Even before Lucy Gough started her wellness and skincare company, she knew branding was a four-letter word. “In 2018, there wasn’t much available in the four-letter space,” she smiles. Six years have passed since then. Lima (taken from the ancient Greek “lema”) is now an eight-figure business.
Gough’s life changed about 10 years ago when she was introduced to nutrition leader Paul Clayton while recovering from sepsis and six weeks in hospital after giving birth to her first child.
“Once the infection subsided, the pharmaceutical industry couldn’t help me because their standard of health for me was that I didn’t have sepsis,” she recalls. “But there was a gray area where I couldn’t function.
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“Paul led me to this little hidden set of supplements that really worked. My life started to change and I felt myself again. This is what actually works. It has proven to be a driving force in a supplement industry that has been built on hope and marketing that is here to stay.”
This led to the launch of Goff’s supplement, which was launched in 2018 and touted as the industry’s first pharmaceutical-grade formulation. Then came the Lima Laser, released in 2020. This is a product that creates new possibilities for clinic-grade home skin rejuvenation (no goggles required). The third product appeared last year. This is a skin care cream designed to work in parallel with the laser and is an independent anti-aging protocol.
According to Goff, this is the most active skin care on the market, with more than 80% of the formulation made up of active ingredients and 20% made up of stabilizers and water emulsifiers. Goff added that the skin care industry typically does the opposite.
Ms Gough, who is dyslexic, started her career as a secretary in the fashion department of the Daily Express and was asked to become a stylist at the paper. “Once I learned how to type, I realized that I was more capable than I thought and that my creativity came out in my writing,” she says.
Journalism also taught me to question everything before moving into the PR industry at Selfridges and witnessing the traits that different brands need to be successful.
“Lyma was launched as a product that was light years ahead in efficacy than anything else on the market,” Goff says. “But if you want to launch a brand, that’s not enough. Immersing yourself in a culturally relevant brand is the true benchmark of whether something works culturally.
“Jo Malone decommodified candles as an expression of home luxury and repackaged them as scented candles, something very obvious that no one had done before. Enter people’s homes and Unconsciously, I smelled the scent of the candle and thought to myself: “This woman has her life in order.”
“That’s why I created Lyma to create this sturdy copper container that you can put your supplements in and show it off at home. Then people automatically look at it and say, ‘She’s I’ve done my research and I want the best.” It’s the things that remind your home of your brand that make all the difference. ”
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Following the success of Lyma’s flagship supplement, Mr Gough said that given it was “an unknown brand that launched a £2,000 harmless laser device”, selling 100 lasers in the first year would be a success. he admitted.
But Goff said: “What I underestimated was the huge trust built up by consumers who took the supplement for 18 months. We sold 1.5 million pounds of product in the first week of launch. At that time, I I learned the power of what we created.”
And when Lyma launched a £500 skincare product that lasted a month, it had a waiting list of 30,000 people. Messages backed by science and support from celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Kim Kardashian certainly helped.
With 40% growth to reach revenues of £23.2m in 2022, Lima has since been named the 11th fastest growing company in the UK by the Sunday Times, and last year was named the first ever company in the international trading company category. won the King Award.
“It’s a pinch moment in the lives we change through our products,” Goff admits. “We’ve grown virally and organically through perimenopausal women whose lives have gone a little downhill. HRT [hormone replacement therapy] Great, but not a complete solution. You need to rely on supplements and effective skin care tools.
“You don’t realize how debilitating it is not to sleep, how you end up feeling uncontrollably stressed and depressed because you don’t want your skin to age. Your heart, liver, bones… No one sees themselves aging every day.
“Skin is the only reference we have that can visibly influence the mind that the body is starting to age.The fact that we provide anti-aging solutions may seem whimsical to some, but to millions of people, it’s very real.
The U.S. is now Lyma’s biggest market, but the company, which entered the pandemic with five employees and emerged with nearly 30, is based in London and has about 50 employees. She added: “Brands are built on visual strategies, but we have an emotional strategy. It’s hard to go global from different offices, you have to come from one hub.
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Six years after founding the UK Welltech brand, Goff says she never set out to set up a business and admits she is always learning.
“Being a mother is different, but I feel very maternal to the people of Raima,” she added.
“With intense challenges and intense exhilaration, this is a journey we must all take on. Whether we come together as a team will determine whether we succeed or not.”
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