Global Excellence Awards 2017

14 Corporate Vision / Global Excellence Awards 2017 , Founded in 1988, NFI draws on over 28 years’ experience to manufacture, market, and distribute the Blue-Emu® line of products for muscle, joint and skin conditions. The Blue- Emu® national retail product line consists of Original Super Strength Cream, Maximum Arthritis Pain Relief Cream, Continuous Pain Relief Spray and Anti-Itch Cream. Other products that are sold online include Lip Balm and Foot Therapy. NFI also markets and distributes Lidocare Pain Relief Patches and EPT Pregnancy Tests for detecting early pregnancy in women. This vast array of products is distributed in the United States and Canada, covering 99% of the retail outlets. Benjamin discusses NFI’s product ranges in more detail and outlines how the company works to produce the solutions its clients’ need. “Here at NFI, we seek to provide over the counter healthcare to consumers at convenient locations, both at the local and national levels, aiming to provide simple solutions to potential complex aliments and/ or health issues a consumer may have. Our team is constantly researching and developing ideas that we can bring to our category and ultimately to our consumer. This is achieved through innovative marketing tactics and with new product development. Our sister company, UPM Pharmaceuticals, is a Rx and OTC product developer and manufacturer. We are able to work closely with them on product innovation with the hopes of having the potential to be launched at the local and national level. Essentially, our team has our own in-house research and development team which has provided our company with many critically essential product launches throughout the years. “Our core product is our Original Super Strength Cream. This product does $23M in retail sales and is still growing at 11% year over year. This product has been available the longest of all our products within our portfolio but because of invigorated marketing, it is still seeing incredible growth. In 2014, we launched a Continuous Spray formulation as well as launched a value size to our Original Super Strength at a major retailer. Our spray product has grown to a $4.7M product with 17% year over year growth and our value size has grown to $3.8M with 20% year over year growth. In 2015, our team launched a Maximum Arthritis formulation to the marketplace and this product has grown to $3.8M and due to new distribution, has a year over year growth of 125%. In 2016, our team launched a new product called Lidocare. It is the only dry lidocaine patch available in the marketplace. There are Most Outstanding for Sales & Marketing Nutrition & Fitness, Inc. (NFI) is an innovative consumer products company based in Tennessee. We invited Executive Vice President of Sales andMarketing Benjamin Blessing to talk us through the company and to share the secrets behind its phenomenal success so far. 1704CV89 many other lidocaine patches today in the market, but due to our patent protection, we will be the only DRY patch. This product grew to $3.2M in 2016 for us and continues to show incredible growth. “The main differentiator which sets our firm apart is that we do not outsource our media planning and in most cases our media buying. Over the years, our team has developed our own concepts and models that fit into the specific market or markets we are entering and/ or competing in. Most of our competitors have no media planning or buying experience and place all their trust in agencies. Agencies do have their place, but for us, planning our own media and ultimately activating and placing our own buys, we have become extremely efficient and effective. It is our team’s job to know our brand and our competitors better than anyone else in the marketplace.” This vast industry knowledge is constantly being updated, as the company seeks to remain at the forefront of the latest market developments. Benjamin explores some of the latest trends in NFI’s core markets and how the firm is working to remain ahead of them. “The two main markets we compete in currently are topical analgesics and pregnancy tests. The topical analgesic market in the US is $643M and has grown at 14 % in the last 52 weeks. This growth has been mainly caused by the introduction of lidocaine into this market. A known ingredient in the OTC space, this is the first time it has been marketed for pain relief. The addition and promotion of this ingredient by NFI as well as others in the category has caused the category to become reinvigorated. In Topical Analgesics, the Blue-Emu brand has grown from the 12th largest brand to the 4th largest brand since we took over ownership in 2014. “With regards to the pregnancy test market, this sector has seen more stability over the years. The market is valued at $318M and continues to remain flat. As such, there are many challenges in this market outside of innovation to the category. The pregnancy test market is based on packaging and concept innovation but the overall concept is hard to innovate. That being said, EPT is a founding brand in this category and has been in the market place for over 40 years, and we are constantly seeking to evolve the brand so that it can retain this enviable position.” Innovation is a key element of the firm’s success, and NFI’s team are constantly testing new concepts and ideas that they have developed or are in the process of developing, as Benjamin is eager to emphasise.