Of brands and men: Whealth soars heights in health supplement industry

by Ronald Jabal


A promised delivered.

This is how Whealth Inc. has made and continues to make a name in a highly competitive health supplement industry. Building brands and expanding markets here in abroad – even making in-roads in the tightly-held share of global brands in the country - remain to be its most potent weapons.

One is left to think that Whealth Inc. is a foreign firm armed with millions of advertising money; run by black-suited businessmen and a horde of employees; and employing thousands of distribution channels.

This is, however, far from the truth. The company is basically a “father and son” operation, employing a handful of staffs. But its deficiency in manpower complement is well compensated by the creative genius of Mr. Albert MG Garcia and son Laurindo and the industry of their employees.

And their accomplishments are nothing to be sneezed at.

The father and son “dynamic duo” has five brands under their belts: ABW, CranUTI, Gargol, nyte –E and its most popular brand C-Lium Fiber (Whealth remains the owner of the C-Lium Fiber brand outside the country while Pascual Laboratory bought the brand for local sale and distribution).

ABW – Leaves of Life is a 100% natural whole food supplement combining Alfalfa, Barley and Wheatgrass into a single potent super-oxidant. Regular intake of ABW helps the body fight free-radical damage, aging and stress while providing sustained energy throughout the day and a deep and restful sleep at night.

CranUTI contains all the vital elements of cranberry including vitamins and minerals that help maintains women’s healthy urinary system thereby preventing the occurrence of urinary tract infection.

Gargol is an all-natural oral wash that combines pure essential oils, xylitol – nature’s cavity-fighting sweetener – and propolis – a natural antibacterial agent. It has been considered a new innovation in the treatment of dry mouth by the Manila Dental Society.

nyte – E is a natural face and hand lotion made from natural Vitamin E and 100% pure French Lavender Essential Oil designed to promote skin elasticity, regeneration and a good night’s sleep.

C-Lium Fiber is made of psyllium husks which aid in digestion and lowering cholesterol. Intake of C-Lium Fiber eases constipation and irritable bowel movement.

Gauging from these products, one need not be a rocket scientist to see they hardly belong to a particular product category – which is a source of pride for the Garcias. Instead of participating in an already crowded category, Whealth has managed to carve out new categories. Instead of conforming, the Garcias have taken on the role pathfinders and trailblazers in building their brands.

“While it is true we remain to be part of the heath supplement industry, we nevertheless have managed to create brands that have carved out their own categories. ABW is the only one that has combined the powerful ingredients of Alfalfa, Barley and Wheatgrass. CranUTI is a class on its own in the treatment of UTI, Gargol is the only organic and ‘no-alcohol’ oral wash. Our face and hand lotion – nyte- E – is the only one that contains pure fresh lavender essential oil. C-Lium Fiber is the only one that offers fast relief from constipation through psyllium husks,” Garcia said.

“The public has welcomed our products and has been very loyal because we delivered on our promises. Our consumers felt relief after consuming our products. And since we don’t have huge budgets on advertising and promotions, these satisfied customers have been instrumental in building our various brands. Our products spoke out about the benefits; the consumers patronized; and they in turn helped create the buzz,” Garcia added.

Birth pains

Building the brands was not a walk in the park at all. Garcia recalled he built his first brand - C-Lium Fiber- through free sampling during special events and direct selling to friends and associates. Still packed in see-through plastics and manually sealed ala “mani” or peanuts sold in local sari-sari store, C-Lium Fiber was placed on tables during special events.

At first nobody bothered to get them, hence Garcia gathered all of them at the end of the event. The brand’s fate turned for the better when Mercury Drug founder Mariano Que offered to carry C-Lium Fiber in the drugstore chain with a caveat i.e. to change the product’s packaging.

Heeding the advice, Garcia went to his drawing board and developed C-Lium Fiber’s packaging.

Since then C-Lium Fiber has had tremendous success in the Philippine market. Those who did not get C-Lium Fiber during special events were now hoarding them. More and more people also tried and got hooked on the product. Mercury Drug became C-Lium Fiber’s retailer and Philusa Corporation became its distributor.

Given its financial constraints, Whealth also did not have a full-blown advertising campaign for the brand. It contented itself in print advertisements which are educational in nature – explaining to consumers the nature of digestive disorder and how C-Lium Fiber can help.

His now famous copy “are you a floater or a sinker” reverberated across sections of consumers producing recall and increase demand for the product.

Whealth has also engaged in guerrilla publicity through tie-ups with radio stations and announcers and commentators. Through actual use and experience from C-Lium Fiber, media personalities started broadcasting the benefits of the product.

Whealth also made rounds in medical events promoting the products through education talks and sampling.

The below-the-line strategy worked as the success of C-Lium Fiber branding activities did not go unnoticed. A successful Filipino pharmaceutical firm Pascual Laboratory bought the brand from Whealth Inc. Garcia clarified however that Pascual Laboratory only bought the Philippine operations of the brand. Whealth remains the owner of the brand outside the country.

Moving forward

With the success of C-Lium Fiber, the Garcias moved on to build more products. They launched Gargol and positioned it as an alternative to the current oral wash. On top of having price-point advantage, Gargol has a unique proposition: it does not have alcohol and contains natural ingredients – setting it apart from current oral wash products.

This time around, Whealth has employed a more “structured” way in product packaging and promotions. A number of focus group discussions with the help of an advertising agency were made. Results lead to the development of four Gargol variants: apple, orange, strawberry and peppermint flavored oral wash. To boost its campaign, Whealth also used actor/TV host Drew Arellano as endorser.

And the product, since launched, has been eating up into the slice of the oral wash market. The product is becoming a player in the industry dominated by highly-advertised and big-budgeted brands.

“What makes us different from the other brands, aside from our all natural ingredients, is the tight operation we strictly keep. We don’t have boundaries or constraints unlike the current brands which have to conform or heed the dictates of their headquarters elsewhere. We don’t have shackles on how to market the product. We make decisions very fast because there are only two of us. We have always maintained that a decision not made immediately is a wrong decision,” Garcia said.

This early, inquiries from potential buyers have also started to come by Whealth – interested not only to buy the product but the brand itself. And this expression of interest remains music to Garcias’ ears. For them, these are expressions of recognitions that they are doing something good. “The ultimate compliment is an expression that people would want to buy our brand. This is recognition that we have been successful in building a brand”, Garcia said.

Other Whealth products like ABW and nyte-E have also used product endorsers. While the former is endorsed by Pilita Corrales, the latter is endorsed by socialite Fortune Ledesma. For CranUTI, Whealth has experimented on bilingual advertisements to appeal more to its target audiences. The firm is also targeting educational tours and lectures to a number of export processing zones and highly-targeted and well-selected offices to promote CranUTI.

Asked as to Whealth’s plan should there be a crisis (e.g. adverse effects of health supplement intake), Garcia confidently said, he does not see any crisis happening but he is quick to point out the company has a national recall plan that will be activated in crisis situations.

“While we see no side effects to our products, we nevertheless are prepared in any event now and in the future,” he said.

What is keeping Whealth more excited these days is the prospect of exponential growth. Garcia disclosed that Whealth is developing 10 more brands to be launched soon.

He, however, played coy on what these brands are and what types of illnesses they are intended for. He, however, promised that these brands respond to the current need of Filipino consumers who have become more conscious about wellness and health well being.

“We have always conceptualized our products and brands based on the consumers’ needs. While others try to imitate and create brands similar to the existing ones, we create our own industry. We are the alternative to the traditional. We are the NATURAL alternative. ” Garcia stressed.