The GLP-1 inflection point is a moment of reckoning for us all

Ozempic. Wegovy. Mounjaro. Trulicity. Competing brands. Differing active ingredients and formats. But one huge opportunity.

GLP-1 medications occupy unprecedented territory: prescription products with mainstream consumer awareness, sold everywhere from Costco to aesthetic clinics.

The pace of change and competition in the weight loss category is like nothing we’ve seen before. Already there are new, natural ingredient competitors hitting the market that are not only affordable but taken orally rather than through a jab.

They are no longer just pharmaceutical products; they are consumer brands that have captured the consumer imagination. With this, and an unprecedented consumer demand, GLP-1s have reached an inflection point. At the end of the initial gold rush, there will likely only be one winner that truly embeds itself in our lives.

With new brands rapidly entering the market and expanding distribution exposing category vulnerabilities, manufacturers face a stark choice: evolve from traditional pharmaceutical thinking into more progressive, distinctive brands that have a clear point of view or risk commoditisation in an increasingly crowded and often unregulated market.

This isn’t pharmaceutical category management; it’s consumer brand building in a market where the lines of health and wellness are blurring. And the brand (or business) that recognises this distinction first will own the category.

Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and other competitors are standing on a precipice. The brand that invests in building its brand strategy and creating staying power through clarity, connection and commitment will be the brand that emerges as victor in the battle of GLP-1 supremacy.

Novo Nordisk had an early advantage with its Wegovy and Ozempic GLP-1s but has been challenged by competitor Eli Lilly, manufacturer of Mounjaro.

Novo Nordisk recently pulled out of a $10 billion bidding war with Pfizer for Metsera – arguably an attempt to regain dominance in the lucrative obesity drug market through acquisition of further weight loss drug brands – even though the treatments from Metsera could still be years away from hitting shelves.

However, an acquisition-based strategy for market dominance is a misunderstanding of the obstacles and the opportunity for players in the weight loss market because weight loss jabs are in an unprecedented position.

Pharmaceuticals and prescription medicines ordinarily rely heavily on understanding, recommendation and advocacy from healthcare practitioners to drive success – both in terms of physical availability and sales.

But GLP-1s have a huge pull factor – coming from consumers who are turning to social channels and peers for a recommendation and making decisions on what is the right brand for them – and to ask for that.

A more progressive understanding of these changing dynamics and the potential future brand ecosystem is crucial to breakthrough and create competitive advantage. Securing market share does not wholly depend on a push-based strategy, instead these products must think brand first, engage consumers, create demand and build their brand strategy accordingly.

Unlike traditional Rx brands that rely on physician advocacy alone, GLP-1s need direct consumer brand equity – as well as providing experts with clear reasons to recommend – if they are to be victorious in the pharma-to-wellness crossover and secure distribution channels.

The relationship between healthcare professionals or advocates and GLP-1 manufactures is flipping the script on distribution.

Where healthcare professionals are the crucial audience for many pharmaceutical products for which consumer demand is low and advocacy is essential, the same cannot be said for GLP-1s. Instead, pharmacies, clinics and more are following the consumer trends closely and purchasing from manufacturers according to consumer sentiment.

At the same time, category crossovers are entangling GLP-1s with the fitness and wellness industries even further. Gym brands and fitness coaches are offering GLP-1 focused programmes. A GLP-1 user could then supplement this programme with a meal-delivery service focused on ‘GLP-1 companion ready meals.’

With the market becoming increasingly complex, what brand playbook should these businesses follow in order to become the go-to solution for consumers and the go-to recommendation from physicians?

Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro if used properly all bring around the same result – weight loss. Obviously, there are differences in effectiveness due to the different ingredients and the individual’s context but the point here is that the end goal is the same.

It’s this similarity in end goal that makes clarity and driving differentiation between your brand and competitors essential. Being clear on what your brand offers beyond the product, from emotional benefits to partnerships and associations, will distinguish your brand from the rest of the market.

Brands can make science their super power. The modern wellness consumers are investigative, with a keen understanding of what works for them and their bodies. By leaning into this and the science behind a product with clear, effective communication a brand can differentiate itself from competitors.

Without clarity and clear intent, you risk commoditising your product in the face of increased competition. This clarity is essential not only for consumers but for influencers, advocates and healthcare professional prescribers.

Without clear brand conviction, GLP-1s become interchangeable – vulnerable to price competition, counterfeit substitution and whoever shouts loudest on TikTok.

Traditional pharma relies on compliance. And compliance implies effectiveness. An important component. But without engagement and desirability it’s easy to fall by the wayside.

But consumer brands work on your heart as much as your head, they don’t operate within this same logical, linear consumer perception as pharmaceuticals.

Introduce the fact that health and wellness is a deeply personal and emotional category, then you can begin to understand how GLP-1s are currently sat with a unique opportunity to build consumer affinity through branding where other pharmaceuticals need only focus on perception within the industry.

To build this affinity, manufacturers must understand that GLP-1 users aren’t passive patients, they’re active CEOs of their own health, researching, comparing and making choices across legitimate and grey-market channels.

Brands must forge emotional connections around the lived experience of using their products: managing side effects; navigating social situations; rebuilding relationships with food. This requires moving beyond clinical authority to human understanding – through scientific social currency that empowers rather than intimidates.

GLP-1s aren’t a transaction – they’re a multiyear relationship integrated into daily rituals, bathroom cabinets, kitchen routines and life milestones. Subsequently, the brand experience must extend far beyond the injection.

Brands need to provide education, a community, behaviour change support, side effect management, dietary adaptation and offer support after weight loss in order to turn customers into brand advocates for brand growth.

Advocacy and retention only come from considering the complete user journey, especially with something as personal and emotional as weight loss. The brand that ends up dominating the market will recognise that consumers are now building this weight loss journey across multiple categories and help them navigate the whole ecosystem.

The manufacturers that continue treating GLP-1s as products managed through clinical channels will lose not just to competing pharma brands but to the health, beauty, wellness brands building deeper connections around the GLP-1 experience.

The winners will be the brands that embrace their role as category leaders across this convergence. These brands will be clear about their unique clinical value, connected to consumers’ wellness experience and committed to the complete ecosystem through strategic partnerships or integrated offerings.

In a category where everyone eventually gets the molecule right, brand becomes the only sustainable advantage. And in a world where beauty, wellness and food brands are all competing for the same consumer, pharmaceutical brands must decide: be the brand that builds the category or become a commodity ingredient in someone else’s ecosystem.

Deborah Stafford-Watson, Head of Strategy at Elmwood