Sambucol and Lycored – Case Study
The Path to Fame
How Media Relations Agency
taught the American public to trust Sambucol and LycoRed
Awareness and education are the first pillars of marketing any new natural ingredient.
People need to know about it, and learn about its benefits, before they’ll feel confident about buying it for themselves and their families.
Media Relations Agency has helped build the reputations of many premium natural ingredients, enabling them to earn their places in homes across the U.S., including Sambucol and LycoRed.
The Challenge
In two separate publicity campaigns, our goal was to elevate two little-known ingredients from being virtually unknown to household names on a national scale.
Our Approach
Sambucol goes from obscurity to a trusted brand name
Sambucol is a black elderberry syrup developed by virologist Dr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu in 1991. While Dr. Mumcuoglu was very enthusiastic about Sambucol’s tremendous health benefits, the black elderberry was virtually unknown to the American public.
Working with U.S. importer Nature’s Way, Media Relations Agency first launched a highly successful national media campaign to educate consumers about the powerful, health-supporting antioxidants found in black elderberries through stories in print and digital media as well as broadcast TV and radio interviews from coast to coast.
Once we dramatically increased awareness of black elderberries, we turned our attention to teaching consumers to look for the original black elderberry syrup: Sambucol. But there was a hitch. Sambucol is an awkward name that’s not easy to pronounce. So, we began educating reporters and audiences about the scientific name for black elderberries — Sambucus nigra — which helped make sense of the product name.
Building LycoRed’s reputation from the ground up
Media Relations Agency was hired by LycoRed, Inc. to create public demand for its all-natural tomato lycopene supplement. Our initial goal was to introduce the public to a new carotenoid called lycopene.
This approach included educating the public about lycopene’s health benefits, the foods it comes from and ways to get more of it into your diet. We knew we’d succeeded far beyond expectations when a leading ketchup company added “contains lycopene” to their front labeling.
The Results
With a great product and lots of preparation, we were rewarded with a plateful of media
opportunities.
Sambucol is now commonly found in American homes, and thanks to years of solid groundwork, continues to receive unsolicited media coverage each cold and cough season as a trusted way to support immune health.
LycoRed is now a firmly established brand. Once the initial education phase ended, we accepted the challenge of educating the public about the need for all natural tomato lycopene supplements.