Naturade Total Soy, the #1 Naturade brand, was slumping at Sam’s Club, its #1 customer, after the new Slim Fast intro, and in certain danger of being discontinued; the company, the pioneer in natural protein powders, couldn’t survive losing this account.
Herbalife was the world leader in meal replacement shakes, but there was no written plan to grow the $1.5B retail food category. Its market-leading brand, Formula 1 Shake, had morphed into 365 SKUs and over 100 formulas with inconsistent nutritional specifications from country to country.
Pharmavite had decided to bring herbal products into the Mass market and hired Hazlin to accomplish the task. The new line was to be contract manufactured by a major health food store supplier who was simultaneously trying to launch their own herb line into Food/Drug/Mass. Pricing versus the supplier’s own branded line required a price/promotion strategy that allowed no budget for consumer advertising.
Naturade learned in May that Costco would not repeat its annual $1 Million 1st quarter weight loss promotion. Loss of this profitable in & out business would have major impact on the company’s year-end cash flow.
MyNutritionStore.com had a great internet marketing concept, but lacked the detailed plan for marketing execution and the experienced internet management talent to establish a viable business model.
Naturade was the 80 year-old pioneer in Protein Powders. They sold their natural products exclusively through health foods stores. The new private equity owners wanted rapid growth via expansion into food/ drug/ mass without jeopardizing natural channel sales.
Naturade mid-year sales were below budget leading to a late July CEO ultimatum for a new product introduction to generate extra cash for the current fiscal year.