Nootropic brands sell cognitive support: sharper focus, steadier energy, better mood. The category mixes subscription startups, performance supplement companies and mushroom or ketone specialists. Heights, Onnit, HVMN, Thesis, Gorilla Mind and Natural Stacks all advertise here, often to knowledge workers, lifters and gamers. Looking at their ads shows how a category with soft, hard-to-prove outcomes builds trust through ingredients, founders, quizzes and creators, and which claims brands choose to make.
Genius Mushrooms is a product line from The Genius Brand (thegeniusbrand.com), combining Lion's Mane, Cordyceps, and Reishi in organic veggie capsules. It is one of the top-selling functional mushroom supplements on Amazon and widely distributed through natural retail. Also searched as Genius.
Gorilla Mind is a Boise-based nootropic and performance supplement brand founded in December 2017 by Derek Munro, creator of More Plates More Dates. The brand converted Derek's YouTube and Reddit following into a high-converting DTC business built on community trust, formula transparency, and creator authority. Also searched as Gorilla.
HVMN (formerly Nootrobox) was founded in 2014 by Geoffrey Woo and Michael Brandt in San Francisco. The company pioneered science-driven nootropic stacks before pivoting to ketone esters — a cutting-edge exogenous ketone technology originally developed for DARPA and US Army contracts. HVMN sits at the credibility frontier of performance nutrition, bridging military science and consumer biohacking.
Heights is a UK braincare supplement subscription founded in 2019 by Dan Murray-Serter and Joel Freeman. The brand built a 60,000-subscriber newsletter before launching, then converted that audience with a 20-nutrient Smart Supplement stack backed by consultant dietitian Sophie Medlin and neuroscientist Dr Tara Swart. It raised a £2M+ Seedrs crowdfund in 2021.
Mojo is a functional mushroom gummy brand founded by Chief Science Officer Daniel Sanders, combining Lion's Mane, Cordyceps, Panax Ginseng, and a proprietary nootropic blend to deliver focus, energy, and mood support in a candy-like daily format. Available DTC at mojo.shop and through GNC retail.
Natural Stacks is a US nootropics supplement brand founded in 2014 by Roy Krebs and Ben Hebert in Seattle, WA. Known for open-source formulations, transparent ingredient sourcing, and its flagship CILTEP stack, it targets biohackers and self-experimenters seeking cognitive performance. Also searched as Natural.
Onnit was founded in 2010 by Aubrey Marcus in Austin, Texas. The brand — famous for Alpha Brain nootropic and its 'total human optimization' philosophy — became one of the fastest-growing supplement companies through the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, where Rogan's authentic advocacy created a cultural phenomenon. Unilever acquired a majority stake in Onnit in 2021.
Thesis (takethesis.com) is a New York-based personalized nootropic brand founded in 2019 by Dan Freed. Rather than selling a single stack, Thesis uses a cognitive assessment quiz to match customers to one of several custom blends targeting energy, clarity, creativity, or motivation. The brand ranked #3 on the Financial Times Americas Fastest-Growing Companies list in 2024, reflecting its rapid DTC scale.
Nootropic ads face a credibility problem. The benefit is internal and hard to show, so brands compensate with proof devices. Common ones are ingredient breakdowns, named founders, third-party testing language, and creator or podcast endorsements. Onnit built its identity around a performance-optimization philosophy and creator voices, while Gorilla Mind speaks to lifters and gamers with potent, energy-forward positioning. Offers and funnels differ by model. Thesis uses a cognitive quiz that routes shoppers to a custom blend, which turns the ad into an invitation to take the quiz. Heights leans on subscription and a braincare identity. Mojo and Genius Mushrooms simplify the format, gummies or capsules, to lower the barrier for new buyers. Creative skews toward talking-head video, text-on-screen ingredient callouts and day-in-the-life scenes at a desk or gym. Hooks usually start from a pain: afternoon slump, brain fog, scattered focus.
Pay attention to how carefully each brand words its claims. Supplements sit under strict advertising rules, so the best ads describe support and ingredients rather than promising outcomes. Note which phrases repeat across competitors and which a brand avoids. Compare the entry point. Quiz, bundle, single bottle, subscription, free shipping? Each choice signals who the brand thinks its buyer is. HVMN and Natural Stacks speak to biohackers who like detail, so their creative can carry more science. Mojo targets people who just want an easy daily habit. Also track creator usage. Many ads in this space use fitness, tech or podcast voices. Save the ones that run for a long time and break down the hook, the proof, and the call to action. Long-running ads are a useful signal of what the brand keeps paying to show.
Most use short video with a pain-first hook such as brain fog or low focus, followed by ingredient callouts and a creator or founder voice. Quiz funnels, as with Thesis, and subscription offers, as with Heights, are common. Copy usually stays on support language rather than hard promises.
AdLibrary tracks Heights, Onnit, HVMN, Thesis, Gorilla Mind, Genius Mushrooms, Mojo and Natural Stacks in this category. They range from quiz-matched blends to mushroom capsules, gummies and ketone products, so you can compare how each pitches focus and energy. Filter by date, country and format in AdLibrary to see which creative has stayed in rotation, then save the strongest examples to compare hooks, proof and offers.
Rules vary by region and platform, and supplement ads are typically restricted from making disease or guaranteed-outcome claims. Brands tend to focus on ingredients, formulation and general support. Reviewing live ads shows the wording competitors currently use, but always check the rules that apply to you.
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