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April 5, 2004 - Strategy Magazine
News

Vitamin Wars
A market for the taking?
With sales growing and consumer interest rising, Strategy's experts say the right marketer could take the supplement field by storm

by Samson Okalow
page 2

In North America's ever increasing quest for better health, the focus has tended to fall on food and what can happen if you don't eat right. However, vitamins and herbal supplements are becoming a staple of the health conscious, and the category is growing rapidly: sales of nonprescription drugs, vitamins and supplements increased by 32% between 1997 and 2002, according to Statistics Canada. And ACNielsen MarketTrack data reveals volume sales of adult vitamins for the year ended Feb. 21 are up 6% over the previous period. Consumers are popping pills like never before and marketers are taking advantage.

Dawson Creek, B.C.-based HPI Health Products markets the Lakota brand of herbal supplements (for joint and muscle pain) and is currently running a national TV campaign with two spots that focus on the effectiveness of a natural approach to healing.

One ad is done testimonial style and features an elderly Native Canadian man extolling the virtues of Lakota. The other features Lakota's developer Rick Stewart naming the ingredients in a Lakota product and urging consumers to use it for easing arthritis and muscle pain. The ad is nothing fancy - Stewart is dressed as a cowboy and is filmed standing in front of a corral - but Kelli Robinson, marketing manager for HPI, says it's working.

"Many people have found that use of prescription medication has only masked symptoms and in many cases caused more problems that the original health challenge. People are looking for ways to support the body's natural tendency toward wellness and balance."

Robinson says the target is primarily those 45 years of age and older.

Not everyone is enthralled by HPI's creative for Lakota and it's decidedly low-tech look. "The Lakota stuff looks so cheap," says Mark Weisbarth, president of Toronto-based Due North Communications. "The look of the brand is very cool but then they get these people to say, 'I'm Rick Stewart.' Who the hell is Rick Stewart? At least identify yourself and say, 'You may not know me but I'm the guy who developed blankety-blank.'"

Others, such as Philippe Garneau, executive creative director of Toronto-based GWP Brand Engineering (which has the Buckley's account, among others), are more forgiving. "The thing you have to remember about the audience is that if the price is right and the distribution is there, [Stewart] comes across as honest. These are things we forget if you live and work in Toronto in the advertising industry and you gauge your answer as to whether or not it'll please your peers."

He says the ads are very "sticky." "It's definitely cutting through."

Other marketers such as Wyeth Consumer Healthcare, Swiss Herbal Remedies and Jamieson Laboratories are also running advertising campaigns, with Wyeth recently breaking a new campaign for its Centrum Performance line of vitamins.

Meanwhile at retail, small displays have developed into huge in-store boutiques as consumer interest in supplements continues to swell.

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