Launching a product to address deeply personal issues can be a challenge. But convincing consumers to talk about those products is a different kettle of fish entirely.
Australian femtech brand Lacevo has built much of its business without relying heavily on paid media, instead using a combination of intimate events, founder storytelling, organic social, professional endorsements, creator gifting and word of mouth to build awareness around a category that isn’t always easy to talk about.
Founded by Sally Grice in 2024, Lacevo launched with a wearable breast pump before expanding into red and near-infrared light therapy with its recently launched Empower Breast Care Set, designed to help with breast and nipple pain, engorgement, blocked ducts, mastitis and soreness.
Empower is TGA-approved and designed specifically to contour to the breast, with 660nm red light and 850nm near-infrared light delivered through 96 LEDs.
When the brand first launched, due to the highly personal nature of the category, rather than immediately pushing into a traditional paid acquisition strategy, the brand focused on creating opportunities for women to experience the product, talk about it and recommend it within their own networks.
Speaking to B&T, Grice said: “When we launched, it was kind of backwards to a normal e-commerce brand,” she said. “We are all organic and have really focused on community and unique different ways to market.”
The approach has seen intimate events become an early driver of the brand, with Grice using the moments to share her founder story and explain the technology behind the products directly to consumers.
Building a product she had always needed herself
The founder’s own experience was the starting point for the business.
Grice, whose background is in product development and manufacturing, said she struggled to find a wearable breast pump that worked effectively after having her second child while also running her business during Covid.
“I came to being a mum and couldn’t find a wearable breast pump that was efficient enough for me,” she said. “I tried everything, everything failed. Then it was one of those light bulb moments.”
She subsequently developed the product with input from her network of mothers in Shenzhen, where she had been based for 17 years, using “real-life testing” throughout the development process.
That product-first approach has also shaped Lacevo’s pricing strategy. Grice said the brand sits at a premium price point but aims to provide consumers with everything they need rather than requiring them to purchase multiple additional products or accessories.
“We want to try and make it accessible, but we still want it to have value,” she said. “So, it isn’t easy, but you’ve got to explain that value, the benefits and the alternatives.”
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Lacevo is stocked nationally at Baby Bunting and has expanded into major retail, including Target in the US.
“We were trying to roll out to Baby Bunting, and we sold out three times before we could get into every store,” she said. “It was very difficult for us. So we didn’t want to invest, you know, in our direct-to-consumer sales if they’re the ones who run out of stock.”
Instead, Lacevo has concentrated its promotional efforts on social media, intimate events, creator relationships, professional voices and word of mouth. The brand currently has around 21,000 Instagram followers, with well-known creators including Jade Tunchy, Chloe Fisher and Nikki Westcott among those following the brand.
Grice said to get big voices involved, influencer gifting has been an important part of the strategy – although the cost of gifting means Lacevo has had to be selective.
She said many creators have also approached the brand organically after hearing about its products.
“They’re genuinely supportive of that, and that’s been a great thing about Lacevo, is the support that we’re genuinely getting,” she said. “It’s not paid. They genuinely want to use our products because they’re hearing they are the best.”
The power of word of mouth
Grice said word of mouth had ultimately been one of Lacevo’s biggest growth drivers.
“Mums talk. If you have a product that is working for them, they will tell their sister, their partner and their mum they will tell everybody in their mums groups,” she said.
The company has also used intimate events as a way of creating more direct relationships with its audience, including events in the US.
While mothers remain a core audience, Grice said the brand has increasingly seen interest from partners and other family members, particularly around gifting.
She also pointed to Lacevo’s black product design as a deliberate branding decision intended to make the products feel more discreet and integrated into a woman’s life, rather than looking like traditional baby products.
“It’s very for the mum and not the baby,” she said. “They’re products made around her to empower her to do life however she wants, however that is.”
The brand’s recent Baby Bunting activity has also been used to combine education with product promotion, including a campaign focused on different nipple types and sizes, alongside the availability of additional pump sizing in stores.
For Grice, that demonstrates how product, placement and promotion can work together rather than being treated as separate marketing functions.
‘We’re about to push the foot down’
So, is paid media in the pipeline for Lacevo?
Grice said although it’s not in the strategy currently the brand is “about to push the foot down”.
And while Lacevo plans to increase its investment in paid marketing as it expands, Grice said the company’s early growth had demonstrated that paid media was not necessarily a prerequisite for building demand.
“We will be focusing on that in the future. But I think what was proven as a two-and-a-half-year-old company is that you don’t necessarily have to do that. You don’t have to dump your money into it if you have a good product.”
