$10 Mil

$10 Mil. Leiner Account Sees Potential Targeting Baby Boomers
LOS ANGELES–Billings at Mendelsohn/Zien Advertising will enjoy a lucrative supplement as a result of its latest new business win: Leiner Health Products’ $10 million Your Life vitamin account.
M/Z in Los Angles won the Your Life business, which had been with the Leap Partnership, Chicago,
following a review of undisclosed agencies.
The client had contacted an estimated half-dozen shops and narrowed the review to a short list of finalists before selecting M/Z, said a source.
M/Z will handle all strategic and creative development as well as media planning and buying for Carson, Calif.-based Leiner, which is the world’s largest manufacturer of vitamins and herbal supplements.
Leiner does roughly $1 billion in annual sales of products under its own brand names and private labels.
“M/Z demonstrated their strategic sense … and they understand how to position a brand. This [knowledge] is critical in this highly competitive, mostly private label vitamin market,” reported client executive vice president of marketing Bob La Ferriere.
“We used no gimmicks, no unusually exciting creative presentations. It was pretty much a matter of us focusing on their business issues,” said M/Z president Richard Zien.
To carve out a larger market share in the growing category, Leiner must compete with market leaders such as American Home Products’ Centrum vitamins, which was backed by more than $50 million in ad spending last year, and Bayer’s One-A-Day, which, combined with Flintstones children’s vitamins, was backed by $39 million in 1999 ad spending, according to Competitive Media Reporting.
Zien said Your Life’s target market of middle-aged adults offers huge growth potential as the bulk of the baby boomer generation moves into its 40s and 50s.
Leiner has a number of products in development that M/Z will help launch, but the timing and nature of a new campaign has not yet been nailed down, Zien said.
“Leiner has traditionally been a higher-quality, higher-priced brand. The challenge for us,” explained Zien, “will be to help continue their momentum.
“The client is taking a measured approach to its marketing,” Zien said. “All their needs–in-store, packaging, sales promotions–must be considered when developing this brand. We’re especially excited because of the growth potential.”