Advertising Age spotlighted a twist on account
assignments, whereby a brand charged its White
media agency to
conduct a creative review for its first White
advertising agency.
Or was it
really a twist? It’s not the first time a pitch turned into an exclusive,
closed, and clandestine affair—although the scenario offered an uncommon
maneuver to maintain the status quo in Adland.
The brand is
Humann. Yet the new partnerships appear to
favor White humans.
P.S. to
Humann: Your self-hype boasts being “The trusted name in
cardiovascular health.” Research shows people of color in the US are at
increased risk of cardiovascular disease and poor disease outcomes. Did you
choose the best media and advertising partners to reach such critical
audiences?
How media agency Eden Collective conducted a creative review for one of
its clients
By Brian
Bonilla
When
cardiovascular-health supplement company Humann went looking for its first
creative agency of record late last year, it did not hire a consultant or issue
a request for proposal. Instead, it took the unusual step of asking its media
agency, Eden Collective, to conduct the search.
Launched in
2009, Humann built its business around a supplement called SuperBeets that
supports healthy blood pressure. The company has seen strong growth lately,
expanding from a limited retail presence to more than 180,000 points of
distribution in the past 20 or so months, said CEO and co-founder Joel Kocher.
Humann is also diversifying into cardiovascular health more broadly, with
cholesterol, blood sugar, omega and CoQ10 products.
“Our aspirations
changed. Our ambitions changed. So naturally, the way you run your business has
to change along with that,” Kocher said.
Eden was managing
Humann’s media when Kocher began reconsidering the company’s in-house creative
model. When he laid out his ambitions to Eden CEO and founder Alison Monk over
coffee in New York, she was frank: “I don’t think you’re going to get there without
an ad agency; a creative agency that can deliver the goods,” she recalled
telling Kocher.
Monk initially
suggested hiring a search expert. But Kocher persuaded Eden, which it had
already entrusted with its strategy and business data, to lead the assignment.
(Eden was hired as Humann’s media AOR in February after previously working on a
project basis.)
How the process worked
That coffee meeting
led to a four-week process that replaced lengthy questionnaires and rounds of
pitching with a detailed video briefing and two primary interactions: an
initial chemistry meeting designed to become a working session, followed by an
in-person presentation by the finalists.
Six independent
agencies were initially invited before the field was narrowed to three, with
Humann ultimately selecting independent agency WorkInProgress as its creative
AOR. Kocher declined to identify the other contenders.
Monk, who felt up to
the task because she also spent much of her career on the creative agency side
at shops including Grey and Digitas, said the review’s scope was intentionally
broad because Humann hadn’t yet determined if it was looking for a long-term
creative agency or a shorter-term solution.
“It was an amorphous
ask: What do we need?” Monk said. “So we went through a range, and Joel and I
sat down and said, ‘OK, let’s look at a couple of folks that skew more
project-based, and let’s also look at deeper, more AOR-like partners.’”
The review began in
mid-December with a mandate to reach a decision by February, ahead of Humann’s
planned retail launch of a broader cardiovascular product suite in April. Monk
said Humann’s executives spent “dozens, if not 100 hours” preparing for the process.
Rather than ask
agencies to complete what Monk called a “27,000-page RFI,” Eden sent agencies a
video featuring Kocher and his executive team, along with supporting materials.
The extensive
briefing covered Humann’s history, its origins from research conducted at the
University of Texas, its Nobel Prize-winning scientific roots, and information
on how nitric oxide—a key ingredient in its products—works. It also detailed
the brand’s past creative, evolution from direct-to-consumer to Amazon and
retail, recent packaging redesign, consumer research and customer profiles,
product expansion, media strategy and competitive landscape.
Agencies had one
week to review the material before a two-hour meeting with the company.
“It was a chemistry
meeting, but it became a work session because of the information we were
given,” said Evan Russack, co-founder and partner at WorkInProgress. “As an
agency, we value those moments deeply because they allow us to ask a variety of
questions—important backgrounders—but also to determine if this is right for
the agency.”
Russack said the
video conveyed the leadership team’s personality, passion and communication
style while giving agencies unusual access to Humann’s founder and CEO from the
outset.
“It was really
helpful that a media agency was running the pitch, because we typically have a
ton of questions related to media, and we were able to get them all answered,”
Russack said.
Each of the three
finalists received a $15,000 stipend. WorkInProgress used the money to research
consumers’ relationship with the supplement category, then incorporated the
findings into its communications strategy and creative, Russack said.
Why WorkInProgress won the pitch
To Monk,
WorkInProgress stood out for its “funnel fluency” across different marketing
needs. Specifically, she was looking for shops that understood the difference
between what she called “salesmanship” versus “showmanship.”
“Brands with high
awareness can do more showmanship and only focus on entertainment, because they
don’t have to explain who they are and what they do,” Monk said. “We’re talking
about a complex product in a quickly commoditized category, with lower-quality
value players nipping at their heels.”
The strategic
challenge was to make cardiovascular health relevant beyond older consumers or
people already managing a medical condition. Humann also sought to
differentiate itself in a supplement category where Kocher said few companies
have meaningful clinical science. That said, he acknowledged that the company
had “over-rotated on science” with previous creative focused on testimonials,
especially from doctors and researchers.
All
participating agencies argued Humann needed a stronger emotional connection
with consumers, Kocher said.
“Our formula
was: give me a point of relevancy, give me a benefit—a reason to care. Then
give me the science. Then make it credible,” Russack said.
For Kocher,
the defining moment came about 10 minutes into the first meeting, when he asked
how the agency views the brand. WorkInProgress Creative Director Josh Shelton
responded by characterizing Humann’s existing brand personality as “cool
Cheerios.” Kocher embraced the comment, which he recognized as “ostensibly an
insult,” because it defined the brand as a management tool for an existing
condition rather than one relevant to consumers who think proactively about
wellness, longevity and performance.
“I thought,
‘Finally, someone had the guts to call it for what it was,’” Kocher said. “For
me, that was the defining moment. I’d made up my mind right then. Ten minutes
in, it was game over.”
Kocher
actually bought a box of Cheerios that he planned to send the agency—but
WorkInProgress beat him to it. Two days after the meeting, a package arrived at
Humann via FedEx, with Cheerios boxes decorated with what Kocher described as
“cool Ray-Ban shades” stickers.
The process
also convinced Kocher that Humann needed an AOR rather than a project shop.
The first
campaign, backed by an investment “approaching $50 million,” according to
Kocher, will break in early October.
Monk said
Eden does not intend to turn agency reviews into a business line. Its role grew
from its knowledge of Humann and its position as a strategic marketing partner,
she said.
Russack had
not previously encountered a creative review run by a media agency, but said he
wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes more common.
“We’re all
looking for really good partners who have subject-matter expertise we don’t
possess, and have a working style that matches ours so we can deliver results
for brands,” he said.
