Hello Bello Expands Vitamin Offerings
● Brand founders Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard discuss expanding their baby care line with new products, distribution and a relief program.
Hello Bello is growing its foothold in the baby care category with new vitamin offerings.
The three-year- old baby care brand launched by actress Kristen Bell and her husband, actor Dax Shepard, is expanding its product offerings with three new gummy vitamins: Chlorophyll + Supergreens, Kids' Multivitamin Fruit and Veggie Gummies and Kids Sleep
Well Gummies. The new vitamins, as well as the brand's product lineup of diapers, skin care, hair care and home products, are entering Target this month, in addition to being offered through Walmart and its own website.
“Kristen is incredibly meticulous about what goes in and on our kids, so everything was really healthy and organic,” Shepard said about launching the brand. “At some point, we thought it's kind of unfair that this isn't available at an affordable price all around the country and we're in a very unique position where we could go at an economy of scale that allowed us to do really premium stuff for a very reasonable price.”
Bell echoed her husband: "The reality is there's a lot of people doing great work in the baby space. There are so many different people that I really respect, but one hole we saw was the intersection of accessibility and affordability with premium products, so our goals have been to create the best stuff. Dax loves to say, ‘It's your mom's ingredients at your dad's prices.'”
For the couple, their strategy in expanding Hello Bello was mirroring the brand's growth off the growth of their own family. This has resulted in creating products they've needed for their own children, like sunscreen and bug spray, and offering products geared toward babies and young children. Hello Bello also offers vitamins for adults.
“When I was a first-time mom, everything I was purchasing had a beautiful crisp white bottle and looked very pristine, which was the opposite of what I was experiencing,” Bell said. “My house was a mess and smelled like urine and there was avocado under my fingernails. We wanted something punchy and fun and made it feel silly and irreverent, so our bottles are kind of messy with the shapes and shouldn't feel out of place in your nursery. It should fit in right and shouldn't make you feel less than.”
Bell and Shepard have also brought over their philanthropic ethos to Hello Bello, launching a diaper registry fund where customers can donate baby products to people in need similar to a GoFundMe fundraiser. Hello Bello also launched a Ukraine relief program where it has donated 200,000 diapers and other baby essentials to caregivers in need in the country and are working to increase that number to 500,000.
“Giveback was a very big priority for me when starting this company,” Bell continued. “I made sure when we went in with a diaper manufacturer I knew we were able to give away a couple million diapers a year. I am an ambassador at Baby2Baby and a couple of other great charity organizations that work with kids on or below the poverty line, so the education I've gotten through that philanthropy is how often families have to choose between their baby or their budget. What that usually results to is they are ringing out a diaper to use it a couple of times, which I don't think should be acceptable for any child or caregivers.”
As the couple continues to grow Hello Bello through new distributors, products and other charitable endeavors, one of the important pillars for them is to continue to cultivate a community among its customers.
“The goal was to be able to build a community that was the anti-shame machine,” Bell said. “So, build a community that wasn't afraid to talk about their fails or how funny it was when their kid said a swear word and not feel like the world was ending.”