KMI Brands has moved into the wellness category with the launch of Plantopia – a wellbeing brand with people and planet at the forefront of its development.
After 4 years in the making, the decision to expand into wellness was welcomed even more so following the acceleration of the wellness industry during COVID-19, a time when consumers have started paying attention to wellbeing more than ever before.
“We’re excited to be welcoming another owned brand into the KMI portfolio as we see significant opportunity within the self-care and wellness space,” says Rachel Parsonage, CEO of KMI Brands.
The Journey to Wellness For People & Planet
Plantopia provides holistic wellbeing rituals to support the management and impact of stress for mind, body and skin, grounded in the use of adaptogens and essential oils while driving positive change for people and planet health.
“Stress affects us all and when the explosion of life-changing events (at global and local level) significantly heightened the impact, we began to research stress in a much bigger way. Despite so much wonderful work being done in the stress space, we noticed only one piece of research by the American Psychological Association that consistently appeared. This inspired us to conduct our own study with a UK focus, using an audience of over 1,000 people who were prepared to share deep insight,” says Parsonage.
The research undertaken by KMI Brands covered self-care topics such as identifying personal stress triggers through to wellness shopping habits as well as understanding the sustainability measures consumers really care about. A key insight revealed that the principle meaning of wellness to consumers covers physical health, mental health, and a balanced lifestyle, supporting Plantopia vision of holistic wellness.
“Through a laser-focussed lens on consumer need and desire, as well as market and category dynamics, we wanted to build a brand that provided an inclusive access-point to wellness, not only through our product line but also through an education platform providing access to expert-led content as well as the invitation to join an expansive community. We were determined to offer so much more in this space, than products and empty promises,” says Rachel Parsonage, CEO of KMI Brands.
When looking at how stress manifests, 72% of the research participants had symptoms of anxiety, 59% had symptoms of fatigue, 56% had symptoms of lack of focus and motivation whilst 55% had symptoms of insomnia. KMI Brands learned that consumers were looking for wellness products that helped with relaxation, energy, rest, sleep as well as detoxification.
With skin and body care products as well as a range of supplements, Plantopia is suitable for anyone and everyone looking for year-round support for the mind, body and skin from the impact of stress. Fuelled by the science of adaptogens combined with potent plant therapy from essentials oils, the range provides multi-purpose products for body and skin, alongside food supplements, providing a holistic personal wellness prescription for modern living.
Four ranges have been carefully curated to encourage change in everyday habits through self-touch as a form of self-care, accompanied by breathing and massage techniques for a sense of holistic wellness. Each range can be used as a regime or by creating a tailored ritual with different products from each range to suit your personal stress symptoms.
A hero adaptogen and essential oil has been chosen for each range that measurably contributes to the products specific benefit. Plantopia’s supplements also contain Bioperine® Black Pepper Extract to support the enhanced absorption of vitamins and nutrients.
Whilst consumers were looking to improve their wellness, the brand realised that consumers also wanted to do so with care for the planet. 83% of the audience were concerned about sustainability in terms of environmental continuity, recycling and reusing, natural resource management, ethical sourcing, and a sustainable future. Plantopia champions change for people and planet by driving and empowering others through deeply considered choices. As a result, the brand’s mission is to encourage and improve world wellness, from small steps to significant strides, ensuring total transparency every step of the way.
“And so began our journey to wellness for people and planet. We built our manifesto as the guiding principles for our brand to keep us focussed on what we want to achieve, to demonstrate the how and why to our customers, and to provide transparency around our progress through a series of measurable goals over a specific time frame,” says Parsonage.
Plantopia’s Five Force Focus looks at people, ecosystems, planet, social and community.
People:
Enable and empower every person touched by our products, practices, expertise and advice, through the whole value chain from harvesting and sourcing to our customers.
Ecosystems:
Preserve and regenerate this highly valuable but hugely complex network and interconnected sourcing system, with a dedicated commitment to conservation and regeneration.
Planet:
Reduce and remediate devastating and ongoing harm with our planet positive commitment, being accountable for the 4R’s of waste management – Remove, Recycle, Reuse and Reduce.
Social:
Fair and equal responsibility to everyone in our value chain, to ensure we not only minimise harm, but also create a positive benefit for the lives that we touch through our business.
Community:
Partnership and empowerment are our commitments to drive a positive impact through evoking connection and support to everyone that the brand touches.
Plantopia have partnered with the Union For Ethical Biotrade (UEBT), highlighting their commitment to providing an ethical and sustainable ingredient and formulation journey by continuously sourcing with respect for biodiversity.
Plantopia is committed to reducing and remediating devastating and ongoing harm to the planet, ensuring accountability for the 4Rs of waste management – Remove, Recycle, Reuse and Reduce.
Glass is the main material used in order to best protect formulation. It is also an infinitely recyclable material. Post-consumer recycled plastic is used where possible and Plantopia removed plastic from the ocean equal to the weight of used packaging. At least 94.38% of all packaging is curb-side recyclable.
“KMI Brands has been steadily growing its portfolio for the last 25 years! Despite the many challenges the company faced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic over the last 2 years, KMI Brands continues to grow from strength to strength with a year-on-year growth of 24% with some of our brands seeing over 40% growth year-on-year. There’s no doubt that this comes down to our incredibly talented KMI team who come with a plethora of vast experience across sectors which has enabled us to enhance our offering and allows us to take this exciting step into the wellness category.” says Rachel Parsonage, CEO of KMI Brands
Plantopia products are on average 97% natural, leaping bunny approved, vegan and formulated without Parabens, Sulphates, Petrochemicals, Phthalates, Silicones, PEG, DMDM Hydantoin, Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate, Artificial Colours and GMOs.
