by Jennifer Silverberg, jennifer@landmarkconsulting.com
First off, it’s SO much easier to write a post when you’re ranting, but when it comes to JellyBath, I have nothing to rant about! From a user standpoint, I’ll give it an unqualified rave.
However, from a marketing standpoint, I wonder - just a little - whether their messaging falls a little short of getting them the traction they deserve. Starting with the name, they do SO many things right. JellyBath. Got it. And what you think it is, it is. JellyBath is a powder that when added to your bath at the right temperature, turns the bath into a Jell-o like consistency, cradling you in a sweet-smelling soft goo. Sounds relaxing enough already, but due to the different conductivity of a solid vs. a liquid, it also holds heat for up to 4 times as long as would water.
Mmmmmmmmmmm …
I learned about JellyBath in an email, so (ever curious and intrigued by anything that has to do with a longer bath) I called the company to order the product. I have the pleasure of speaking with an extraordinarily happy man who is clearly enthralled with the product himself, and is not shy about sharing. His wife is the inventor, they have multiple patents, he personally promises I’ll be ordering more, etc. I was already sold before calling, but I’m really sold by this time.
I’m careful to ask about the ingredients - the last thing you want to do is sit in a bath 4 times longer than usual, opening your pores to chemicals to be absorbed into your body - and he assures me that not only are the ingredients safe, they actually promote health. Sold again!
The interesting part to me from a marketing standpoint was what he said in the last moment we were on the phone: “Oh, and since this works using superabsorbents, it’s also great for reducing swelling and cellulite, since it absorbs excess liquids from your skin.”
What he did with that was totally change my perception of the product, in a way that removed my guilt for buying it (this is not an inexpensive product). Now it’s therapeutic, it’s health. I could take it out of my “indulgence” pile, and move it to the … ahem … “medical” expenses category in my mind. Kind of like dark chocolate. Or red wine. Or massages. Once they were indulgences, but thanks to the science or “science” (and I really don’t care which it is) that supports their health benefits, the guilt is gone.
And I don’t miss it a bit, floating here in my bath. 