Zantrex-3 The Secret’s in Positioning, Attitude, Style

The meteoric rise and slow inexorable fall of Zantrex-3 is a cautionary tale for all marketers.

How did Zantrex go from zero to multimillions in sales almost overnight?

It began with a truism in the weight loss field that only a few marketers ever realize.

Here’s the question: Why do women buy weight loss products? To lose weight? Not exactly.

Then what? For decades, women of all ages have taken weight loss products for the buzz, the energy, the lift women need to keep up with their spouses, kids, employers… you name it.

So, we thought, why not be honest? Zantrex-3 was positioned to be as much about energy as it was about dieting.

And if the formula is about energy, why not have an almost disturbingly energetic ad, with a screaming, over-buzzed voice?

And keep the message simple – nothing about how it works, how much weight you’ll lose in a month. None of that. One message, screamed at you with a strong color palette and young, thin, energetic people.

RAPID WEIGHT LOSS, INCREDIBLE ENERGY IN ONE AMAZING SUPERPILL.

No need to say another word!

BUT THEN THE PRODUCT’S DECLINE… inevitable in the diet industry but hastened by management’s falling into the trap of line extensions. Such nonsense: you have a product that promises over the top results, but then you come out with another SKU that promises even more over the top results. The extensions ruined the Zantrex mystique, cannibalized original
Zantrex sales, and tripled costs by making three or four new formulations that together never sold more than the single, inexpensive Zantrex SKU.