In the spirit of “All boats rising,” article participants offer what can other suppliers learn from their successes with proprietary branded ingredients (PBIs)?
“It pays to protect your PBIs and undertake the necessary and novel research. Your investment will be rewarded by returning customers who want to provide their consumers something unique, beneficial and safe.”
-Brian Appell, Activation Marketing Manager, OmniActive Health Technologies, Morristown, NJ
“There are three main keys to Bergstrom Nutrition’s success with our PBI (OptiMSM) that other suppliers could learn from. They fall under the categories of research, customer support and safety.
“1. Bergstrom Nutrition continually invests in research to advance our understanding of MSM (methylsulfonylmethane), prove safety and efficacy, and to aid regulatory registration.
2. Each day we offer superior technical support and customer service. There is no middleman involved; customers speak directly with the manufacturer.
3. Our standards of safety mean that rigorous analytical testing verifies consistent identity and purity. Bergstrom Nutrition mandates tight specifications for OptiMSM and analytical methods that are more stringent than any other MSM on the market. Our GRAS (generally recognized as safe) designation, coupled with the Letter of Non-Objection from the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), provides clear support for the safety of our MSM.”
-Tim Hammond, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Bergstrom Nutrition, Vancouver, WA
“Making sure you have solid science is key, but it’s also how you market your product and raise consumer awareness to educate the consumer to be successful.”
– Elyse Lovett, Marketing Manager, Kyowa Hakko USA, New York, NY
“Invest in research, publish the studies, develop and consistently produce a high quality ingredient, and protect the category by alerting the industry when you see practices that are problematic, as we did when we found out that synthetic, petroleum-derived curcumin was being sold cheaply, and labeled as extract of turmeric without its origin being identified.
“One of the things we expect and hope the other suppliers and brand owners would learn from these examples is that owning a PBI doesn’t mean only having IP or a brand name but also it should deliver the health benefits for which it promises. Our resolve to make C3 Complex as the best curcumin brand in the world has been supported by the clinical success and the achievements of our scientists, but also our development with the farming community.”
-Shaheen Majeed, President-Worldwide, Sabinsa, East Windsor, NJ
“Developing a successful branded functional ingredient requires investment in time, money and patience. You must clearly demonstrate the ingredient’s efficacy and value in order to offer value to consumers. Both Wellmune and GanedenBC30 are supported by many years of research demonstrating their safety and efficacy.
“It’s no secret that, because information is now at their fingertips, consumers are smarter, more skeptical, and much more selective than they used to be. As a result, consumers expect more information and transparency from product manufacturers about the functional health benefits of foods, beverages and supplements. Manufacturers can meet consumer expectations by formulating with science-backed branded ingredients and communicating their benefits through research and transparent benefit-driven messaging.”
-John Quilter, Vice President and General Manager, Wellmune and Ganeden, Kerry Functional Ingredients & Actives, Mayfield Heights, OH
“The first thing to learn is the long-term commitment to invest multiple resources. It is not just the large financial investment that is required in order to develop and support a new proprietary ingredient, it is a mental resilience that a team should have, so that this R&D journey will end with success. When it comes to science, there are no guarantees of success. More than once, our team faced a failure, a study with unexpected results and the need to reshuffle the deck and to start over. But with a solid commitment, good human resources and financial abilities, new technologies can be developed, and when this is the case and a true innovation is being uncovered, it is a wonderful feeling.”
-Golan Raz, Head, Global Health, LycoRed, Orange, NJ
“Gold standard science on healthy individuals is critical to the success of any PBI, as is a focused, consistent marketing message with consumers on your brand. Also, following all current good manufacturing practices (GMPs) certified by a reputable company like NSF is important for the safety and quality any ingredient.”
-Doug Reyes, EpiCor Immune (Embria Health Sciences), Ankeny, IN
