Following Thankyou’s crowdfunding success, C&I spoke with founder, Daniel Flynn, about the company’s plans for Thankyou Baby and how it can be ranged in a P&C environment.
Q. You set a crowdfunding target of $1.2 million, having reached that, what’s next?
The Chapter One launch raised $1.2 million in 28 days – and continued hitting $1.4 million over the Easter weekend, which was awesome. Crowdfunding has shown us that there are parents, not just excited by the idea of this product, but who are willing to fund the launch of it.
Q. So, raising capital through crowdfunding has been a success in more ways than one?
Definitely, I think there hasn’t been a nappy company in Australia – potentially in the world – that’s ever been crowdfunded before and the crowdfunding process is a two part process. Firstly it’s about raising capital, but secondly – and importantly – it’s about proving ‘does this idea have legs?’, ‘Are people up for it?’ And [the campaign’s success has shown us that] people are certainly up for it and spending a lot of cash to make it happen. We’re excited by that.
Q. Can you tell us about Thankyou nappies?
For us the entire baby range is pretty extensive. But for nappies in particular we have disposable nappies in all sizes, and we’ve also got a reusable nappy. It’s interesting because usually a nappy brand will play in one of the spaces, not both.
Traditional FMCG thinking might think reusable nappy sales would eat into disposable sales, but what we want to do at Thankyou is bring mums and dads of Australia a choice. From an environmental perspective, reusable nappies have many benefits. But always using a reusable nappy from a practical perspective, well, as much as we love the concept it just doesn’t always happen… We’ll be encouraging parents to go on the journey of ‘What if you change one of your nappies a week’
We’d like to show parents the potential impact on landfill and we want to have some positive messaging around that. We are encouraging parents to look at both and the benefits of both.
Q. How can Thankyou disposable nappies gain market share, what is your point of difference?
We know there are some pretty big competitors in the space with a lot of brands out there competing pretty hard, but we are bringing something to market that is quite a desirable product from the point of view of aesthetic design and the user experience.
Design-led nappies that are both aesthetically pleasing as well as functional is something really new. We’ve gone for a monochrome design – in the first few nappy sizes the child’s too young to even appreciate the design so why not make the design more aesthetic? We think parents will really like and appreciate our new approach to the look of Thankyou Baby nappies.
Q. When will we see Thankyou Baby nappies in the market?
We are expecting Thankyou Baby’s disposable nappies to be in market mid to late July. We already have some on shelf dates confirmed, while multiple deals are still being firmed up but we will have national ranging in mid to late July.
Q. What about the reusable nappies?
We are expecting to have the reusable nappies available at about same time. They will definitely be available via our online store, even though the reusable nappies may not get initial retail ranging.
Q. What are your expectations for ranging within the petrol and convenience channel?
In P&C the disposable nappy option – especially the smaller pack format – is probably most appropriate. Often in P&C the brands that make it have established themselves in grocery, so we know there’s a bit of work to do there… But we are proving to the P&C market ‘hey, not only is it a good product and a good idea but it will hit the hurdle rate you need to be able to give it the ranging it deserves’. Other products in the range include baby shampoo, baby bubble bath, bath milk, nappy balm and nappy ointment, baby massage oil and these will also be included in the mid-year launch. While we might have a reduced ranging in P&C, we definitely hope to have a presence everywhere.
Q. What unique benefits do Thankyou Baby’s skin care products offer?
There’s two really. Firstly, we’re bringing a dermatologically tested product – which are often found on higher end pharmacy brands – to other channels at more affordable price. It is quite a premium product, but we are bringing it into a more everyday premium space which is where our (adult) body care range sits currently.
The second important benefit, and one that consumers really connect with, is that 100 per cent of profit will go to fund infant and maternal health projects. So as a parent, you’re looking after your child but you’re directly saving the life of another child through safe birth clinics, vital life-saving vaccinations, and many more programs that we will be funding.
Q. Can you tell us about Thankyou’s other products?
Thankyou already has a lot of experience with handcreams and handwash in the market; the sales data we’ve got on our body care range is absolutely remarkable. In one of the supermarkets our hand washes are number one and two in the category and outselling other bigger brands. That’s remarkable and we see a great opportunity for our products, particularly travel products like our50 ml hand sanitiser, to be sold in P&C and that project is already underway.
From a food perspective, we’re seeing retailers give more shelf space to the healthy confectionery offer and there’s a definite move to healthier options, that’s evident in 7-Eleven and in the independent market (which we supply via The Distributors). We’ve got great ranging there along with other healthy snacking brands.
Q. Would you say Thankyou has built its brand name on the back of Thankyou Water?
It’s interesting, we often meet people who haven’t heard of the water but they’ve bought our handwash. It’s absolutely fascinating about how different people hear about different parts of the range and got involved.
With water there’s a whole lot of regulations, but you move into the health and beauty space and it’s a whole other world. So people don’t necessarily make a great transition from a bottled water company to “you make great hand washes” so we have to prove our merits in each space, although the water did help get the concept out there.