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MARKETING
Market America harnesses the selling power of stars
James and Loren Ridinger mix business and friendships with the launch of celebrity-endorsed products for their company Market America.
choag@MiamiHerald.com
Market America harnesses the selling power of stars
James and Loren Ridinger mix business and friendships with the launch of celebrity-endorsed products for their company Market America.
choag@MiamiHerald.com
As the saying goes, it's not what you know, it's who you know. For James and Loren Ridinger, who head direct-sales company Market America, it's a bit of both.
The Miami Beach multimillionaires, who glide in the glam and glitz world of music and sports luminaries, are launching several lines of celebrity-branded products at their annual Leadership Conference at AmericanAirlines Arena, which wraps up today.
It's not so much the result of a carefully planned corporate strategy, but rather the offshoot of the Ridingers' expanding coterie of star-powered pals such as R&B songstress Ashanti, Olympic speed skaters Jennifer Rodriguez and KC Boutiette and former Dallas Cowboy Randy White.
''We're a one-to-one marketing company, we don't focus on celebrity endorsements. This has really evolved out of our personal relationships,'' said Loren Ridinger, Market America's senior vice president. ``People wonder what we do and when we show them, they're really open to our way of marketing.''
Company founder, President and Chief Executive James Ridinger, known as JR, said: ``it's serendipitous.''
Ashanti is launching a $67.95 custom-made skin-care cocktail called Ashanti's OPC-3 Beauty Blend, which includes ingredients such as extracts of red wine, bilberry, citrus and grape seed plus vitamins.
NFL Hall of Famer White will present the Torch Sports Nutrition Line, designed to increase muscle growth and aid in muscle recovery.
Rodriguez, currently in Italy for the Winter Olympics, is endorsing the Isotonix Champion Blend, which comprises 97 vitamins and minerals, and Dietary Supplement line.
A SAVVY MOVE
All the stars collaborated in the development of the products and use them, which means they meet international athletic standards, the Ridingers said.
It's a savvy move by Market America, said William Berenson, president of William Berenson Brand Architects in Miami, as celebrities can give instant image and credibility to new or little known products.
''They're very fortunate to be able to leverage these relationships,'' he said. However, he noted, the pitfall of relying on celebrity marketing is if the star ends up with a tarnished reputation.
The Ridingers star themselves at the three-day Leadership Conference, where they strut their stuff in front of 17,000 of Market America's most avid sales reps from across the world, as far away as Australia, for a combo pep rally, sales training and feel-good-about-the-company party.
''It really drives our sales. It sets the motion for the next six months,'' said JR, who founded the company in 1992 in Greensboro, N.C., where operations are based. The Ridingers' North Bay Road mansion serves as corporate headquarters.
Market America is a product brokerage whose top-selling items are health and nutrition items and personal care products that can be customized according to a customer's needs.
EXPANDING SERVICES
It jealously guards its customer list, which it constantly surveys to determine the market for new products. One new product it found a need for through surveys: telecommunications. Market America will now offer Voitel, a $24.99 bundle of cell phone service, Internet telephony and broadband Internet access.
The company is also expanding abroad, setting up shop in Australia and Taiwan last year.
In Taiwan, the company has amassed 20,000 distributors selling $2 million worth of products a week. Growth in Australia has been slower, the Ridingers said.
This year, they plan to launch in Hong Kong and Japan and Loren hopes to establish a foundation for children's causes.
More products powered by their A-list chums, including Jennifer López, Ja Rule and San Diego Padres player Mike Piazza, are in the pipeline, said the couple, who made the gossip pages and TV shows recently with the lavish, half-million-dollar bat mitzvah-13th-birthday bash for their daughter Amber.
''We're blessed to have great friends,'' Loren said.
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