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Chain Drugstore Daily Saturday, April 22, 2017 2 6 PRODUCT ATTRIBUTE INFORMATION FROM LABEL INSIGHT An interview with Angie Kimes, Senior Vice President of Client Development, Label Insight. CDD: Tell our readers about Label Insight and how you work with retailers. AK: Label Insight is a market leader for transparency, enabling access to com- plete and deep product attribute informa- tion for more than 400,000 products, rep- resenting 80 percent of the top purchased CPG products in the U.S.A. Our product transparency engine powers data-driven solutions for CPG brands and retailers, capturing and enhancing data contained on the packaging and labeling of food and personal care products. This type of high fidelity product data has never been more important. Label Insight's data allows us to enrich and enhance retailers' internal systems so they can better understand their product inventory and set their owned brands up for future success at the shelf versus national brand competi- tors. Label Insight also helps retailers optimize their omni-channel experi- ences in response to consumer demand for a seamless shopping experience across physical and digital properties. This data fuels website search function- ality, recommendation engines and online searchability. CDD: What are the biggest retail trends you're seeing today? AK: More sophisticated health and wellness initiatives. Many retailers are looking to improve their health and wellness initiatives and create better shopping experiences for people seek- ing specific foods like gluten-free or heart healthy, or personal products that are fragrance-free or sulfate-free. Label Insight helps retailers focus on the spe- cific set of product attributes that mat- ter to them. Once these attributes are identified and understood, retailers can analyze their inventory to identi- fy which products meet specific H&W standards, and create a more connected omni-channel experience providing consistent H&W info across all channels – in-store, mobile, online and more. Drive towards greater transparency with SmartLabel™. SmartLabel is not just for large CPG brands. Retailers are answering the call for product trans- parency with their owned brands in order to create stronger connections with their customers and create long term loyalty. CDD: What's the opportunity with SmartLabel for non-food brands? AK: Nearly four in 10 consumers say they would switch to a new brand from a current preferred brand in favor of increased product transparency, and 73 percent of consumers would be willing to pay more for a product that offers com- plete transparency, according to a recent survey by Label Insight. The demand for transparency is clear, yet one of the most challenging categories in which to find information is personal care products. Consumer desire for trans- parency is universal, and the opportunity for retailers to satisfy consumer demand for transparen- cy within their owned brand per- sonal care products will be a huge competitive advantage and will help owned brands drive growth. One great example of a company who has answered the call for transparen- cy in personal care products is Unilever. Along with personal care brands such as Dove, Degree and Suave participating in SmartLabel, Unilever has launched a much lauded new fragrance transparency initiative for its personal care brands, voluntarily expanding its current product ingredient lists available through SmartLabel this year to include the fra- grance ingredients in a product's formu- lation above 0.01%. The true opportunity with trans- parency is to better connect with con- sumers. It pays off in the form of increased brand loyalty and perceived brand worth. For more information, go to www.labelinsight.com or call 888.787.4386 x132. JBK ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL BRINGS COMPANIES AND CANDIDATES TOGETHER An interview with Julie Kampf, Chief Executive Officer, Founder and Chief Possibilities Officer, JBK Associates International. CDD: Tell our readers about JBK. JK: JBK Associates International is a woman-owned and led business, provid- ing full-service executive talent solutions across a wide spectrum of industries and functional responsibilities, with a special focus on diversity in the workplace. We are a client-centric, laser-focused, bou- tique firm; we are not now, nor will we ever be, a large 'me-too' company. CDD: How do you keep the company dynamic without losing that 'boutique' specialness? JK: Our team is committed to achieving successful out- comes that support the long-term growth of organ- izations around the world in both the for-profit and non- profit arenas. Our services are completely customized and based on each organization's needs. Our services are never the 'canned, one- size-fits-all' solutions found elsewhere. CDD: You're service-oriented rather than product production. How is it you fit here at NACDS? PIPING ROCK BRINGS WELLNESS TO PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD An interview with Scott Rudolph, Chief Executive Officer, Piping Rock. CDD: Tell our readers about the history of Piping Rock, including the inspiration behind the founding of the company, its mission and philosophy. SR: Piping Rock Health Products was started in 2011 by Founder and Chief Executive Officer Scott Rudolph. As the former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of NBTY Inc, I have been a leader in growth and innovation in the vitamin industry for more than 30 years. The inspiration behind starting Piping Rock Health Products is and has always been to help people stay healthy and bring wellness to people around the world. Our mission is to deliver the high- est quality, innovative products at the best value to our customers. Understanding our consumer's desires and needs has fueled our success. Hence, being such a consumer centric company is what drives our opportunity to get our consumers the products they want and need. CDD: Can you describe your Wellness 360 approach? SR: We approach this business as a total health and wellness category. Our Wellness 360 approach is all about how we incorporate supplements and other healthy living techniques, such as exer- cise, healthy eating, vitamin and essential oil recipes to better educate our con- sumers. It's not just about our products, but what techniques work well with the products for great overall health and wellness. For instance, there are strong syner- gies between vitamins, beauty and aro- matherapy, so we offer products across all these segments for a total approach to wellness. We have our finger on the pulse when it comes to identifying emerging trends, and our innovative formulas and packaging will bring new users into the wellness catego- ry. CDD: You say Piping Rock thinks strate- gically outside of the box. Can you explain this in more detail? SR: When we think about wellness and today's consumer, we do not limit our- selves to think just about the typical vita- mins as the category was once defined. We approach the business not only with an open mind, but through the eyes of the consumer, to offer them products to sup- port their unique wellness goals and lifestyle. This has enabled us to bring new categories into the vitamin aisle, such as aromatherapy and now our new beauty serums. It's all about a total approach to health and wellness on the inside and out. Aromatherapy is fueling incremental growth in the vitamin aisle, contributing 271 percent growth in the last year and bringing in new users. This emerging segment has been instrumental to category growth this past year, and I expect to continue to see strong growth trends throughout 2017 as well. CDD: Do you see a shift toward more natural and organic products in vitamins and supplements? If so, how is Piping Rock responding? Is Piping Rock expanding into new product areas or innovations? SR: We are launching new products that are non-GMO and support many of the 'free of' statements. We are also launching many new herbal products, like Charcoal and Turmeric, and others that I can't dis- cuss just yet. Innovation is key to the growth of this industry and we are always looking into the future and creating prod- ucts as we see trends emerge. Our essential oils are 100 percent pure plant based and we clearly call that out on the front panel. Just over a year since our aromatherapy launch, we are the leading brand, with more than a 59 percent share in XAOC. We will continue to create new, unique and trending products to fuel growth. For more information, visit booth #604. Continued on Page 33