“A win-win”: BioCell spotlights branded ingredient and CPG brand partnerships

16 Mar 2021 --- Partnerships between branded ingredients and consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands can be a win-win for the businesses while appealing to science-driven consumers. This is according to Suhail Ishaq, BioCell Technology’s president, who speaks to NutritionInsight ahead of the company’s upcoming webinar.

“Branded ingredients convey the trust element and make it easier for consumers to identify quality and efficacy. Dietary supplement CPG brands that use the BioCell Collagen ingredient in their finished consumer products can substantiate specific structure-function claims based on clinical evidence with regulatory compliance,” he explains.

BioCell Collagen is only available to end-user partner companies via a royalty-free license agreement. This has quality provisions and a commitment to exclusively use the ingredient in the consumer-finished product.

Ishaq explains that BioCell earns revenues from the bulk sales of the branded ingredient. “Reaching a commercial license agreement that sets the cooperation framework with the CPG brand requires onboarding efforts before making your first sale,” he details.

Furthermore, the partnership allows the CPG brand partner to leverage BioCell’s research and development, intellectual property and cooperative marketing activities.The inclusion of BioCell Collagen can be promoted on CPG brands’ labels. 

Increasing product appeal
According to 12-week human clinical studies, daily supplementation with 1 g of BioCell Collagen reduces facial lines, wrinkles, crow’s feet and dryness while improving skin elasticity and boosting collagen and hyaluronic acid. With double the daily dosage, consumers can also benefit from enhanced joint comfort and mobility.

According to Ishaq, consumers are very engaged with the scientific backing of ingredients when researching products they are considering purchasing. 

“A dietary supplement with clinical evidence to support its claims will be purchased over one that does not. Keep in mind consumers can look up a branded ingredient on their smartphones and see the evidence provided,” he emphasizes. 

This consumer thirst for knowledge is also the subject of “Transparency Triumphs,” Innova Market Insights’ Top Trend for 2021. According to the market researcher, three in five global consumers are interested in learning more about where their food comes from and how it is made. 

The rise of collagen
While the collagen space is full of diverse players, Ishaq argues that BioCell fulfills a niche as a superior ingredient.

“With BioCell Collagen, you are getting much more than collagen alone. The branded ingredient is composed of a matrix of naturally-occurring hydrolyzed collagen II peptides, chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid, proven effective in multiple human clinical trials for skin and joint health.”

Ishaq has seen the collagen market explode over the last decade, noting it is poised to be worth US$1 billion by this year. 

According to Innova Market Insights, there has been 28 percent average annual growth in global supplements launched with collagen ingredients (CAGR, 2016-2020). As of 2020, 5.5 percent of supplement launches included collagen ingredients. 

Ishaq chalks some of this growth up to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which skin and beauty care was one of the “most disrupted” businesses. “We have seen brands focused on beauty-from-within or nutricosmetics grow by 30 percent or more,” he notes. 

He anticipates that until the vaccines can be widely distributed globally, the normalization of consumer behavior will be slow. In September, Ishaq also shared in a video interview that collagen for beauty-from-within and joint health was “skyrocketing” during the pandemic.

On March 23, BioCell Technology will host a webinar shining further light on how branding ingredients offer dietary supplement CPG brands a strong value proposition. Registration is currently now open here.

By Katherine Durrell