Rebranded W.S. Badger Company sunscreens. (Courtesy photo)
As W.S. Badger Company celebrates 26 years in business, it is also rebranding itself to reflect the company’s deep connection to environmental action and responsibility. And yes, that means changes to the iconic illustrated badger on its products.
The Gilsum-based manufacturer of skin care products, including Badger Balm and sunscreen, is committed to reducing its own environmental footprint. Badger was awarded B Corp’s Best for the World designation for its environmental activism, while second generation owners and Co-CEOs Rebecca Hamilton and Emily Schwerin-Whyte received the 2022 Real Leaders Impact Award and the Alnoba CEO Environmental Responsibility Award for 2021.
Hamilton says companies often get to a point where they question whether their marketing feels right for the times, but for Badger, the rebranding began with their sunscreen, which the company had been making since 2005. An employee diagnosed with skin cancer needed a safe product, and it was revealed that oxybenzone, a common ingredient in sunscreen, might be carcinogenic.
Emily Schwerin-White, left, and Rebecca Hamilton. (Courtesy photo)
Hamilton says her father, company founder Bill Whyte, wanted to create a sunscreen focused on safety and efficacy. In a study by the Environmental Working Group, which showed 1 in 4 sunscreen products didn’t protect adequately, Badger’s was named first for health and safety out of 700. As a result, sunscreen has led the growth of the Badger Company since 2006, she says.
Over the past five years, the category has seen explosive growth due in part to concern for coral reefs and drinking water supplies. Every major sunscreen brand now offers a mineral version. While Badger was one of the first, it was no longer a niche and the company was looking to make its product stand out.
“How do we make the art connect to nature,” asks Hamilton. “How do we make the quality and look and feel of the packaging reflect what’s inside? And through that process we realized, in order to look at the branding of our sunscreen, we needed to look at the branding of our whole company.”
Hamilton says a custom font is the first thing an ad agency will create because it is so intrinsic to a brand’s representation, and they realized their wordmark was just an off-the-shelf font.
“We wanted to create one that honored the past but also felt uniquely Badger. We had my father write the word badger and then we had a typography foundry turn it into a whole font alphabet that we could use.”
She says they also realized that the company’s badger mascot was a rough, hardy New England badger that represented the first product the company launched—a balm for hardworking hands—but it didn’t feel like it represented the full spectrum of products. The family worked with Rachel Hudson, a wildlife illustrator, to look at every single badger created over the years.
Badger's old and new logos. (Courtesy)
She created packaging artwork depicting coastal birds along Big Sur, fish and corals of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, and turtles.
“We’ve had a range of different reactions to the rebrand; by and large mostly positive,” says Hamilton. “Some were sad to see the old badger go, which speaks to how connected they are to the brand. Others are just really thrilled to see the new direction.”
For more information, visit badgerbalm.com.
Current Issue - May 2024