As the definition of wellness expands beyond basic health, a range of players are leaning in—from beauty brands to intimate and sexual wellness companies.

Public conversations about once-taboo topics are more prevalent in all forms of media. Last month Meta, parent of Facebook, announced new policies in which advertisers can run ads that promote sexual health, wellness and reproductive products and services as long as the focus is on health (not sexual pleasure or enhancement) and they target people 18 years or older. This includes ads for condoms, family planning and products for the effects of menopause and pain relief during sex.

That’s a welcome change for companies that sell intimate personal care products that promote vaginal and sexual health. This includes CC Wellness, a Santa Clarita, CA-based company that sells intimate lubricant lines JO and LubeLife, among other OTC and Class 2 medical devices.

Happi spoke with CC Wellness CMO Mimi Anderson about its JO brand and the changes happening in the intimate wellness space right now.

HAPPI: Intimate and sexual wellness is not so much of taboo a topic anymore. Is this welcome news for JO as a brand?

Anderson: Our parent company CC Wellness and our brand JO are among the key players in sexual wellness that are moving the category into the future and a post-covid reality. It’s one of the reasons I joined CC Wellness.

We are shifting the dialogue surrounding sexual lubricants from a taboo to a shame-free discussion about sensuality and sexual wellness while showcasing sexual wellness as an important part of total health and wellness.

In tune with current consumer attitudes, we are rebranding our JO brand lubricant with realistic imagery and language that empowers consumers to see themselves reflected in our products, from multicultural, sexual orientation, gender, body acceptance and other trending perspectives.

HAPPI: Why do you think we are seeing this change?

Anderson: Millennials and Gen X are driving these changes and normalizing the conversation. They are much more open to talking about intimate care and sex than previous generations. They have been influenced by the openness of the celebrities they follow on social media and the evolving approach to holistic wellness, including a focus on self-care.

Beyond this we can’t deny that the pandemic and social distancing pushed more people either into solitary circumstances or toward a desire to spice up their partner relationships. With more time and more disposable income, consumers were able to focus and spend on self-care and that certainly expanded into spending on sexual wellness. In fact, our sales grew 53% in 2020 and 26% in 2021.

HAPPI: Tell us about the germ of the idea to launch Jo?

Anderson: From the outset, our goal was to offer the safest, most efficacious and highest quality sexual wellness products available.

To that end, we have developed more clinically tested products than any other brand in specialty retail.

Many people don’t realize that personal lubricants are considered a class ll medical device and as such require expertise in navigating the FDA’s complex 510(k) premarket notification (PMN) process. FDA 510(k) certification means the FDA agrees with the manufacturer that their medical device is safe and effective.

Through our work with JO, and our other consumer brand called #LubeLife, we have become experts at this process, securing 24 personal lubricant 510(k) certifications to date — second to Reckitt, the parent company of KY, which has 31.

We’ve received 27% of total personal lubricant 510(k)s issued by the FDA through August 2022. To date this year, we successfully secured three of these complex 510(k) certifications.

Notably, when Amazon and Walmart mandated FDA 510(k) premarket certification for personal lubricants prior to launch, CC Wellness was able to exert leadership and leverage our expertise in 510(k) certification, thereby helping to bring safe and effective products to the market.

HAPPI: Can you share with us what sets Jo apart in terms of its products and marketing approach?

Anderson: Hands down, JO offers the best tasting, most sensual and luxurious products on the market!

And we have something for everybody, meaning we are sex positive, inclusive and embrace a 100% judgment-free approach. We offer nearly 100 different products—each designed to enhance specific intimate experiences, inspire confidence and ignite sexual imagination—all while demonstrating our commitment to inclusion.

We put a lot of time and effort into creative product development based on both consumer research and trend forecasting so that we always deliver products consumers want. For example, in September we introduced three fun new flavors from our JO Cocktails cocktail-themed line of flavored water-based lubricants: Mimosa (a blend of citrusy orange juice and champagne), Cosmopolitan (a blend of fresh cranberry and lime), and Mai Tai (a blend of luscious passionfruit and pineapple). They taste better than the real thing and the packaging is modern and eye catching.

Beyond this, we take safety very seriously and use only the highest quality US Pharmacopeia grade ingredients. We manufacture more FDA 510(k) certified formulations than any other personal lubricant brand in specialty retail. All are made in the USA at our own manufacturing facility in Santa Clarita, CA. Our use of US-sourced components has the additional benefit of minimizing the supply chain issues plaguing many companies.

And we are making the confusing lubricant shopping experience easy to navigate for consumers. JO has developed a breakthrough method for thinking about shelf sets and planograms — and that is by displaying product via ‘usage blocking.’ Regardless of brand or base formula, products are grouped by primary use to educate consumers and help them quickly narrow their purchase options by such use groupings as lubricate, taste, touch, etc. This shelf display simplification not only highlights our intuitive retail approach, but also encourages the entire sexual wellness sector to modernize.

HAPPI: Does JO have a hero product?

Anderson: Our number one best-selling product is the JO H2O Original personal lubricant. Its sensual, comforting glide and silky-smooth feel makes it hard to beat. Long-lasting, non-staining, easy to clean, it is compatible with toys and condoms. That’s why we call it our MVP … most versatile player!

And of course, it adheres to our standards of safety, premium ingredients and quality manufacturing.

HAPPI: While we are seeing changes in the conversation about sexual health, brick-and-mortar retail seems to be limited to what we might call ‘non-traditional’ outlets. Is this something that the brand would want to see and how can that happen?

Anderson: Our mission is to expand the cultural dialogue and celebrate shame-free sexual wellness as a pillar of health. Achieving a sense of well-being and a satisfying sexual experience is the goal.   Since we sell products across a variety of brands in multiple channels, we are working toward this on multiple platforms. In an omnichannel world, we want to be sure there are products/brands that meet individual consumer’s needs—wherever they may shop. If that change occurs in adult retail outlets, more traditional HBA outlets or wherever else consumers buy sexual wellness products, we’ll claim success.