Lakshmi Ninan

▪ PRIVATE LABEL & NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT:
 Plan, Develop and Launch Private Label Store Brands for LIFE from scratch under the following Categories : Nutritional Supplements (Multivitamins, Infant & Pediatric Formulas, Sports Nutrition) in Phase 1, Skin & Personal Care in Phase 2, Pharma /OTC Generics in Phase 3.
 Responsible for crafting and managing product portfolio strategy, leading short and long term planning for the business, and optimizing operational execution within development, production, and commercialization arenas.
 Analyze the Market trends at Regional and Global level - Need Gap analysis and Price point feasibility assessment through robust retail sales data crunching and in-store consumer purchase insights to arrive at Product List for Launch in the defined categories.
 Identify certified Contract Manufacturers and Suppliers Internationally (mainly USA, EU), exchange product formulation ideas and ensure the Formulas adhere to the local Regulatory guidelines- Ministry of Health & Dubai Municipality.
 Monitor Product Organoleptic Tasting and Feedback review for Nutrition powders through focused group study and act as the connecting link between the formulators and ME consumers for customized product development.
 Coordinate with Legal team and external agents for Brand name TM registration in US and UAE and incorporation & registration of subsidiary company in USA.
 Manage Pricing, Cost- Profit margins and plan quarterly projections for manufacturing and inventory management of the product portfolio.
 Develop Packaging and Label Designs, Content Copywriting and proofing ensuring adherence to the Product Nutritional Profile, RDAs, Product CoA/Specifications, and Regional legal & Regulatory guidelines.
 Oversee product R&D, QC/QA and adjust development timelines as needed to ensure that all projects ship and arrive on schedule without quality control issues.
 Co-ordinate internally with other departments on smooth functioning of supply chain/ inventory management, finance, regulatory and legal issues pertaining to the private brands.
 Develop Marketing collaterals and literatures, documents, etc. for KOL promotion and retail penetration/ visibility.
▪ BRAND MANAGEMENT:
 Function as regional marketing team for the various in-house global brands under Dietary Supplements (like Solgar, Natrol, Nature's Plus etc), Mother & Baby care and skincare category for the fully owned distribution subsidiary of the company.
 Work closely with Brand Principal Teams and Shopper Leads to translate brand strategy & communication to retail.
 Manage content of all online materials supporting sales team: work with Brand Principals to communicate critical brand updates to field through Retail Sales Bulletins, update brand selling stories and retail merchandising and product placement.
 Oversee product registration regionally ensuring the labels and product specifications are in sync with the regional regulatory guidelines for import and marketing.
 Pull syndicated data and develop scorecards (monthly, quarterly) to evaluate sales and marketing performance, identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiveness of key initiatives.
 Interface on a consistent basis with Operations, Sales, Finance, and other functional areas to rapidly identify problems/opportunities and take appropriate action as warranted.
 Ensure the retail staff is adequately trained and have proper product knowledge to handle consumer enquiries.
 Sponsorships & Special Events/ Trade Shows: As appropriate, actively participate in special events where in-house Brands are represented.
 Above the Line & below the Line Communication Strategy to boost the awareness and brand recall amongst KOLs and end consumers at retail level.

Gee Lawson Limited - (London, United Kingdom)
www.geelawson.com
Leading nutritional ingredient and specialty chemical & life science distributor across Europe.
October 2014-Present
Marketing and Brand Management

Responsible for the overall performance of Branded ingredients under the Nutritional and Functional food division within the European Market.
Working within a highly entrepreneurial fast-paced collaborative culture, this position is driven by business metrics to deliver month-over-month lead acquisition growth through mix of traditional and digital marketing activities.
Contributed to the inclusion of new scientifically backed ingredients as new brands under the portfolio and ensure market penetration with adherence to European Food and Safety Regulations.
Preparing the annual Marketing Budgets and Brand Plan in coherence with the Sales Target set for the year. Undertaken a substantial increase of 20% Gross Profit vis-à-vis previous years across the entire range
Ensure brand visibility across all channels- digital, global industrial expos, seminars and other channel education forums like HFMA
Ensure lead generation through digital promotion by closely monitoring web traffic and SEO in addition to banner advertising and SMART top lead generation adverts in several vantage portals like nutraingredients.com
Facilitate Customer engagement and tie-ups with large scale contract manufacturers and leading retail chains (like Boots, Healthspan, Holland and Barret) for synergetic communication and brand promotion

British Nutritions Private Limited- (Bangalore, India & USA) www.britishnutritions.in www.britishbiologicals.com
A British Biologicals Company- Leaders in the manufacture of protein supplements in fitness, wellness and lifestyle segments
May 2012-September 2014
Senior Brand Manager

Handled Sports Nutrition/ Lifestyle & Wellness (Nutraceutical/OTC) business for India and US Operations & Marketing
Rebuilt the entire brand portfolio and marketing department from ground up and provided creative direction for British Nutritions Corporate communications.
Led 6- person team including brand executives, nutritionists apart from the ad agencies to revamp corporate image and website, to deliver marketing and advertising strategies and execute national and international campaigns.
Trained and developed a team of Medical Representatives and aligned them towards medical push and ethical promotion to physicians and specialists.
Worked on meeting the USFDA guidelines for product formulation development & packaging to successfully launch the sports nutrition range in U.S.A by mid of 2013.
Handled Annual Marketing Budget, Spends and Category performance closely monitoring the sales activities and identifying new areas for penetration.
Championed New Product Development and Launch which entailed
o Market Research & Analysis of potential segments within the respective Categories
o Design & development of Packaging, Pricing and Go- to-Market Strategy
o Monitoring Brand performance from time to time and devising strategies to improve market share
o Worked intensively on the development and launch of ready to drink electrolyte drink in the energy space.
Created Brand visibility & improved Brand consumer loyalty
o Planned & devised schemes/offers /programs to build loyalty amongst Key Opinion Leaders
o Championed BTL activities like Nutrition Camps, In-shop training, Mall activation to build consumer awareness apart from CMOs.
o Developed & executed MTO/Chemists /Gym/Fitness centre branding
o Market specific Product Promotion Offers to drive sales
o Developed innovative Media & Sales Support Materials
o Designed & developed Creative communication in lieu of the Brand position in the market
Media Planning/ Buying (mainly print, radio and online space)
Initiate & develop Digital & Social Media Campaigns to cater to the dynamic target consumers.

Achievements:
o The sports nutrition category emerged as the top selling Indian brand with an overall market share of 65% vis-à-vis overseas imported products.
o Overall sales grew by 25% Gross Profit and 30% by volume across the Category
o All India Ad Campaign on Star Dust Magazine linking Fitness regime of actors was well accepted in the market and the brands grew by 20% above the average sales
o Won the Best Packaging Award in PVP Category for 2014 at the Indian Packaging Meet in Mumbai
o Web traffic improved by 28% and Facebook campaigns created more than 1 lakh likes in less than 3 months’ time span
o Launched 3 new products under Sports Nutrition and 1 under Wellness category in the span of 2 years.

Parry Nutraceuticals Limited- (Chennai, India & U.S.A) www.parrynutraceuticals.com
An E.I.D.Parry Company under Murugappa Group with a subsidiary wing VALENSA in U.S.A focusing on Nutritional ingredients and branded dietary supplements.
January 2011- May 2012
Management Trainee > Deputy Manager- Marketing
Recruited as Management Trainee and was soon promoted to Deputy Manager Marketing within a span of 5 months upon joining wherein the main role was to develop branded products under OTC/ Consumer healthcare Category apart from managing the ingredients business globally.
Managed the annual marketing spends along with the VP-Marketing and devised strategies to revamp the B2B business model to B2C and 30% focus on medical route of promotion
Conducted several Market Research to identify the potential areas of health through intense field work, consumer research and key opinion leaders inputs (doctors/physicians/ specialists) and thereby format a successive range of products to be launched in the next 5 years.
Developed a Protein supplement and Green Tea capsules in close liaison with R&D team and single handedly managed the launch on a pan India basis.
Worked proactively along with the Sales team in identifying new zones and territories and appointing key superstockists and distributors on national basis
Devised packaging and communication strategies along with media agencies to successfully build brand awareness and gain a pie of market share
Media planning and buying (newspapers/magazines/online) to build a buzz around the category
Consumer Awareness & Brand building
o Designed and developed various POS materials for the brands handled
o Initiated & executed the plan for Parry’s wellness in digital space -website development, SEO/SEM
o OOH- Retail Chemist branding across Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi & Mumbai.

Achievements:
o The Ingredient business grew on a net 32% by volume and 27% by gross profit over the year FY’11-12
o Successfully launched the OTC/Consumer Health division with a portfolio of 5 products under dietary supplement category
o Trained a fully operational team of 17 medical representatives which contributed to 42% of the overall sale in the OTC division.

Competitive Landscaping and Consumer Analysis for Supractiv Complete vis-à-vis Ranbaxy Revital (leading multivitamin capsules in India. The data captured and research outcome was used by the Brand Manager as a pre-launch information to devise communication strategy to tackle the market leader and gain market share.

Trained in the production and Quality Control Department of vaccines and serums. Insight on the Indian and European markets for exports and the regulations in various continents for pharma grade products.

Trained in the QC/QA and manufacturing of multi-vitamin tablets and syrups.