Female Opps: Jenny Craig acquired for upcoming comeback, loses CMO (Score 47)

Sales Lead: With the goal of relaunching the brand this fall, Wellful Inc. acquired Jenny Craig (JC)'s brand assets out of bankruptcy.

• When it relaunches JC's weight-loss service, it will do so as e-Commerce with virtual not in-person, coaching.
  • Its next phase will be driven by digital and e-Commerce through which people can order meal to their doors while still having access to personalized coaching.
• JC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in May 2023.
• Wellful, a D2C consumer wellness brand, is the parent company of Nutrisystem.
  • Like JC, Nutrisystem sells weight-loss-oriented prepared meals, but unlike it, Nutrisystem does not offer coaching.
  • The two brands will be run separately within Wellful.
• The company will likely:
  • Ramp up spend ahead of the Fall 2023 relaunch
    • ​​​​​​​I especially expect digital channel usage to remain high since JC has, so far, notified fans about the relaunch via digital channels such as email and Facebook.
  • ​​​​​​​Implement strategy shifts
  • ​​​​​​​Conduct agency reviews
• Target demographic: 
  • ​​​​​​​Millennial and Gen-X women

Recent leadership shifts:

• This announcement closely follows the departure of JC's now-former top marketer, Daniel Hofmeister.
  • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Hofmeister, the brand's CMO since June 2022, departed in June 2023 and is now the founder and CEO at Brand Surge Consulting.

Additional spending insights:

• Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: JC has allocated roughly $7.8m toward digital ads YTD, 16% more than the roughly $6.7m allocated by this point last year.
  • Last year: In 2022, the brand allocated roughly $8.7m toward digital ads after having spent almost double this, roughly $15.1m, in 2021.
  • 2023 ad programming: JC's 2023 commercials target Gen-X watching shows such as Friends, Young Sheldon, Castle, Charmed, and The First 48.
• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: Since the beginning of 2023, the brand has spent approximately $233.4k on digital ads, 47% less than the approximately $444.1k spent within the same 2022 timeframe.
  • YTD data: JC has earned ~34.6m digital spend YTD via YouTube (54%), Facebook (21%), desktop display (19%), and Instagram (6%) ads.
  • Last year: The brand's estimated full-year 2022 spend of $656.7k reached less than half of that of $1.6m in 2021.
• Additional channel insights  
  • The brand utilizes Google ads along with digital, local broadcast, Facebook, and online video (primarily via Youtube.com) ads.
  • JC invests in both long-form and short-form DRTV ads.
    • ​​​​​​​The brand has incredibly widely dispersed network TV coverage.
    • It will likely launch a new campaign within the next 60 days or so.
    • JC's top TV networks include LIFE, WE, MTV, BRV, and FYI.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: JC may seek additional agency assistance with the relaunch, so get in touch soon to remain top-of-mind.
• Current agency roster:
  • Horizon Media​​​​​​​: Media planning and buying AOR (September 2020)
  • Quigley: Media planning and creative agency partner

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix; DRTV insights by Media Analytics.