Without Co-Creation, This Would Not Have Happened
The Story Behind the Creation of NP's Slogan

UNIVA. This company name represents UNIVA's philosophy, "UNITE THE VALUES." As the name suggests, UNITE THE VALUES is about integrating various values. At UNI-SIGHT 2025, we would like to frequently introduce examples of "UNITE THE VALUES."

In our February issue, we will introduce the story behind the creation of the slogan "Live with Integrity" which Naturally Plus has been using for 13 years. What is not widely known is that this slogan was actually born out of a joint venture between UNIVA and Naturally Plus. We spoke with Shosei Asakura, Chief Branding Officer of the UNIVA Group, who steered the slogan project, and Takayuki Suzuki, a director of Naturally Plus Japan, who was familiar with the period back then.

Thank you very much, Asakura-san and Suzuki-san.

The unknown origins of NP×UNIVA co-creation

Founded in Japan in 1999, Naturally Plus (NP) started out with just one product, Super Lutein. Although it was a latecomer in the MLM industry, it quickly grew into a company with annual sales of 10 billion yen. In 2008, UNIVA became a shareholder of NP and began to participate in management.

Suzuki: "Around 2008, the public's impression of Multi-Level Marketing (hereafter referred to as MLM) was not good. I think the fact that foreign competitors in the industry were being liquidated also had an impact. No matter how good the products and sound the business models were, there was an atmosphere of denial about the entire MLM industry."

Asakura: "As a first step to break away from the image of NP = MLM, Chariman Inaba set out NP's philosophy of being a 'global healthcare company that leads the entire world to health.' This philosophy needed to be disseminated both inside and outside the company, and the role of this was played by NP's PR department. The PR department had an advertising company called ADFRONTE as its exclusive agency, which was in charge of all production and event management, but was the collaboration between the two companies completely one and the same? In some ways, it wasn't."

At that time, Asakura was a director of UNIVA and was also responsible for UNIVA's branding. It was Asakura who proposed to Inaba that the "Branding Management Office" be established at UNIVA.

Asakura: "So I thought that if we combined people from NP and ADFRONTE, we would be able to understand each other better and do a better job. I think it was a fairly new initiative to set up a department within UNIVA to handle NP branding and to have it comprised of NAKAMA from NP and ADFRONTE."

Suzuki: "We needed a new wind to change the old-fashioned MLM industry. I think it was a good idea to have the premise that we could disband if things didn't go well."

Asakura: "However, we didn't set up a new department just to create a slogan. Inaba's philosophy of 'a global healthcare company that leads the entire planet to health' is long and conceptual, so it would be difficult to spread the message both inside and outside the company. So, I suggested to Inaba that we create a phrase that would convey the benefits of NP in one sentence when our members are selling to new members. We then decided to use the Branding Management Department, which we had already set up, to create a slogan. That was the beginning of this project."

A slogan born from the insight of the "NP reserve force"

When the slogan project got underway, the first thing the Branding Management Department undertook was to conduct a survey on awareness of MLM companies. Although NP's main target is those in their 50s and 60s, the survey was conducted on 600 men and women in their 30s and 40s.

Asakura: "In order for NP to grow, it was necessary to develop a new market among the younger demographic. What we found in the survey was that a certain percentage of them are neutral about MLM businesses and have no negative impressions of them. They are also very health conscious. However, we also found that NP is hardly known among this demographic. Therefore, the mission of the Slogan Project was to create a brand personality for NP that would be well-received by this relatively young "potential" group."

Ultimately, UNIVA's Branding Management Department dug deep into the insights of men and women in their 30s and 40s who were neutral about MLM and proposed 24 ideas to NP.

Suzuki: "I remember that they explained everything from the purpose of the project to the survey contents, results, and analysis in a very easy-to-understand way. The proposal was probably about 50 pages long. I felt their strong desire to change the public's impression of MLM with the uniqueness of NP."

Asakura: "While other foreign companies focus on sales pitches that highlight their business methods, I thought NP should fully emphasize the 'goodness of our products.' Otherwise, it would damage the brand image of a company that upholds the philosophy of 'leading the entire planet to health.'"

Suzuki: "At the time, I think there was a certain amount of image that 'MLM = being forced to buy a lot, having inventory, working frantically'. So, I thought that the words 'don't push yourself' were a good phrase to convey in one sentence that we are an MLM company that is the furthest away from that kind of bad image. I think that the creation of this slogan has changed the attitude of not only new members, but also current members and employees. 'Unreasonable' can be interpreted in countless ways depending on the person receiving it. It was a powerful phrase that made people think, 'What is unreasonable?' without even being asked."

Asakura: "I think the reason why NP was able to achieve 10 billion yen in annual sales in a market crowded with foreign MLM companies was largely because it only had one product at the time. The competitors have a wide range of products, so in order to sell them you have to learn about all of them and buy and use them yourself, which costs money. This means you get caught in a negative loop of having to sell them no matter how hard you try. But with NP, the revolutionary thing was that you could earn an income with just one product. The fact that 'you can succeed without having to work as hard as with other MLMs' was a growth driver, and I thought that was NP's strength. It was a word that poked there."

"Loneliness and Immutableness" that makes it a brand.

This slogan, "Live with Integrity" was adopted in August 2011 and became NP's corporate slogan the following year. It has been in use for 13 years and continues to be used today. NP has now grown into a "global healthcare company that leads the health of the entire world" with bases in 11 countries/regions and delivering products to 131 countries/regions, and is the 43rd largest MLM company in the world. (Global 100 List 2024 by Direct Selling News). What does a slogan mean for a company?

Asakura: "A slogan succinctly expresses the essence of a brand, and I believe it should express what a company values most. The root of a slogan is "uniqueness (the company's uniqueness)." This uniqueness is very deep and difficult.

For example, what would you think if you saw someone wearing Loewe clothes, a Louis Vuitton bag, and Louboutin shoes? You would probably think, "That's a very stylish person." But that is completely different from uniqueness. If you walk down Omotesando, you'll see lots of people like this. Uniqueness is lonely and requires a lot of willpower. Furthermore, since it will be used for many years, it must be something that does not go out of style.

Suntory's slogan is "Living with Water," which is a declaration that "we are completely committed to water," and embodies the company's attitude and way of being, and I think it is something unique to Suntory. On the other hand, Sapporo Beer's slogan is "Make your toast even more delicious." When it comes to beer and alcohol, it's natural for all companies to "make toasting delicious," right? So Sapporo's uniqueness doesn't come across. Even if others think it's a bit odd or uncool, unless you have a strong will to continue and say, "This is fine for us," you won't be able to build your own uniqueness or brand."

Finally, how do you feel looking back on the co-creation between UNIVA and NP?

Suzuki: "A slogan is a top-down job that can only be created from a management perspective. I don't think it would have been possible without the Branding Management Department. Asakura and his team's proposal was honest and conveyed a very pure feeling. With its excellent products and sound business model, Naturally Plus will continue to push forward to become a 100-year-old company that can be 'Live with Integrity'."

Asakura: "Above all, I'm happy that slogan has been using it for 13 years."

In fact, these NP×UNIVA co-creation cases are just the tip of the iceberg. From now on, we will introduce them little by little. Thank you very much, Suzuki-san and Asakura-san!