SELECTED WORK / 01
The agency inside the manufacturer
How running marketing as a creative agency for partners made KVP the largest private label supplier in US animal health.
KVP International · Built and lead the model · 2017 to present · Marketing team of 7, plus design, digital, and dev
The situation
Most of KVP’s revenue flows through private label: distributors selling products we make under their own brands. Private label usually turns into a price fight. Distributors want their own brands, but they’re built to move product, not to build brands. The cheapest supplier wins until someone undercuts them.
The insight
If our partners’ brands won, we won. The most valuable thing we could supply wasn’t only the product. It was the brand around it.
What I did
I built KVP’s marketing department to run as a full-service creative agency for our partners. My team handles branding, packaging, graphic design, and sales media, along with paid, social, search, and organic digital work, and product, web, and app development. Partners get a brand that sells, built by people who know the product better than anyone. KVP stops being a line item and becomes a growth partner, and switching suppliers starts to mean losing your marketing department too.
The work
Partner packaging systems / Image to come
Distributor campaign emails and site banners / Image to come
Sales sheets and sales media / Image to come
Trade show environments / Image to come
Results
#1 private label supplier in US animal health · Every major US veterinary distributor is a partner · 36% open rate · 5% click-through rate
“The thing that puts KVP over the edge is not just price or product, but the marketing services you offer.” Joseph McElmery, VP Supply Chain, Thrive Pet Healthcare
My role: I designed the model, built the team that runs it, and own partner relationships on the marketing side.