The 'Just Like Me' website has come in advance of an advertising campaign DSEA claims will be the first paid campaign supported by a coalition of dietary supplement industry members. Members of the board include the American Herbal Products Association, Capsugel, NBTY, the Natural Products Association, Natrol and the Vitamin Shoppe.
The drive behind the initiative is to put forth an image of the dietary supplement industry that consumers may not often see - so as to counter negative press on the practices of the industry or highly publicized scientific findings that may not show such products in a favorable light.
DSEA claims its new website provides more than $100 in free coupons for dietary supplements along with the 'Just Like Me' ads, information about the campaign, a game, and links to dietary supplement information.
"JustLikeMe.org is a critical part of the campaign," said Elliott Balbert, the DSEA board member who is heading the campaign. "It provides a key delivery site for the promotional coupons and also allows us to build a database of supplement users for future communications."
The alliance is launching the 'Just Like Me' publicity campaign across radio, print and point-of-purchase mediums with the aim of disseminating another image to counter any sensational headlines that make it into the mainstream media.
Founded five years ago, DSEA claims to have generated millions of media impressions increasing public awareness of the benefits of nutritional supplements. It has formed an education project, the Dietary Supplement Information Bureau (DSIB) and a website resource for information on nutritional supplements, Supplementinfo.org.
The group says it wants to show consumers that is it not only beneficial, safe and healthy to take supplements, but that a large number of Americans already do so - 180 million adult Americans to be precise.
DSEA's television commercials feature people from various walks of life and the positive effects that supplements have in their lives.
The campaign features one commercial in two different versions - a 30-second spot and a 60-second spot. These will be piloted at natural health food stores in three locations in the US in October and November.
According to DSEA, several major mass-market retailers are participating by providing their point of sale data.
After this, DSEA will assess the effectiveness of the commercials and present their findings to the dietary supplement industry itself in order to solicit more financial support.
