Swisse
“At Swisse, we are passionate about three things: health, happiness and wellbeing. We believe that the way you live has a direct impact on the enjoyment you get out of life. We believe in celebrating life every day!”
Swisse has been around for forty-three years. That means when President Nixon ordered the commencement of the space shuttle program in 1972, Australian born Founder Kevin Ring created a vitamin and mineral based brand with the hope of “improving people’s lives with a range of naturally based, scientifically validated products that help them to be healthier and happier.”
As of ten years ago (2005) Swisse only had a few products on the market. There was clearly room for expansion. The owners (at the time) wanted to make people as happy and healthy as they could, with a primary focus targeted towards helping people with their health and wellbeing journey. During this period the Australian market was only talking to twenty per cent of consumers who were actively using vitamin and mineral supplements. This made Swisse wonder, “whose talking to the other eighty per cent?” Clearly there was a huge proportion of the population who weren’t aware, or using vitamin supplements. This gave Swisse motivation to do something about it. At the time, Ricky Ponting had the most important job in the world…He was the captain of the Australian Cricket Team. The decision to sign Ricky on as an ambassador for Swisse created a message that ‘health’ should be something that’s regarded as ‘cool’ and ‘exciting’. The message was well received from the Australian public, as the market has expanded by nearly three times!
Currently there are 250 different variants of supplements, superfoods and cosmeceuticals (Natural vitamins based cosmetics and personal care products) on offer from Swisse. The opportunity for domestic growth looms large, with offshore demand in Asia starting to bite hard. The Federal Government in conjunction with some of the big brands involved with food and beverages, has spent twenty years promoting ‘clean and green’ products from Australia. It got consumers in Asia asking, “it’d be the same with vitamins wouldn’t it?” The amount of interest overseas is something that Swisse wouldn’t have dreamed of five years ago. The ripple effect flowing from the international market relates back to the opportunity of domestic growth. All Swisse products are developed right here in Australia. The reason behind an evolution of advanced manufacturing is science and quality. No longer is there just a person in a lab coat experimenting with a Bunsen burner. Nowadays it’s someone who possesses a unique understanding about the process, and is out in the field assessing and auditing, manufacturing and packaging, or arranging research and clinical trials with universities and research institutes . It’s someone who deliberately and systematically works back through the supply chain and deals directly with the source (ingredient processing plants).
It’s hard to grow an industry by three hundred per cent and just keep doing what needs to be done. There needs to be progression and innovation, more ingredients and more suppliers. Determining what the population want and need comes from ‘market leads’ and ‘consumer leads’. In regards to product, there are three key steps embedded in Swisse. 1) Existing product development; 2) New product development; and 3) Innovation.
Swisse don’t define health as just being a hard-core gym junkie. There is a firm belief that it’s “the smallest decisions made on wellness, that can have a big impact on someone’s life.”
Take WANDERLUST for instance. Swisse have just become the major sponsor for Australia and New Zealand:
Wanderlust’s core mission is to create community around mindful living.
Mindful living is a conscious, value-based approach to leading a sane & healthy life. At Wanderlust, we focus on a few simple principles:
Practice Yoga
Practicing yoga helps clear the mind, tone the body, and heal the spirit. Wanderlust is committed to creating inspiring places to practice with a broad array of the world’s most accomplished teachers.
Eat Well
We are what we eat, and at Wanderlust — and in our personal lives — we support local farms and purchase organic, sustainably grown products whenever possible.
Be Green
It is our solemn responsibility to be good stewards of the earth. Wanderlust is committed to sustainable practices, including waste reduction, recycling, composting, the utilization of renewable energy sources and carbon offsetting. Sustainability is a moving target, and we also pledge to improve year after year.
Practice Purpose
Wanderlust is a purpose driven company, and we build partnerships with like-minded companies who value social good as well as the bottom line. Some of our greatest power lies in what we do, what we purchase and who we associate with.
Create Awareness
Many of the great challenges facing us today, from environmental damage to food shortages to disease to political upheaval, can be improved or solved through mass action. But mass action requires awareness, so wherever possible, we will use the Wanderlust platform to highlight — and with luck, resolve — the most important issues of our time.
Showcase Art
Wanderlust is a place where creative expression is both valued and open. We treasure our community of artists and are honoured to provide a canvas for their work.
A partnership that ties in perfectly with what Swisse stand for.
When a person’s nutrition, movement and mindfulness is out of balance, there are two options; 1) Keep going and get further out of whack, or 2) Have a reality check and make a genuine change. The latter stems from a movement coming out of the U.S where doctors are even prescribing patients with a ‘green script’ instead of medicine. Instead of pills being prescribed, it’s a 30 minute walk. More often than not people will rely on medication when all their body needs is some fresh air and exercise to fight off sluggishness (often treated as sickness). The fundamental purpose is to allow for balance to be reintroduced to the lives of many who have forgotten how important a state of wellness is. This new way of treating someone’s state of mind and body can be related internally at the Swisse office in Collingwood. There is a meditation program on offer that runs at 8am and 3pm daily. The results of such an initiative have shown a spike in productivity, where the majority of people embrace the chance to unwind, even if it is only for twenty minutes.
There’s an old saying that reads, “you can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?” Essentially meaning that it’s all well and good to talk about doing something, but that something can only be justified when it’s been attempted and completed. Swisse deliver this notion through the creation of their unique culture. Companies all over the world claim to have the best office culture because they have a table-tennis table in the common room. Unfortunately that doesn’t quite cut the mustard. Granted it may bring joy to people for a few minutes or so, but eventually the novelty will run thin. The ability that Swisse has to implement a ‘feel good’ atmosphere throughout the company is truly remarkable. That being said, their product promotes health and wellbeing externally, so it makes sense for the same attitude to be delivered internally. Swisse doesn’t lose sight that they’re a commercial business where a profitable outcome is a necessity — they’re more than aware of this but just have a certain way of going about it. They never lose touch of what they stand for when generating revenue.
Swisse navigate their course of business through a four P’s process…
People.
Principles.
Passion.
Profit.
It is like the 4 points of the compass — they all matter. When compared to the three-step process model of Frank Body there are some clear similarities:
Personality.
Platform.
Product.
Both processes show that if there is a true belief and trust within the people who are apart of the brand then the product / profit will be successful. When you work at Swisse you’re not a member of ‘staff’ but rather a member of the ‘people’. The four P’s process shows that it’s the people who are dearest to Swisse. So much so that they have what’s called a ‘Health and Happiness Day’ where if you have been at Swisse for more than six months (and it’s during a month where there is no public holiday) you are entitled to take a day off to recharge the batteries and do some ‘life admin’. The result of this particular day attributes to very low level of ‘sickies’ and very low levels of people turning up to work and being ‘half there’. Thus implementing a performance based culture where people are passionate about what they’re doing and have a true belief in health and wellbeing.
Going global. That’s the next step for Swisse. They launched in Singapore a few months ago and so far things are going extremely well. Online sales coming out of China are growing well, which is a great sign for going offshore. When stepping into the digital world (which is wise from a retail perspective) it’s important to present a great brand image that can be backed up by the work that’s going on behind the scenes. This is where Swisse is robust in maintaining a solid image whilst having quality people behind the scenes reaching key performance indicators through science, research, supply chain and quality of product. From a public relations perspective, Swisse are all too aware that they can only do what they do, and control the controllable. It always comes back to “making the smallest decisions that can have a significant impact on life down the track.” There is no denying that enlightened self-interest circulates throughout Swisse, but it’s all targeted towards getting the best out of people, with the collective outcome being accomplished.
Something that is very dear to Swisse is sustainability. It is very difficult to promote health and wellbeing from a bad environment. Which is why Swisse are strict about having a good, strong, clean and sustainable working philosophy both internally and externally. They are the only supplement-based company that has gone through the National Carbon Offset Strategy process with the Federal Government. In order to achieve such recognition, Swisse have invested a substantial amount through purchasing carbon credits and Kenya Water Program and Tasmanian rainforest credits.
Swisse is a great company that’s doing great things towards getting people active within the community. At the end of the day we’re nothing without our health…
