Lintbells has won the 'Market Mover' category at GrowthAccelerator's The Brave & The Bold awards. The award was presented to Lintbells for successfully entering into a new market or sector in the UK within the past 18 months.
The veterinary nutriceuticals market has seen minimal growth for the past five years but Lintbells, based at Weston, Hertfordshire, is transforming the nutritional supplement sector, having redefined the business model to address product performance, price and customer perception.
John Davies, commercial director from Lintbells explains: “We knew if we entered a veterinary market we needed tangible independent evidence for our products. To make this a reality we invested heavily in clinical trials with the Royal Veterinary College to prove our joint supplement worked.
"Trials finished in early 2014 with a clinically proven result and a new marketing campaign has been developed to support this. We developed a new veterinary brand to segment the overall market and give the vets a product specifically for them."
Lintbells went on to develop a service programme to help veterinary practices to educate their clients on canine and feline joint management. This includes not only information about their products but all the areas to be considered around joint health and the care of older dogs and cats. The result of this multi approach marketing strategy has resulted in both their joint care supplement, YUMOVE, and skin supplement, YUMEGA Plus, becoming the fastest growing products in the sector.
Exclusively for GrowthAccelerator clients, the inaugural 'The Brave & The Bold' awards celebrated the successes of the country’s brightest and most ambitious businesses. The ceremony was held on the evening of June 5 in London's Mayfair.
John Hill, Director, GrowthAccelerator saiod: “The standard of entries for The Brave & The Bold has been incredibly high and the shortlist competition was fierce. Lintbells has been recognised for its hugely successful diversification into the veterinary sector, investing boldly in this market move to grow by 65% in the last year."
Skills and Enterprise Minister, Matthew Hancock, added: "It is part of our long term economic plan to ensure Britain is the best place for small businesses to start up and scale up. Government backed services like GrowthAccelerator help to create the right environment for enterprise.
These awards celebrate the best of British businesses which are vital for our economy and I congratulate everyone for their exceptional successes over the past year."
John Davies went on to say: “We would like to thank our growth manager Kirsten Masson from St John’s Innovation Centre in Cambridge for all the support provided to enable us to get this recognition. It’s not just an award; it’s a reflection of the great work that the team at St John’s provide to support SMEs across the region. Kirsten successfully matched us with our growth coach Judith Elliott who we thoroughly enjoyed working with. Judith has given us invaluable advice helping us on our journey and contributing to the success of Lintbells to date."
GrowthAccelerator is currently supporting over 15,000 high growth businesses in England in achieving their growth ambitious.
Find out more at www.growthaccelerator.com For more information about Lintbells visit www.lintbells.com
Picture shows: (left to right) GrowthAccelerator director John Hill, co-founder of Lintbells John Howie and awards host Natasha Kaplinsky.
