Direct Selling News, June 2012
Direct Selling News celebrated its second annual DSN Global 100 list with an awards banquet on April 27. The event, which recognized the top 100 revenue-grossing direct selling companies in the world for 2010, was attended by nearly 300 members of the direct selling industry, representing more than 140 companies.
Brian Connolly, former President of Avon North America and Executive Vice President of Avon Products Inc., emceed the event. John Fleming, Publisher and Editor in Chief of Direct Selling News, handed out certificates and awarded trophies to representatives of the top 10 companies.
The evening opened with the presentation of the DSN Bravo Awards for outstanding achievement—Turnaround, Growth and Leadership. The first award went to the company that experienced the best turnaround over the previous 12 months, which was ViSalus Sciences. The health transformation company focused its 2010 efforts on marketing its Body by Vi™ Challenge and earned an estimated $10 million in monthly sales for early 2011.
Co-founders Ryan Blair, Nick Sarnicola and Blake Mullen accepted the award, along with Todd Goergen, whose family owns Blyth, the parent company of ViSalus.
“Starting a company is about the ups, the downs and celebrating successes along the way,” Blair said. “Winning the Turnaround Award during the worst economic time of recent history was a testament to the hard work of our distributors, the power of our Body by Vi messaging, our products and our comp plan.”
The second Bravo Award went to the company with the highest growth rate over the prior year. The winner was Stella & Dot, which saw sales of $33 million in 2009 increase to $104 million in 2010, a growth of 315 percent. The jewelry company made news in February when the influential venture-capital firm Sequoia Capital invested $37 million in it.
The award, presented by 2009 winners Orville and Heidi Thompson of Scentsy, was accepted by Mike Lohner, Chairman of Stella & Dot. “Coco Chanel said that girls should be two things: classy and fabulous. I think we’re doing our part to help that be a truism,” said Lohner.
The final Bravo Award went to the leadership team of ACN: Greg Provenzano, Robert Stevanovski, Mike Cupisz and Tony Cupisz. Provenzano accepted the Leadership Award, which was presented by 2009 winner John Addison, Co-CEO of Primerica.
“Given the high caliber of people who are here tonight, it’s a surprise and an honor to be able to accept this award on behalf of all of ACN,” Provenzano said. “We appreciate being in business with you. It’s a great industry. Let’s continue to do great things together.”
After the presentation of the Bravo Awards, DSN unveiled its Global 100 for 2010. Representatives from companies placing 11 through 25 were invited to the stage to receive certificates. Trophies were given to the representatives from the top 10 companies, including Jonathan Kunz, Senior Director of Business Marketing & Communications for Nu Skin, which placed No. 10 in the ranking; Sean Key, Vice President of Salesforce Motivation for Mary Kay, which landed at No. 6; and Connie Tang, President of JAFRA USA, who accepted for JAFRA’s parent company, Vorwerk, which came in at No. 4.
Fleming then announced the No. 1 direct seller in the world—Avon. Tom Kelly, Senior Vice President of Global Direct Selling for Avon, accepted for the cosmetics giant. “We strive to be the best. Tonight, to be recognized as the best of the best in your eyes is a big honor and means a lot to us,” said Kelly, who concluded his speech with a nod to his industry peers. “This is a sustainable business model. Our chairman, Andrea Jung, doesn’t look at us as 125 years old; she looks at us as 125 years young. And she’s right. After listening to all of you tonight, I think we better keep moving because you guys are moving really fast.”
The event, sponsored by Jenkon, CareerBuilder, Next Wave, Cornerstone Technologies and McColl Partners, concluded with an after-dinner reception for attendees, who had a chance to celebrate yet another successful year for direct selling.