sticks did well, and rounded off our collection nicely there, where we now offer 5 unique zinc colors to choose from.
With your prediction that mineral formulations will dominate future releases, do you foresee a shift in how consumers view chemical vs. mineral sunscreens?
Yes absolutely. This is something I’m seeing all over the industry, and in the real world. There’s just a whole new level of knowledge among ordinary people regarding this issue. I’ve now heard regular discussions where people try to weight the pro’s and con’s in real time, on the beach – “I can use this one, and it’s nice, but IT DESTROYS THE OCEAN, or I can use this one, and it’s not so nice, but IT’S GOOD FOR THE OCEAN.” This is great, and all we at Suntribe are focusing on, is making sure that every new person who tries a mineral sunscreen, has a “nice” experience at the same time as they are not destroying the ocean!
Active Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50
What steps are you taking to further educate your customers on the benefits of mineral sunscreens?
We write our blog diligently, and that source is now becoming a major player in our online presence. This is the main forum where we try to educate on the questions we think are the most important. Further than that, we’ve started running educational ads, which don’t talk about Suntribe, but rather focus on the idea that all sunscreens are not the same, and how to spot the difference.
How has your marketing approach shifted since last year to reach new customers or expand in existing markets?
One thing we’ve been really focusing on is just education. We find that once we get people interested in the nasty details around sunscreen, then the path to Suntribe is pretty straight forward from there. Also we’ve been working way more tightly with our ambassadors and creators, and that’s been leading to a very nice and varied marketing approach.
Suntribe Natural Mineral Face & Sport Mini Zinc Sunscreen SPF 50
Can you share any exciting new products coming from Suntribe in the near future?
YES! This year we have a heap of exciting new releases! We’re releasing our first line of SPF Lip Balms! It consists of a tinted SPF 30 Lip Balm, with perfect lip matching, no whitening, and very much your everyday use lip protector.
That’s combined with a more powerful SPF 50 Lip Balm with a slight whitening effect on the lips, which we really like to use for sports activities such as skiing or biking, or just hanging out in really strong sun.
We round this off with a new after sun concept, it’s a double dose of aloe vera in a gel format. A super hydrating and cooling natural gel which we think people will really like as an on-the-go product!
