Sports nutrition brand inspired by influencer marketing taps into football fan clubs
Liverpool FC Sports Nutrition and Wellness range is the brainchild of Matt Banks-Crompton, founder and MD of Vector Consumer.
The Liverpool-based businessman has worked within consumer health care for the last 15 years and within VMS products for the last decade, specifically working within contract manufacturing and helping to launch a range of sports nutrition products across the globe, including launching Women’s Best into retail across the UK.
In 2019, he took on the role of Sales Director at the healthcare manufacturer PharmaPac with the plan to utilise the firm’s extensive manufacturing capabilities to create new challenger brands.
He quickly built the sister consumer healthcare solutions company Vector Consumer and within that developed two key brands – SOLV, selling inner and outer beauty supplements, and Liverpool FC (LFC) Sports Nutrition range – both of which launched in 2019 and are set to hit £1 million in sales in the next 12 months.
The LFC sports nutrition range is an all-encompassing health and wellness range, offering everything from whey and vegan protein, to EAAs, gummies, vitamins and joint care supplements.
It’s USP is within it’s bold Liverpool FC branding which aims to catch the eye of the hundreds of millions of fans across the globe.
The founder explains the concept was inspired by the popularity of influencer brands, which enjoy product sales success off the back of strong followings.
He uses the Prime energy drinks range, promoted by YouTube stars Logan Paul and KSI, as an example of the sales impact a loyal following can have. The US-based caffeinated drinks range has enjoyed phenomenal success across the globe, with many stores struggling to keep up with demand and prices rocketing as a result of the hype.
“Prime is a great example where you take someone’s huge level of following - or a club with 150 years of heritage - and utilise it to become your marketing message.”
The LFC range is selling across Asia and the Middle East and is about to launch in Scandinavia - a move Banks-Crompton is particularly excited for as 1% of the Norweigan population is a paying member of the Liverpool Fan Club.
Spurred by the success so far, he says this is just the beginning of a series of launches.
“The brand is our blueprint, or our red print, that we can use across other sports teams and organisations with a decent following or fan base.”
Women’s Health
The SOLV brand was initially a result of seeing the huge consumer appetite for beauty supplements in Asia and the Middle East.
“We created a range of serums, collagen powders and gummies for hair skin and nails, hyaluronic acid and collagen with Q10. We initially launched into Greater China via the Tmall platform, and then into New Zealand, the US and the Middle East. We are bringing the brand to the UK in the next six to 12 months.”
After seeing particularly strong sales with the collagen supplements, the serial entrepreneur says the range is now evolving to focus more on inner beauty, with great attention of women’s health and appealing to women at different stages of life, with products focused on support the symptoms of menopause for example.
