Founded | 2005
Headquarters | Gothenburg, Sweden
Top Executives:
Dag Pettersen, CEO
Ørjan and Hilde Sæle, Founders
Products | Health and Wellness
Direct selling has always been personal. Even as our culture embraces more and more technology, direct sellers continue to find ways to make every connection a personal one. Both inside and outside of our industry, health and wellness companies have worked to make their products more personal, too, addressing the dozens of specific issues and challenges their customers face. But Scandinavian sensation Zinzino has made health and wellness more than personal—they’ve made it personalized.
The Proof Makes It Personal at Zinzino
Founded in 2005 by direct sales veterans Ørjan and Hilde Sæle, Zinzino is tackling one of the biggest shortfalls of the health and wellness industry—proof. Of the thousands of nutritional systems, supplements and products on the market, surprisingly few have proven results. Many companies may point to lab testing or clinical trials, but Zinzino’s founders expected more. Alongside their portfolio of nutritional supplements, weight management products and scientific skincare, the company offers innovative blood testing to provide customers with personalized data they can use to spend their wellness dollars wisely.
“We offer the power of knowledge and peace of mind,” said Zinzino CEO Dag Pettersen. “Our scientific health tests reveal unique insights about your body. We have the product that can put an end to the guessing game, and we offer cost-effective solutions to the lifestyle-related health challenges that affect 97 percent of the global population. Test, don’t guess, is the name of the game.”
Currently, Zinzino offers three blood tests.
1/BalanceTest: A comprehensive test that measures the levels of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in the blood. A healthy balance of these two fatty acids is essential for maintaining overall health and wellbeing.
2/Vitamin D Test: A test that assesses vitamin D levels, identifying potential deficiency that can be addressed through diet, sunlight exposure or supplementation.
3/HbA1c Test: A blood-sugar-level test that includes a type 2 diabetes assessment, along with personalized recommendations for diet, activities and exercise.
All three tests are simple, confidential, at-home dried blood spot tests that customers can order online or through a Zinzino partner. Once completed, customers send blood tests to Oslo-based Vitas Laboratories, an independent GMP-certified laboratory that analyzes the dried blood sample and provides confidential results. From there, customers can make educated decisions about lifestyle and diet changes and nutrient supplementation, either through Zinzino’s line of products or any company they choose.
“Having a personalized health plan is pure logic,” Dag shared. “Getting proof that it’s working should be too. Our scientific health tests reveal unique insights about your body. Our proprietary range of nutritional supplements and biotech skin nutrients help you to manage every part of it.”
Zinzino was founded in 2007 in Sweden and offered premium coffee and lifestyle products to start with. In 2012 the company acquired Bio Active Foods and launched the innovative test-based Balance Concept, consisting of a DBS health test, which you conduct at home, and BalanceOil, an Omega-3 fish oil blend with pre-harvested olive oil, which will help you to achieve a healthy omega-3 to omega-6 ratio.
While personalized testing is a huge leap forward for the industry, Founder Ørjan Sæle believes it will be the new normal in the health and wellness space because people want to make educated, informed decisions about their healthcare. “Thirty years from now, taking a blood test before changing your diet or exercise regime will go without saying,” he said. “Health is such a personal matter and leaving it to chance makes no sense when there are solutions out there that tell you exactly what your body needs.”
Building Thought Leadership Through Test-Based Nutrition
In 2019, Gabriele Helmer joined as Chief Marketing Officer at Zinzino. She was previously a member of the Board of Directors and has 20 years of experience in building international brands from leading marketing positions at companies like General Mills and Beiersdorf.
Together with the key stakeholders of the company and her team, she was defining the essence of the brand and the core offering including a complete rebranding of the packaging, evolving from an average nutritional bottle design to clean, eye-catching colors and design for both supplement bottles and test boxes.
This new packaging needed to stand out on social media but also shine on crowded office shelves, as health practitioners were beginning to stock Zinzino products for their patients. The fresh designs gave the entire line a cohesive story that could easily be shared by Partners, simply by reading the brand story book or by sharing content on social media.
“By achieving one million analyzed BalanceTests we can clearly solidify our test-based nutrition strategy and bring several brand benefits for the Zinzino brand. We have unique data and insights from our large blood test database which give us a competitive advantage, credibility and brand trust,” explained Gabrielle. “Since our product concept is valid for 97 percent of the world’s population, a global brand reach is what we are striving for. By conducting research, sharing insights and educating the public, we can be a true thought leader in our industry.”
An American Startup
After launching in Norway in 2005, Zinzino expanded steadily throughout Europe, reaching 100,000 customers worldwide in 2016 and listing on Nasdaq First North in 2017. Today, Zinzino is available in over 100 markets around the world, with a corporate team of 220 employees and a fast-growing field of 20,000 independent distributors called Partners.
Though the company officially entered the American market in 2014, Zinzino’s brand presence on this side of the Atlantic grew slowly. As American direct sellers expanding internationally are aware, opening a new market with a different language, culture and outlook on health and wellness is no easy task. Enter industry leader Art Jonak in 2019.
Art and Ørjan Sæle were already longtime friends when Ørjan suggested that Art should take a BalanceTest to check his omega balance.
“I thought I would do really well,” Art laughed. “I mean, I eat healthy. My wife does an amazing job of bringing healthy food into the household. I do the same thing. I was taking one of the most expensive omegas in the United States. I took my first test and my score was 20:1. I took a second test 120 days later, and I was in balance. So that was the journey—I got into balance, and I was like, there’s something here.”
Today Art serves as President of North America Operations. Over the last three years, he’s shifted Zinzino’s approach to the North American market from international newcomer to American startup.
“I thought what if we treat North America like a startup inside of this publicly traded company,” he shared. “The market was small enough, the field was small enough where we could move quickly. We could launch something; review it; fix it; and launch it again.”
Partners as Owners
Simplifying Zinzino’s brand story for an American audience of both customers and prospective Partners continues to be one of the team’s main objectives, as business in North America steadily expands—from negative 12 percent growth in 2018 to 13 percent growth in 2019 to 58 percent growth in 2020 to 24 percent in 2021 and 51 percent in 2022. This trend represents a steady growth of partners along with an organic growth amongst health practitioners resulting in a continuously expanding customer base. For prospective Partners, the possibilities are endless, since Zinzino is still hard at work building brand awareness here.
“Though the team has operated Zinzino in North America as a startup, the company’s deeply rooted global culture shines through, as Partners here have access to the Scandinavian-based products, corporate team and innovative compensation plan as Partners around the world.
“We have a unique collaboration between corporate and field because our culture is reflected in our owner structure,” Dag said. “Every Zinzino Partner can do the exact same thing as our founders and owners. This is a unique structure, an opportunity that most direct sales companies won’t offer. The culture we have is something that we need to protect and be proud of and share with as many as we can.”
This unique culture is just one more way Zinzino is making its work personalized, serving a world in need of individualized solutions that allow every person to make educated decisions about how they live and work.
“This growing interest in hard facts and being able to make informed decisions about your personal, long-term health creates an enormous business opportunity as well,” Dag shared. “Megatrends tend to do that. And we are the pioneers, driving the movement.”
From the July/August 2023 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.
