NAMING NAMES in Immune Health An update on branded immune-support ingredients.
What’s in a name? For branded
immune-support ingredients,
the answer may be: quite a lot.
After all, you can’t fault foggy-headed consumers
for letting their eyes glaze over at
the indistinguishable bottles of C, zinc, and
Echinacea crowding immune-supplement
shelves. In such an environment, any ingredient
that can shout above the din is bound
to gain an advantage.
But brand backing brings more than
just name recognition; it can also mean
having the full support of a marketing and
research team to help your product—and
the branded immune-health ingredient it
contains—stand out even brighter.
As Mike Bush, CEO, Ganeden (Cleveland),
puts it, “Consumers are taking a more proactive
approach to their health, reading labels
more closely and doing research on specif c
ingredients fortif ed into products.” T ey
take these measures because they’re looking
for quality, particularly when addressing
their and their family’s immune health. Says
Bush, “Functional immune ingredients that
are recognizable and have research showing
health benef ts reassure these consumers.”
And more often than not, it’s a brand name
that sparks that recognition.
Educational Advantage
Branded health ingredients are nothing new
to dietary supplements, and that’s as true of
immune-support formulations as it is of any
other wellness category. But, says Elyse N.
Lovett, MBA, MS, marketing manager, Kyowa
Hakko USA, Inc. (New York City), “T ere’s definitely
more recognition among consumers
for branded immune support lately.”
Why? “I believe that consumers want to
know where their ingredients come from and
why they work,” she says. Social media’s sway,
as well as what she calls “Millennial marketing
and ‘inf uencer’ marketing” of er branded
immune-support ingredients the opportunity
to make a name for themselves—literally—
“and let consumers educate themselves on the
ingredients that are out there.”
T e availability of these educational resources
is a core advantage of brand backing.
“Branded ingredients help consumers understand
exactly what a product is fortif ed
with,” Bush notes, “and allow manufacturers
to show specif c research and information on
those ingredients, which generic ingredients
can’t always provide.”
Prove It!
Lovett agrees. “Most branded ingredients are
backed by signif cant human clinical research,”
she says. And clinical research that produces
statistically signif cant results, especially in
the immune category, is essential to making
ef cacy claims, “as well as claims that
the consumer understands.”
Such has been the case with probiotics,
which have witnessed a burst in popularity
not just for the digestive benef ts that established
their reputation, but also for newly
elucidated ef ects on immunity. Nonetheless,
the probiotics category comprises a
broad and diverse range of strains, and as
Bush says, “all research and health benef ts
are strain specif c.”
