TB12, brand that rests on superstar QB’s shoulders, reaches out to new consumers

By Hank Schultz

- Last updated on GMT

©Getty Images - master1305
©Getty Images - master1305
Health and wellness brand TB12, which is built upon Tom Brady’s and Alex Guerrero's training methods, is launching new products in an effort to reach a broader set of consumers beyond the hard core performance set.

The new products, dubbed TB12 Perform and Recover, have just launched on the company’s website.  They are featured alongside the company’s first suite of dietary supplements, which were more oriented toward competitive athletes.

Brady, who is renowned as the most successful NFL quarterback of all time, is now on the roster of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after many years under center with the New England Patriots.  Brady has won an NFL-record six Super Bowl titles, and his success at what used to be considered unheard of ages (he just turned 43, and was 40 years old when he won his most recent Super Bowl) has garnered attention in the sports nutrition community.  Brady has played 20 years in the NFL.

Brady first began marking his training insights under the TB12 brand (12 being his longtime jersey number) which he cofounded with Alex Guerrero, his longtime personal trainer. The brand initially dispensed Brady’s insights via a book, The TB12 Method​, a couple of sports clinic locations in the Boston area and a dedicated list of coaches.

CEO first experienced brand as a client

It was at one of those clinics that TB12 CEO John Burns first came into contact with the brand.  Burns was seeking help rehabbing from a hockey injury.

“I first came to TB12 as a client,”​ Burns told NutraIngredients-USA. “Then I saw what they were building, trying to bring the lifestyle that Tom has and that relationship he has with Alex and those training benefits to everyone.”

The TB12 website includes advice on training methods and diet. And it features a suite of supplements for sale. The initial set included a multivitamin, a fish-oil omega-3, an immunity focused supplement and others.

The new products are aimed at functional benefits, to help both competitive athletes and weekend warriors perform at a higher level and recover faster.

The original TB12 set of supplements was developed with the help of Atrium Innovations, Burns said. In addition, the company had purchased a small supplement brand called VitalFit​ that brought some formulas with it.

New products use branded ingredients to reach specific end points

The new supplements continues the company’s path of relying on branded ingredients for the most part.  For example, the Perform product includes Sensoril ashwaganda leaf and root extract from Natreon, and also uses Rhodiolife branded rhodiola, Zynamite, a mango leaf extract and Zembrin, an extract of the Scletium tortuosum​ plant from South Africa.  The latter three are all part of the PLT Health Solutions ingredient stable. 

The Recover product includes CherryPure branded tart cherry powder, Biovaflex egg shell membrane, Curcugreen curcuminoids complex and AquaLOX Boswellia serrata ​extract.

“We did an extensive amount of work to first concept the kind of outcomes we were looking for,”​ Burns said.

The two supplements were then assembled with help from the company’s board of scientific advisers, Burns said. The board includes such names as Harvard Medical School anti aging authority David Sinclair, PhD. 

“As we developed them we had people within the company taking them, including Tom.  He takes a pretty active role in product development,”​ Burns said.

No sports certification for new products

Burns said some of the company’s previous supplements were NSF Certified for Sport, which Burns said was fairly easy to do as Atrium, the formulation partner, already had a relationship with that certifier.  That certification, like others available from Informed Choice or BSCG, ensures the products are free from banned performance enhancing substances.

The decision has been made not to have the latests two supplements certified, he said.  That might change in the future depending on market demand, but for the demographic the brand is trying to reach with the new products a certification was not seen as a must have, Burns said.

“While I do think consumers might see it as an implicit seal of approval, at the end of the day I don’t think most consumers know what the NSF is,” ​Burns said.

“The overall goal is to reach the masses and to help them be able to learn from what Tom has been able to do.  Our purpose is to prove that age is just a number,”​ he added.

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