Case Study: Touch Land

Why Was Touchland Unique, and What Made Them Stand Out?

Touchland’s rise is fascinating because it turned what many considered a mundane, utilitarian product—hand sanitizer—into a desirable, collectible, lifestyle item. Some of the key differentiators:

• Beauty / Fragrance + Hygiene Fusion: Rather than treating sanitizers as clinical gels, Touchland designed theirs as hydrating, fragrant mists in appealing scents (Applelicious, Wild Watermelon, Vanilla Blossom, etc.). The formula includes aloe vera and skin-friendly ingredients to avoid dryness, making frequent use feel pleasant rather than harsh.

• Design & Packaging as Identity: Their bottles are slim, candy-colored, rectangular plastic with clear windows—more like a chic gadget or perfume than a hospital bottle. Their aesthetic invites people to carry them visibly, making it part of one’s look.

• Scent Universe & Mood Theming: They treat each scent as its own mood, launching limited editions, and building thematic content around a “scent calendar.” They coordinate content by monthly scent themes (e.g. “Wild Watermelon” in summer).

• Organic / Community-First Growth: Rather than huge paid ad budgets (especially early on), Touchland heavily leaned into organic social, influencer gifting, community management, and content.

• Strong Performance & Exit Value: At the time of acquisition by Church & Dwight (2025), Touchland had roughly $130 million in sales for the trailing 12 months and $55 million EBITDA. The purchase price was about $880 million.

• Rapid Growth Trajectory: In Q2 2023, sales grew ~319% year-over-year. They forecast ~230% growth in 2023 over 2022.

• Pivot beyond sanitizers: They’ve extended into body & hair fragrance mists (Power Essence) to lean further into the beauty sphere.

Their Detailed Marketing Strategy

Here’s how Touchland built its brand and growth engine:

1. Launch via Kickstarter & Early Enthusiasts
   In 2018, Touchland launched a Kickstarter campaign, raising 150% of goal in 24 hours, and 450% overall. That validated demand before mass scaling.

   

2. Organic Social First, Content & Community
   Touchland’s “social media first” strategy includes:

   • Two TikTok videos per day, featuring employees, behind-the-scenes, trends.

   • Instagram more curated: product education, retail updates, awards.

   • A content calendar tied to scent themes (e.g. scent of the month) and cross-media assets (like Spotify playlists).

   • Encouraging and gifting micro-influencers (and creators) to post about it, rather than paid only. Their micro-influencer network (via platforms like Grin) lets creators opt in to campaigns. They reportedly worked with ~330 creators in a recent month.

3. Collaborations & Limited Editions

   • Their Blackpink collaboration launched in Ulta and sold out in 5 days, generating heavy social buzz, traffic spikes (~250% website traffic increase) and conversions.

     

   • Past collabs include Disney, Smiley, etc.

     

   • Limited edition scents / seasonal variants (e.g., Cinnamon Gingerbread) to drive urgency and collectibility.

4. Retail & Omnichannel Strategy

   • From DTC to beauty retail: they are in Sephora, Ulta, and other lifestyle retailers.

   • For business / B2B: dispensers (KUB), corporate placements (hotels, offices), integrating hygiene into interior design.

5. Logistics & Scalability via ShipBob

   • They partnered with ShipBob for fulfillment early (2018) to scale operations. Their fast, distributed 3PL setup allowed them to handle spikes in orders, especially during COVID.

   • During early COVID periods, they had up to 34,000 people on waitlists, and were shipping 700 orders/day; they also sold 10,000 large dispensers to corporate & retail.

6. Measurement, Retention & Funnel Optimization

   • Use Google Analytics, Klaviyo (ESP), experimentation tools to optimize funnels, retention, and conversions.

   • Prioritize repeat customers and retention; their social & content strategy helps reinforce brand loyalty.

How Other Business Owners Can Use / Implement This in Their Business

These lessons from Touchland are broadly applicable, especially for brands in health, beauty, or product categories considered utilitarian:

• Reimagine the product experience: Turn something functional into something beautiful, scented, tactile, collectible. Design matters.

• Build a “scent / variation universe”: If your product allows variants (flavor, scent, color), treat them as moods and tie content, marketing, and product drops to that universe.

• Start with community & creators, not big ad buys: Gift to micro- and nano-influencers, let them create content, and scale what performs rather than imposing messaging.

• Operate a content calendar tied to product features: A monthly theme (e.g. scent of the month) unifies content, promotions, and partnerships.

• Leverage limited drops / collabs to expand reach: Collaborations (e.g. with music, entertainment, beauty) bring new audiences and urgency.

• Scale operations with smart logistics: Work with a 3PL or fulfillment partner early so you can scale fast when demand spikes.

• Focus on retention and funnel optimization: Use analytics and email/data tools to convert first-time buyers into loyal repeat customers.

• Extend only when relevant: Move beyond your core (e.g. mist into body & hair scents) only when it aligns with your brand sensibility and can be credible.

• Integrate B2B opportunities: A product can live in pockets and in workplaces, hospitality, etc. Build separate channels for institutional usage.

  

Takeaways

• Touchland shows that a utilitarian category can become aspirational when infused with design, fragrance, and storytelling.

• Organic creator networks + volume > big celebrity spends in many cases—especially in visually driven, lifestyle categories.

• Collaborations and limited editions scale awareness and attract new cohorts without eroding core brand identity.

• Logistics readiness is critical—having infrastructure to scale spared them from bottlenecks during major demand surges (e.g. early pandemic).

• Acquisition doesn’t negate strategy: Touchland’s purchase by Church & Dwight (~$880M) validated that a hygiene brand with strong brand equity is high value.

• Product design, scent, mood matter—people will collect and trade, especially younger generations. There are stories now of teens trading scent variants as status symbols.