Ok Amazon vs ND site saffron edition for

1. Mind turning around the 4th bottle in the sixth pic and taking a picture of the ingredient list?

You will see tomorrow!

2. Marketing is a brutal and many times dishonest industry. I think it's admirable that you're trying to stay in the loop and going down into the trenches, but also consider that your honesty and moral compass might prove to be a bottleneck to getting the most effective marketing. For example, I thought the life extension ads I got were pretty predatory and I'm not saying ND should go down the same path, but I also don't think it's possible to be really good at marketing without being a little unethical. I think in this case the ends justify the means.

It is for sure a bottleneck. However, that's why people trust me. I don't bend on my morals for anything. If I can't build something the right way, then I don't want to build it at all. We just had our 12 year anniversary. If I can make it this long without compromising my morals, with all the insane hurdles we have had to overcome, I can continue doing so. I do not think the ends justify the means, and I won't accept being unethical to make things easier on us. I'm not going to hamstring us, but I am also always going to ensure that anything I am behind is run the way I think it should be.

4. A 10% TA Google ad I got linked to the lions mane 8:1 product page. That was confusing to me and you should look into that - making sure the ads link to the correct product page.

I'll bring that up with the team that runs our Google Ads now. We still have the stupid PMax BS. That's honestly been one of the biggest issues with our Google ads for years. We did really great years back when it was Smart Shopping. We ranked for most everything we sold, and were top of the page for most. However, then Google got greedy. They got rid of Smart Shopping and replaced it with the pile of dogshit that is Performance Max. That's like a black hole. It does ads placements on its own. It even creates its own shitty short videos for us if we don't give it videos to show. It does display ads for empty bottles and weigh pans, and we have to go in and force it not to. The Google ads reps are constantly trying to trick you into making changes that make it look like it is performing better, but is actually fucking you in the end. It's exhausting. Almost all of our Google Ads issues are because of PMax. I think it is actually an indication of how much Google is slipping, especially with AI. People are using traditional search engines less and less, and traditional ad revenue has to be down. They are trying to milk all the profits they can for as long as they can.

5. Online marketing is cool and all, but also consider targeting older folks. This population has far more disposable income and would be more persuadable to try supplements that might help with their various ailments. It's a huge market that online marketing just won't reach very well. The chamber media ads are cool for a certain subset of the population (younger males) but you need a multi-pronged approach focusing on all the different niches: lifting bros (TA, beta-ecdy, etc.), white collar professionals (cognance, erinamax, omegatau, etc.), older people (curcumin, NMN, etc.) with different channels for each.

The problem is that older folks are much less tech savvy. They have a hard time navigating the site and finding what they want. They also overly trust traditional medical doctors, and most of the ones they go to are older themselves, and think supplements as a whole are BS. They want to speak to people on the phone, and ask tons of questions. It's just not really our model. Our core customer group are people aged 25 to 55, usually working professionals, usually more educated and curious about details, and primarily male. Any time we try to branch out from that core demographic, we fail. It costs us more money to get less results. I learned years ago that I can't make the market go where I want it to go... at least in the short term. I have to follow what the larger market is telling me it wants, then just be the best at that.

The other issue we have is more fundamental. The main reason I am here is because this industry is full of liars, cheats, and frauds. If there were good supplement companies when I got into this, I wouldn't have had to build this company. If the entrenched players in this industry were not abdicating their responsibility to consumers, I wouldn't have to be the one to try and change things. However, time and time again I have been lied to, defrauded, cheated, and let down. Time and time again I have been proven right on my suspicions of people and brands in this space. This has led to me being very cynical at all of it, and I think that shows in how we operate sometimes. People like you to stay in your lane. The average consumer likes you to stick to your role. If you sell supplements, your role is selling supplements. Your role is not calling out other brands for doing shady shit. That's just not your role in the eyes of consumers. So my efforts over the years to try to highlight the bullshit going on in this industry, and call out the bad actors, has backfired on me. Shoot the messenger is a saying for a reason. Where I thought people would be appreciative of me letting them know they were getting lied to and sold crap, because that's how I would take it, I would actually have it blow back on me. Then these competitors would use that to their advantage. They would spread the idea that we were just saying everyone else sucked to sell more product. They would say you can't trust our data because it wasn't objective. They would watch what we did, and then make their lies better based on how we addressed things. Over time, this made us out to be the negative Nancys of the industry. We would be the cynical assholes always calling everyone else out, and that negativity was then associated with us. A while back, I recognized that the negative messaging we were using just was not working. It's incredibly frustrating for me, as I have put so much into fighting for consumers in this industry. I have done more to try and force change in supplements than anyone I know, and I have taken the brunt of the blowback because of it. Hell, I almost went to prison because of it! However, that negative messaging just was not working with the average consumer. They didn't want to hear me saying these other brands sucked. They didn't want me telling them they made a bad choice by buying from these brands. That doesn't mean the message doesn't need to get out, though.

So this Chamber Media shoot is an attempt to address that very real situation, but do it in such a way that doesn't come across as negative or cynical. It's a way to bring up the standardization and lab testing situation in a lighthearted and humorous way. Then hopefully we can get consumers actually thinking about the right thing, and asking the right questions. Will it be the right messaging and strategy for all demographics? No, likely not. However, I want to keep the conversation going in the right direction, and I need a way to do it without having more negative blowback on us. I have also recognized that people can only focus on a couple things. If I try to tell people everything I want to say, they will hear none of it. We have overloaded people with data a lot. So this campaign is going to focus on two things: your supplements need to be standardized to bioactive compounds, and that standardization needs to be backed up by valid lab testing from ISO accredited labs. If we can at least get that message across to a larger subset of the supplement consumers, I think that moves the needle in the right direction. Is it going to be the most effective way from a sales perspective? No, certainly not. If I just turned the marketing team over and gave them free reign, I am sure using the shady strategies our competitors use would sell more actual product. However, I am not interested in that. I want to do things the right way, and to actually make meaningful change in the supplement industry. It has to start with consumers. I can keep working in the background to force change from that end, but if consumers don't start demanding higher standards, nothing will fundamentally change. Real change is going to come when consumers start holding brands accountable, and demanding they take lab testing and quality control seriously. Till then, we can try to nudge things from the industry side all we want, but the movement won't happen till it happens from the demand side. This campaign will hopefully accomplish both goals.

Also Paul, I wanted to say how grateful I am to you and your company. I cannot put into words how much I appreciate the fact the ND exists. The care and attention you put into every facet of your operation from the fucking cool ass science to the meticulous thought that goes into each product (like fuck you keep outdoing yourself) to the non-variable and constant pricing on all your products. I honestly cannot imagine my life without ND. Huge props.

Thank you for the kind words! It really does mean a lot that my efforts have made a meaningful difference in people's lives. Twelve years is a long time to be in the trenches fighting for change. I would be lying if sometimes I didn't consider just moving on. However, I know that my mission is something that needs to happen. This is people's health. It's not just a way for people to make money. These are real people's lives that can be helped. I also know that I have the ability to move the needle in a positive direction. We don't always have the ability to force the change we want to see in the world. However, I do have that ability here. I can make a difference that can last. Giving up after all this time would be a huge waste, so thank you for the appreciation of those efforts!