Greg Kitzmiller10.01.01
Wanted: A Long And Healthy Life
One man’s long happy life provides a perspective on potential nutraceutical consumers.
By Greg Kitzmiller
I had a good experience today. I attended the funeral of an86-year old man who lived a great life, had lots of fun and up to the last day, according to his daughters, was joking and injecting fun into life. I was truly fortunate to have known this man and to have gone on vacations with his family in my early years. As I drove to my office from the funeral, I reflected on his long life (and that of my father who is the same age and still doing well!) and how this impacts our business. I felt reassured because this is truly what the consumer wants—a happy and relatively long life. I believe the underlying causes for any nutraceutical choice—stated in broad terms—are health, graceful aging and longevity.
Yet I am afraid some firms are so dedicated to chasing “nutraceuticals” or an ingredient or just plain profit that they are missing the point. I recently communicated with two CEOs of nutraceutical firms and one well-known consultant. One of the CEOs described the field of nutraceuticals as a quagmire. The comment relates to the struggle of some ingredient suppliers to find a profitable business model for ingredients with proven science, while other “cowboys” market supplements with little data.
Well known industry consultant Loren Israelsen, one of the crafters of DSHEA, also weighed in on this issue and talked about the current reason for the downturn in the supplement market, which he termed, “Exploding post-DSHEA growth into unfamiliar markets with uneducated consumers with unrealistic expectations that were unfulfilled by products that, in too many cases, didn’t deliver on their labeled claims. Quality cannot be blamed for all of the downturn,” he said. “The principal problem is a reversal of the media’s attention from positive to negative, which in large measure, is a function of poor quality and an incorrect view that the dietary supplement industry is ‘unregulated.’ Ultimately, the quality issue will be the defining point between continued growth or continued stagnation.”
So Mr. Israelsen adds two more ingredients to the puzzle: the consumer had unrealistic expectations, likely immediate signs of a product working, and there is poor quality by some suppliers. The supplement industry shot itself in the foot through this “Wild West activity” and by not working hard enough to inform consumers about how products realistically work. Those firms are missing the opportunity to capitalize on long term consumer needs.
The other CEO I spoke with was interested in my big-picture view combining different industries. He understands this is the way the consumer sees the world. The consumer does not go down the grocery store aisle thinking of the soft drink industry, the dairy industry or the supplement industry. Consumers think about eating and taking foods, supplements and medicines that will help them accomplish their goal of a well-being and, for many, the ultimate goal of a long life.
This is not to say that we go to the supermarket or drug store thinking specifically of eating for longevity (although we might visit a supplement retailer with that in mind), but rather that this goal is the underpinning of our overall scheme of ingestion. The consumer may shop by grocery aisle but they easily trade off soft drinks for water or perhaps vegetables for juice when those products are in different categories. They buy the items and brands that they like and that they feel give them some benefits—in some cases, healthy benefits. They may want immediate results but if counseled and educated, they may take a more moderate view of building health overnight. After all, if it took me six months to gain weight, should I really expect to lose eight pounds in one week, as some television ads claim today? It appears to me that brands portraying an image close to what the consumer desires—with themes such as convenience, good taste if food or easy swallowing if a pill—and communicating specific messages leading to the ultimate consumer goal, will most likely be winners. It does not matter to the consumer what industry that firm is in. It certainly does not matter whether that firm considers itself a player in functional foods, nutraceuticals or neither. What matters is that the firm understands what the consumer wants, can communicate the benefit that meets the consumer need and helps the consumer be healthy longer.
In fact most consumers will happily take a pill to get over illness, try to eat something that is convenient and tastes good to prevent illness and make them feel better or drink some supplement if they are genuinely convinced they can live a happy life at least as long as my friend whose funeral I just attended.
An example from my life. I have a cold. Because I don’t particularly feel well I am taking non-prescription medicines for symptoms, eating vegetable soup, drinking lots of green tea and taking supplements. I’ve touched on and consumed from multiple industries and even I don’t worry about what category they are in. Since I know the industry and many products, I do think about potential drug/supplement interaction so I’m slightly ahead of some consumers.
I read with interest an article in the Financial Times (Financial Times, London, Aug 13, 2001) that profiled what they called, “Functional Food—Flyers and Failures.” While there is nothing in the article most of us don’t know, what was particularly interesting was that the author referred to both food and pharmaceutical firms and how both are participating in the market. This author seemed to understand that in the consumers’ quest for health and longevity they welcome all players.
Will the supplement industry realistically rid itself of the bad players? Will ingredient suppliers find risk-takers in corporations willing to try various approaches to determine what works? I don’t know. What I do believe, strongly, is that the desire for health, wellness and longevity will not go away. I can only hope that more firms listen to the long-term desire of the consumer and find a long term way to get or stay in the game. Pardon me, but that is strategy.
And while I’ll miss my aged friend, I think he gave me a great legacy and something to strive for. Salud!NW