LOS ANGELES, March 18, 2014—In an industry known for its clinical emphasis, one raw ingredient company has attracted the attention of food manufacturers in a way that’s as fresh as a vine-picked tomato.
LycoRed Ltd., makers of natural tomato-based flavors, colors and nutraceuticals, recently received the 2014 Editor’s Choice Award for Best Marketing Campaign at Engredea, one of the food industry’s top trade shows.
“Everyone at these shows tries to demonstrate how they’re the leader in quality assurance and efficacy,” says Carol Nicholson, owner of IMC, the marketing company that created the award-winning campaign.
While other companies took a straightforward approach to highlighting features like “pharma-grade nutraceutical ingredients,” or “powerful phytosterols,” Nicholson, an RN with over 20 years in the natural products industry, helped LycoRed stand out with education…and humor.
LycoRed VP Doug Lynch and Senior VP Scott Larkin, who spearheaded the campaign, asked IMC to boost their industry awareness, social media presence and trade show performance.
Nicholson and her team created a campaign called Champions of Greatness that integrated both traditional and social media. It featured a series of 60-second videos, created by Bill Lae, special effects genius for primetime TV and numerous MTV videos. The series illustrated the quality and effectiveness of LycoRed ingredients while making people laugh.
For instance, one episode spoofed Miss Carolina’s now famous nonsensical response to a pageant question. A lookalike contestant, who personifies a supplement made without LycoRed ingredients, butchers her answer to a question about heart health. Later, while personifying a supplement made with LycoRed ingredients, she nails it. In a tone similar to the Budweiser Real Men of Genius ads, the narrator asks: “Can you recognize greatness?” See all the videos at www.imc22.com.
Expanding on the Champions of Greatness theme, IMC set up a basketball competition at the LycoRed booth during the Engredea show, which coincided with March Madness.
The booth generated dozens of onsite meetings and countless more leads. And IMC’s social media team, headed up by Mitch Perliss and Kimbirly Orr, boosted LycoRed’s Twitter following from 800 to more than 22,400. Earlier in the year, IMC created another video for LycoRed that got nearly 300,000 YouTube hits. IMC also conducted a publicity campaign that generated an estimated $9 million in earned media.
“LycoRed’s Champions of Greatness campaign is the most entertaining and informative video series to ever hit the industry,” said Todd Runestad, Editor in Chief of Functional Ingredients, when presenting the 2014 Editor’s award. ”They put the fun back in functional ingredients.”
“It’s so rewarding to have our work recognized by the most influential trade show and editors in the industry,” says VP Doug Lynch. “We’re very proud of our brand and accomplishments.”
