Supplements + mag educate on natural products, cancer

Stephen Hennessy and Jim Powers - both of whom began working in the natural products industry in the early 1990s - founded Ribbon Nutrition in 2005. This week they announced the launch of their full basic line of 40 dietary supplement products.

Ribbon takes its name from the distinctive pink breast cancer awareness ribbon, and Hennessy and Powers are pledging 10 per cent of company revenues to non-profit breast cancer awareness partners. But despite this link, the line is not specifically put together for cancer therapy.

This, the founders explained to NutraIngredients-USA.com, is partly so as not to cross lines with the FDA, but also so that it is attractive to a broader spectrum of consumers.

The bottles are initially to be displayed on shelves upside down, but when donations reach the landmark million-dollar mark they will be righted "to great fanfare"​.

The idea of a consumer line that generates funding for charities is by no means new. However part of the mission of Ribbon is to give consumers the opportunity to feed directly into cancer prevention efforts.

"The objective is to get consumers involved with breast cancer,"​ the founders said.

But more than that, some of the revenues will be earmarked for Pink Penguin Press, a non-profit company that is also the brainchild of Hennessy and Powers, and whose preview edition of In Pink magazine is due to be published this month.

Carrying personal stories of empowerment, healthy lifestyles, diet and nutrition, research updates, product news, and articles by medical doctors, it is to be "very educational and very positive"​ - but without too obvious a focus on breast cancer, as that may turn some readers off.

But while the natural products industry talks amongst itself a lot, it does not necessarily talk to people who are not already involved in the movement.

One of PPP's major objectives as an organisation is to get the information to the people who need it most - that is, those who have never walked into a health food store in their lives.

"The thought process is to get the information out there that should be out there. Information is often knocked down by the mass media or pharma industry,"​ said the founders.

For example, every study on omega-3 - however impressive the results - is knocked down as inconclusive, they said. "It is a counter-balance to that."​

They stressed that PPP is not intended as means to sidle around health claims regulations by providing more information on research into the health benefits of Ribbon supplements in publication form, but "it allows us a vehicle we wouldn't otherwise have"​.

The precise distribution model will be confirmed once the preview edition has been received, but In Pink also aims to give retailers a new educational tool once consumers have walking in through the door.

"Some great education has been done, but education should not be about telling a retailer why they should sell your products."​

The magazine is envisaged to help retailers do their job more effectively - and gives them more of a reason to be there every day. Many people who work in health food stores are there "because the industry is their lifestyle, and they want to help people"​.

For this reason, Hennessy and Powers do not necessarily want to target the mass market, as that would mean losing the role of the retailer.

PPP is also reaching out to local media, by providing retailers with a PR kit that they can use to help have their voice heard by local media.

And as to when Ribbon Nutrition will be flipping over the supplement bottles, that will depend on the support of retailers and consumers.

The indications are good: so far, every retail that the pair have approached has been receptive to the idea, even though they have been biding their time for the supplement line and the preview publication to be ready.