• by Larissa Faw , July 16, 2015

Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners (BSSP) has been selected by Pharmavite to oversee creative duties for vitamin and supplement brand NatureMade, following a competitive review. 

The four-month search process included more than 70 agencies, including Goodby, DDB and Cramer Krassalt, and culminated in a series of meetings with a handful of finalists and Pharmavite executive leaders.  

Now, BSSP will be responsibile for online and offline strategy and development of NatureMade creative assets for TV, digital, print, owned channels and other media throughout the U.S. The agency will partner with NatureMade's media agency Mindshare, as well as its promotions and PR agencies to develop the company’s 2016 campaigns. 

“BSSP impressed us with solid strategic thinking, strong insights-based creative work, and their agility at developing messages in the right media along the consumer journey," says Etienne Patout, CMO, Pharmavite. "We feel that BSSP brings the right mix of expertise and enthusiasm to help us take NatureMade, a leading brand with a heritage of 40 years, to the next level.”

NatureMade launched the review early this year to identify an agency partner to help build the NatureMade brand and differentiate it in the highly competitive vitamin, mineral and supplement market.

BSSP will also help NatureMade reestablish its positioning after the vitamin brand attracted the attention of the National Advertising Division (NAD), the investigative unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation last year. The company had to discontinue broadcast advertising that claimed it was “#1 Pharmacist Recommended Letter Vitamin Brand” after regulators felt the disclosure “US News and World Report – Pharmacy Times Survey” was not clear. 

At the time, NAD noted in its decision that it appreciated that the advertiser voluntarily undertook to permanently discontinue the challenged television commercial and promised to make its disclosures more prominent - i.e. easy to notice, read and understand - in future advertising, actions that NAD determined was necessary and proper.

The company, in its response to the NAD assessment, said that it was “pleased that the NAD has decided to discontinue this matter and we will abide by NAD’s recommendations in future advertising.” 

Last year NatureMade spent $35.4 million, on ads according to Kantar, up from $21.2 million in 2013. 

Located in Sausalito, CA, BSSP is a member of Worldwide Partners, a group of 95 independent agencies around the world.