Norms

0:00Welcome to the Emerging Brands podcast. Sharing the stories behind brands you'll want to shop next. I'm your host, Kelly Bennett. I am a New York City-based brand strategist for CPG Food and Beverage Brands. In each episode, I'll take you behind the scenes of founders that are building better-for-you products and bringing them to market. it. Also, I talk to brand builders, retailers, industry experts, and tastemakers who help bring those cool products to your shopping cart. You will hear stories of real-life founders, their launch strategies, and practical advice you could use to grow your own brand or simply discover what's next on shelf.

0:42And the best part is you could shop all the brands featured on the show. This podcast is brought to you by Glimpse. Glimpse is an AI powered deduction management tool that disputes and recovers invalid deductions, winning brands, thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours back to founders so that they can focus on what really matters most. If you're a brand selling in retail, go to tryglimpse.com backslash trial for 30 days free and let them know I sent you. Now let's dive into the new episode. Hi everyone. Welcome back to a new episode of Emerging Brands Podcast with Kelly Bennett. Today I'm talking to a really cool founder who is helping bring conversation and removing stigma around an issue that most people wouldn't even want to admit that they're having, but creating a brand that people can feel good about shopping and looking for and honestly just having in their makeup case that isn't embarrassing at all.

1:54And so we're going to dive into this really unique niche in CPG today with Carly Roth, the co-founder of Norms. And Carly, I'm so happy to have you on the show.

2:05Carli Roth:I'm so happy to be here, Kelly. And I feel like this was a long time coming. So thanks for having me. I know. We made it happen. And I think it's perfect timing because I've been really following along with Norms in how you're building and why you're building and how you're creating buzz, again, for a solution to a problem that most people don't want to talk about. So let's just dive into the light bulb moment that created Norms. And what was it that was happening in maybe your personal life or what you saw in the market to want to create these solutions? Yeah. Well, I co-founded the business with my husband.

2:49Carli Roth:And at the root of this is we're creating an embarrassing self-care brand, right? There's so many things that we deal with behind closed doors in the bathroom that we are all so embarrassed to be talking about, to have our products out. But 80, 90 % of us are all dealing with the same things. So the first thing we're tackling are hemorrhoids. My husband has had them since he was about 24 years old. So he's had them for almost 20 years. The brand name is called Norms after Norman, Josh's dad, who we joke he got his gut biome from. and an ode to the generation before us. So it's really exciting.

3:32Carli Roth:Hemorrhoids are our first stop. And then the plan is to go into gas, bloating, antifungal, styes, anti-itch, and all these things, again, that we do behind closed doors. So hemorrhoids, we decided to build the business about two years ago, the same time we started to try to have a baby. And of course, the way the world works, business launched. And two months later, I had my baby. And the entire time that we were building this when I was pregnant, you know, the joke was like, you know, I never had a hemorrhoid before. So we're like, fingers crossed, I'm getting my first hemorrhoid. Fingers crossed, I'm gonna get a hemorrhoid.

4:09Carli Roth:And now I am at the end of my pregnancy. This was back in December. And voila, my first hemorrhoid comes and we film it. There's a whole thing. And it has almost 4 million views between TikTok and Instagram. But I can now say that I am one of the 40 % of women who will get hemorrhoids pre or postpartum. And about 75 % of Americans will get hemorrhoids at some point in their lifetime. So it's not a low number. The low number really comes from the people who are actually seeking help. A lot of people have hemorrhoids and they don't know what the symptoms are. So they don't really know how to ask for help.

4:48Carli Roth:They don't really know what they need. and our whole mission is to normalize these conversations because it's totally normal and you know norms is for josh's dad but really at the root of it is to normalize all these embarrassing self-care things that we're all navigating and it's been really fun i mean we talk to people and every single time when we're talking to somebody in person you know there's somebody in the group who like is kind of behind he's like oh him or her they've been i have hemorrhoids or i've had My favorite is getting everyone's first time story. So the first time they knew that they had a hemorrhoid, you know, it's similar to how they share their first time losing their virginity and, you know, their first sex story.

5:31Carli Roth:And there's just such proudness that they can finally be in a room to share their story or what their experience was or how bad it was or how funny it was. and Josh and I were smiling with it because I'm like, if we can just tackle these one at a time, right? They're going back to their group of friends and they're talking about it, normalizing it. And it's, you know, we're just getting started and we have huge dreams of what this can really become. And it's been very fun. It's really cool, again, how you're making something feel more normal that people wouldn't want to be talking about or to your point, dealing with behind closed doors.

6:11And so what was your background prior to starting Norms with your husband? What was your professional career looking like?

6:20Carli Roth:You know, it's kind of been all over the place. I was a founder in my past life and I swore I'd never do it again. And you make plans and God laughs. Right, right, right. Yes. And I had an event company back in the day that I sold in 2012 with my best friend from high school. than I was working, you know, trying, you know, going from founder to working in the corporate world is really difficult because you go from a place of wearing multiple hats. You aren't, especially when you're so fresh into the job market, you don't have one skill. So when you go out to look for a quote unquote job, your resume is kind of all over the place.

6:59Carli Roth:And I really struggled with it. And it was just something that I couldn't, you know, people are like, you're so good with people. You should go into sales or go into recruiting. And I tried it. And, you know, I'm just, my brain's not operated that way. Like I want to nurture a relationship way too long. And they were like, you have to close the deal. And I was like, but we have coffee, you know, we're going for a drink. Right. And they were just like, close the deal, Carly. I was like, I, I, okay, this is not for me. I didn't want the pressure. I wanted it to become so much more natural. And then I go on to, um, work.

7:29Carli Roth:I want, I helped launch aloe in New York, um, which was really fun because that was very community based. Um, so we launched the studio, the store in Soho, Williamsburg, Chelsea was coming, but you know, COVID happened. Then I went on to do gifting for my friends, um, gifting company called loop and tie. And I was kind of just like all over the place. And then I moved to LA and somebody introduced me to female founder collective. and I have been there, you know, in addition to this for five years, building community. And it has been like my heart and soul because working with founders and giving them support is absolutely everything because I know what it was like.

8:08Carli Roth:So when Josh and I were starting to talk about norms, it was kind of a no brainer because everything turned on again for me to be creative. I am such a consumer. I joke, I'm like every brand's dream on Instagram, like give me an ad, I will purchase it. I'm a child of infomercials. I just QVC. I'm like, I'm a sucker and I don't hate it. And then I do angel investing and all of my angel investments are into consumer products because I'm like, I use them. I get it. And I, you know, I get that the ROI sometimes it's not as big as if you're investing in AI or tech, but I love being able to use products and buy them and try them.

8:47Carli Roth:And so when we even talk about product development, it's really fun to explore where these can go because so much of the hemorrhoid market and suppositories and creams are just kind of antiquated. Like they really haven't been, um, innovated on in so long. And so we're coming with this fresh thinking of, okay, like what if we add this ingredient? What if we do this? How is this going to feel on your butt? Um, because beauty products specifically have taken on so much more creativity on how brands and founders are thinking through ingredients. And I believe Pemmerer products should have some ingredients in there that actually are not a hundred percent natural just to help with, um, how your body reacts to it.

9:33Carli Roth:And I think it just makes for a faster relief. Um, needless to say, there are products out there that are a hundred percent natural, but I think the beauty of it is the creativity you can do on blending natural and chemicals. And again, that's what I use on my skin. That's what I do for a lot of my beauty products. And there is a world now where I think people appreciate it, but the creativity on it is, is very fun. I've been seeing that shift. And I would say personally too, there's some things that like give me the chemical stuff because I have, you know, fill in the blank thing. I have a stye, I have a cold sore.

10:11I want the medicine. I am all about natural, organic. Exactly. I want what will help me ASAP because I don't have the time to wait or whatever to kick in.

10:25Carli Roth:My, you know, my sunspots, like, you know, maybe I just don't have the patience for a hundred percent natural organics to take time to work, but I think it's all about balance. And I think Like that's where we as consumers have really landed because the pendulum has swung in both ways. I mean, you're in food and beverage, right? Remember when nobody was drinking dairy and there was non-dairy ice creams and now it's like, I want the full fat, the A2 milk. Literally, those are my daily conversations. It's crazy. I mean, and that swung so quickly. Really quickly. Really quickly. To your point, I am also a nerd about consumer behavior and consumer brands and being a customer and really respecting the brand and building that community and being engaged.

11:16When you were thinking about starting norms, knowing your background, but also knowing, okay, this isn't necessarily the beauty space. This isn't events that, you know, people want to be sharing about or posting about that they're at. This is like they have a bit of a situation going on that maybe they don't want to be talking about. What was your approach to disrupting that thought pattern or making it feel more comfortable to have these conversations or even a product that people would want to post about? I would love to hear your perspective on that.

11:51Carli Roth:So from the start, the branding conversation was, you know, Josh jokes about this, but I'm his first partner where he wasn't embarrassed having a hemorrhoid cream out in his dop kit when we were traveling or having something in the bathroom that I could see. You know, he's very, it was like, I would always hide it. It was something embarrassing for me. It was always the same yellow tube that we're all familiar with. and so when it came to the branding it was how can we create something that's beautiful that both partners can have in their job kit that they can share that they're not embarrassed when people come over to their house if they have the cream or the wipes behind the toilet the way wipes have become such a natural thing for people to have out in the open now yes what's you know you know we have a joke but like love is sharing your hemorrhoid cream right and all of our all of our creams actually come with these multicolored finger cots.

12:41Carli Roth:So there are these beautiful colored finger condoms to help apply the cream, but they also provide, we like to say, like hemorrhoid with a smile, right? Like how can we make the whole process inviting and fun? And so the product, the branding was always about if it's out in the open, it's nothing to be ashamed of, right? It's the conversation of normalizing it. And then when we launched, we actually did a clubhouse in New York. We did a pop-up. We took over the GoodSmart, Rachel Krupa. Love you. If you're listening, you're amazing. Biggest fan. And we took over her space in September of last year through, I think it was probably September to December.

13:24Carli Roth:And we had it for about two and a half months. And we created a Norm's Clubhouse. And it was a place to come speak freely about your hemorrhoids and your experiences. And it was a pop-up shop. I mean, you paid for your products, but we wanted it to create a space where people walked in and felt like they were walking into a beautiful version of a product store, not something, you know, and there was a big sign out front. It looked super cute. It was great. I mean, Pete Davidson's an investor. He came by. Cool. We had a lot of foot traffic. I mean, that space is just incredible. There's pop-ups everywhere.

13:58Carli Roth:And it was amazing because people would walk in and again, they would be like, let me tell you about my story. Oh, I had this one experience. And some people were like, what's this? We had, you know, a hemorrhoid pillows so that we had the donuts out so people can sit on those. And it just wanted to be a safe place for people to talk. And so now we are working on, we've recently purchased, um, a motor home that we're calling the motor norm. So over time we're, we're refurbishing the whole thing. It's a big, big family project. And ideally this motor home can also go across the country. It can host these conversations outside retail stores.

14:33Carli Roth:And it can be a place to go where people can feel safe, but also share, you know, their experiences with everything. So we're approaching it in a way that is very inviting and it feels very community oriented in a space where, you know, in the life of subreddits and the world of subreddits, you know, you're part of so many different communities. This is a place where you can feel comfortable and remind people that they are not alone in navigating hemorrhoids now, but, you know, down the line, all this embarrassing self-care. What communities of people have been your early adapters to be open to engaging in the product and brand?

15:15Moms.

15:15Carli Roth:Yeah. Yeah. So again, 40 % of women will experience hemorrhoids pre or post baby. And we were very surprised to see how fast that picked up, um, on Amazon. And it's great because now I can speak to it, right? It's a world I live in. It's a world I absolutely love. Um, but the hemorrhoid care for moms is so real. And, uh, Wendy, who's our, who Wendy LaBrette, who's SoCal gastro doc on Tik TOK. She's the biggest gastro doc on Tik TOK. And she's one of, she's our medical partner on it. You know, she's a mom as well and she sees it all the time. But moms, man. Moms. And I also think it's because the women are also most of the time purchasing a lot of the products for the household.

16:02Right. Women make 80 % of the household purchases, right? So that totally makes sense. And you just touched upon Amazon. And I would love to hear more about your strategy of your go-to-market because I know you have a D2C channel, Amazon, the GoPuffs, and also then expanding and meeting consumers where they are. So I would love to hear how that strategy is rolling out.

16:27Carli Roth:So Amazon is our number one. We have a very small buy here button on our website, but we push everything to Amazon as much as we can. Primarily when we were thinking about our go-to-market strategy. Our generation just shops very differently and they're not going to the pharmacies the way our parents do. They're not, if they're having a flare up, if they're feeling itchy, if there's burning, if they're like, oh my gosh, I have to go see something. They're not jumping in the car to go to a pharmacy just to buy one thing of wipes or one tube of cream or a spray. They're going on Amazon. I mean, myself included.

17:01I am so about

17:03Carli Roth:instant gratification on shopping. So Amazon is our big number one place to shop. We do amazing deals. We love it. I mean, it's a beast, but it's our go-to. And then we'll be launching in Walmart towards the end of the year. Amazing. And Target, we're in talks with Target for early next year. But our whole strategy is to meet our customers where they're at, right? So when they're shopping the aisles at Target, when they're doing a big buy at Walmart, we'll eventually get on GoPuff and Instacart for instant delivery, because when you're doing a run for things or an order for delivery for parties or socializing, you know, Hammered Cream has its own.

17:41Carli Roth:We have all this great content on the internet of videos we've shot, which is just all the different places you can like realize that you are having a flare up and you need to shop. Um, but GoPuff is one of those and Instacart as well. So, um, it's really exciting and Amazon's, Amazon's the big one. What has been a piece of advice that you have learned along the way or something that you took from your previous role as a founder and even selling a brand at this point, now starting a second one, that you have found really impacted your go-to-market strategy? and just, again, making a brand feel community-driven and a brand that people want to talk about and share about.

18:26And even in the fact that you're in a niche that people don't want to talk about it and you're making content that people are engaging with and a community and brand people are engaging with, I would love to hear what insight you would then pass on.

18:40Carli Roth:Yeah. Well, I think when you make a good product, your community speaks for itself, right? So our cream and our finger cots are a hero product. And you can see that people are starting to share it more. They're talking about it. They're not embarrassed. And creating a safe space online to have women and men as well comment and share about their products that they're loving from norms. But I think a big piece of it is – wait, is this advice for the founders? It's mom brain. Yes, yes. It could be both. It could be both. I think for the founder, it's very much find your community and also, you know, be patient because these things take time.

19:26Carli Roth:And also gone are the days. Remember when you used to just have to build a website and push people to your website? Oh, my gosh. I do remember those days. Yeah, it used to be so simple. Now it's 10 different ways of talking to your customer and they're changing and they're adapting and their attention span is getting smaller and smaller. Yes. And the interesting thing with hemorrhoids specifically is we have such an array of audience to talk to, right? Teenagers are getting hemorrhoids, you know, athletes, teen athletes are getting hemorrhoids because they're not, I don't know why, but they're a market to talk to, right?

20:00Carli Roth:Women, moms, men who sit all day, GLP users, you know, people who aren't very active, Like there are so many sub communities of people who can experience hemorrhoids that it's really important for us to kind of keep a focus on how to talk to them. And also we're in a really unique position because you can't really just put meta ads all over and hope it lands with somebody. Right. You really have to get specific on who you're talking to. Yeah. Because if you don't and this was me before I had a hemorrhoid, like I would get ads from some other brands and I'd be like on rare occasions. but I'd be like, this is so like, it goes over your head, right?

20:42Carli Roth:And every time it goes over somebody's head, that costs us money and you just can't afford to do that. So we've really come to building out our social that has conversations and there's some comedic relief to it. And it's not always about selling the product, but it's about getting people comfortable with talking and feeling the uncomfortable conversations. And so it's a really, you know, it's a challenging approach at times, but I think we're getting there. I think you've done a great job already from the start of how you've been approaching it and having that comic relief, especially for a topic people don't want to talk about.

21:20And I just appreciate you so generously sharing behind the curtain of how you're building and your perspective, your point of view. This has been such an impactful conversation that I know so many early stage founders are going to get a lot of value from. And I appreciate you so much.

21:39Carli Roth:My gosh, thanks for having me. I could talk about this all for hours, I think. And also your knowledge on all things consumers is, you know, really inspiring. And thank you. That means a lot. So for anyone who's in a situation and they have a hemorrhoid brewing. Or if they knew a new mom in their life. New mom in their life, they could gifted part of like a cute gift bag. So going to Amazon, looking up norms to shop. Perfect. Yeah. Amazing. I'll link it in the show notes again, Carly, thank you for your time. And thank you everyone for listening and I'll see you on the next episode. Bye. Bye. This episode was brought to you by Glimpse.

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