The Supplement OWL (Online Wellness Library) is growing as more than 50 companies are already on board to help create a more complete picture of the marketplace. The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), Washington, D.C., applauded these early adopters who responded to a November 2016 announcement. The association has launched an industry-wide trade advertising campaign driving dietary supplement finished product manufacturers and marketers to a landing page where they can learn how to submit their product labels.
 
“The Supplement OWL is an important self-regulatory initiative that starts with a simple premise: regulators need to know what ingredients and products are in the dietary supplement marketplace and who sells them,” said CRN President & CEO Steve Mister. “Because our members recognized the necessity for this initiative, CRN has invested in an advertising campaign to broaden our reach beyond our member companies.”
 
CRN partnered with BrandHive, a Utah-based marketing agency with over 20 years experience in the dietary supplement industry, to develop the media buy for the advertising campaign. The robust six-month campaign includes digital and print ads that will appear across a spectrum of supportive industry trade publications with a “Year of the OWL” concept developed in-house by CRN, advising that “it is wise to submit” labels to the registry.
 
“We were impressed by how cooperative and generous all of the trade media outlets were in working with us to generate interest in the Supplement OWL,” said Judy Blatman, senior vice president, communications, who is overseeing the marketing efforts. “Clearly they recognize the Supplement OWL will raise the bar for the dietary supplement industry and they want to be part of making that happen.”
 
Mr. Mister emphasized, “Demonstrating a commitment to transparency with regulators illustrates a company’s confidence that its products are compliant with label regulations and reinforces our industry’s accountability to consumers. Having your products and their labels in the Supplement OWL shows registry users that you want your products to be viewed as part of the mainstream supplement marketplace and are willing to provide them for scrutiny.”
 
The Supplement OWL is being developed and administered by UL, a global independent safety science company, and is slated to go public in April. CRN anticipates the registry will include tens of thousands of labels by then. Companies are urged to start submitting labels now to ensure they are included before the product registry launches for public viewing. For more information, including how to submit product labels to the Supplement OWL with UL, visit www.supplementowl.org