By Saeju Jeong, CEO, Noom
Weight Watchers has Oprah. Noom has Genia – and you’re about to see a lot more of her on your TV.
Genia is not a celebrity, like Oprah, but a real user of Noom who lost weight with our program. She proudly says on TV, “I counted points, I followed the rules and it didn’t help me long-term.”
It’s a bold marketing move to take on Weight Watchers, but we at Noom believe everyone deserves to hear what Genia has to say. That’s why we decided to use real customers for our first-ever national advertising campaign. These aren’t paid actors or celebrities, but busy moms and working Millennials who lost weight with Noom after failing with other programs.
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For years, Noom grew organically, as our users told their friends and family about their weight loss results. Word-of-mouth and media exposure helped Noom grow to 47 million users – and that got us thinking…
If Noom could grow that quickly from users talking to one another, how much faster could we grow if we gave them a national platform to tell their stories?
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And that’s how we decided to launch our first-ever national TV campaign. We wanted to promote the people who promoted us.
Advertising agencies discouraged us from using real people in our commercials. They said actors would have a better delivery, and everyday users wouldn’t be as captivating. They also pointed out how Weight Watchers uses celebrities and “theatrical stories” to sell their programs.
But we’re not Weight Watchers. Our weight loss program applies psychology, artificial intelligence, real-life coaches, and small goals, to promote healthy habits that lead to healthy weight loss.
In the Noom national campaign, customers Genia, Michelle, and Jennifer tell their stories about how they failed with Weight Watchers, but succeeded with Noom.
With advertising, it’s buyer beware. You can’t always believe the claims. But we hope viewers believe Genia, Michelle and Jen when they hear their stories on TV.
Saeju Jeong is co-founder and CEO of Noom, Inc. Since its creation in 2008, Jeong has helped grow the company to over 47 million users to date. He is also a member of YPO, a global network of young chief executives in more than 130 countries. Jeong sits on the board of Chonnam Hospital, South Korea’s largest private hospital.
