Sep 18, 2024

With C-suite leaders from iconic brands keynoting sessions, leading workshops and attending networking events, Brandweek is the place to be for marketing innovation and problem-solving. Register to attend September 23–26 in Phoenix, Arizona. Digital health and wellness platform Noom has appointed a new chief brand officer (CBO) in Rachel Mahoney as it jumps into the off-label weight loss drug market. Mahoney was most recently chief marketing officer (CMO) at Shutterstock . She will now be the architect of Noom’s brand strategy as it continues to add anti-obesity drug offerings to its behavior change and telehealth programs. Reporting directly to Noom’s CMO Peter Scherr, Mahoney will lead creative platform development and media spending. She will also manage external agency partnerships, organic social media strategy, and Noom’s in-house creative team. The GLP-1 wars Noom, which claims 45 million users globally, has offered online coaching and customized weight loss plans since 2008. In 2023, it first moved into the Ozempic market with the launch of Noom Med. This offering pairs its behavioral change programs with prescription appetite-suppressing drugs including Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro . With Morgan Stanley Research estimating that 24 million people , or 7% of the U.S. population, are poised to use such weight loss drugs by 2035, Noom moved deeper into the space this week with the launch of a compound GLP-1 product with prices starting at $149. The treatment will feature compounded semaglutide, the same active ingredient in Ozempic. Noom joins other digital health startups such as   Hims & Hers  and  Sesame in debuting an off-label alternative to Ozempic, which has an average monthly list price of $936 in the U.S., per health policy organization KFF . Elsewhere, legacy brands including WeightWatchers have been muscling in on the market with their own prescription services. Noom’s off-label launch was accompanied by a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal calling on policy makers to address what its co-founder and executive chair, Saeju Jeong, described as “glaring price disparities for GLP-1s between the U.S. and other countries.” Noom took a swipe at other GLP-1 brands and policymakers in a full-page WSJ ad Saeju Jeong/ LinkedIn Noom CMO Scherr said in a statement that Mahoney’s experience in e-commerce and “launching and transforming brands… combined with her unique ability to build long-term brands without compromising near-term performance” would be invaluable to the business as it continued to evolve. Enjoying Adweek's Content? Register for More Access!