Founded | 1984
Headquarters | Auckland, New Zealand
Top Executives:
Graeme Clegg, Founder & Chairman
Rod Taylor, CEO
Product Category | Health and Wellness
New Zealand’s untouched wilderness, preservation efforts and focus on sustainability have generated a demand for its products around the world. Beyond its clean and green reputation, this island nation is known for its innovation and pioneering spirit, as Kiwis have creatively tackled the challenges of New Zealand’s isolated location in the world for over 183 years. New Image founder Graeme Clegg has captured both facets of the New Zealand story—purity and creativity—in the company he’s built over 40 years, sharing the power of New Image’s products and opportunity throughout the world.
A New Zealand Story
If you ask Graeme Clegg, New Zealanders are the first to see the sun each day.
“There’s no such thing as the top of the world and the bottom of the world,” he shared. “We’re conditioned from the day we are born. For example, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, but of course it doesn’t. The world rotates. Sometimes, we’re conditioned to accept things which are not realistic but we believe.”
The New Image founder learned early on that the status quo way of looking at the world just wasn’t for him. His story is a classic New Zealand tale: Kiwi farm boy turned world-record-holding sheep shearer, who eventually purchased his own farm. But long days of arduous work weren’t getting Graeme to the financial success he’d been aspiring to. He found himself working for a bank, spending all his energy on paying the mortgage on the farm. As he worked, he also watched his younger brother and both of his parents fight and tragically lose battles to cancer.
“That was a wakeup call,” Graeme remembered. “The realization was that genetically I was likely to also be a victim of the Grim Reaper. I took the knowledge that I’d learned from my sheep farming. I often wondered whether we were guided by nature as to what we should eat. The mission of New Image is to make the world aware again that we’ve got this special life force, this special substance that Mother Nature gave us.”
That special substance is colostrum—the thick, nutrient-rich fluid produced by mammals, including humans, in the first few days after giving birth. Often referred to as “liquid gold” for its concentration of protective nutrients, antibodies, growth factors and immune-boosting qualities, colostrum is essential for newborn mammals’ survival. Colostrum is only produced for those first three days before the mother produces a consistent supply of milk for her baby. Graeme had witnessed the power of colostrum in rearing sheep and cows, as he’d seen that infant animals would die without this essential substance protecting them from the multitude of viruses and bacteria causing serious infections.
COVID exposed the deficiencies in many governments’ reactive health care systems. The focus needs to evolve to proactive health care as everyone should be incentivized to manage their own health. Antibodies from colostrum have been scientifically proven to reinforce the immune defense systems for better protection.
A Clear Path for Success
Motivated by his family health history and the realization that simply working harder on the farm wasn’t going to achieve the financial results he wanted, Graeme harnessed that famous Kiwi ingenuity and began charting his own course.
Graeme launched New Image in 1984 with bovine-based colostrum products designed to support the immune system. Today, New Image offers a complete collection of colostrum products, including both powders and capsules, as well as a nutrition line, weight management products and natural beauty products. All products are scientifically validated ensuring consumers get maximum benefits.
“A friend of mine told me I was working the wrong plan,” he explained. “I was taught in school that if you worked hard, you’d become rich. But my friend told me that was bad advice, that I was using physical muscle and not mental muscle. It woke me up to the power of wealth creation and the power of productivity and the power of your mind. I had heard about direct marketing. And I thought, well, now this is a very interesting way of having an experience and then sharing it with other people. I also noted that the distribution system harnessed the power of leverage or geometric growth. Multiplying effort. Building a network and rewarding customers to get customers made a lot of sense.”
An Expanding Global Presence
Network marketing industry professional Rod Taylor joined the company in 2020 as CEO, following leadership roles at Herbalife, Nutrimetics and Amway in Australia and New Zealand. He believes that New Image’s rich history significantly sets the company apart in an industry often dominated by American dream stories.
“One thing that strikes me about New Image is that it’s as much a direct selling story as it is a great Kiwi or New Zealand export story,” he shared. “There’s a lot of appeal, especially in the key Asian markets, like Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan where there’s a lot of demand and appreciation for quality New Zealand-made food products. We don’t have too many direct selling stories coming out of New Zealand, so it becomes quite unique from that standpoint. Initially launching in New Zealand and then Australia, Graeme then expanded into the Asia Pacific region. The company is currently focusing on global expansion to share our business opportunity and our wonderful product solutions to many more people—which is really part of Graeme’s and New Image’s mission, to change the lives of people around the ‘world.’”
New Image currently operates in 18 countries across three continents, with a field team of over 215,000 New Image Members. In 2022, the company acquired beauty and skincare company Nutrimetics from Tupperware Brands, expanding New Image’s presence in Australia, New Zealand and France, with additional plans for Germany and the United Kingdom. Currently, the team is working on plans for opening New Image in South Korea, a country they know will have a strong demand for their New Zealand products. Plans are also underway for launching New Image and Nutrimetics into Greece. In conjunction with new country openings, New Image is also exploring the possibilities of colostrum in sports nutrition, which would launch an entirely new category for New Image.
“Sports nutrition is a major growth category globally,” Rod shared. “And Australia is the fourth largest sports nutrition market in the world, behind United States, Brazil and Germany. New Zealand is around number 10, which is phenomenal when you think of the relatively small size of the population.”
Kiwi-Powered Innovation
Early on, Graeme realized the inspiring and humbling power of stories, as he shared his own personal experience using colostrum-based products and listened to thousands of New Image Members share theirs. He’s worked with scientists around the world to study the power of colostrum and discover ways to preserve its nutrients and bio-actives so it can be collected, processed and shared. But according to Graeme, New Image is only beginning to explore the possibilities of this powerful, natural alternative to traditional medicine. It’s truly his life’s work—and a perfect example of the innovation New Zealanders are known for.
“We’ve looked at the best that nature has to offer, and we’ve reviewed the most effective marketing system in the world today,” he said. “We’re making a difference and leaving a legacy—this is our ‘WHY.’ I’m a firm believer that the human body is genetically engineered to live to 120 years. At 83 years of age, I’m only two thirds of the way through my life. So, I’m still setting 20- and 30-year goals. I believe if you’ve got a purpose, then you’ll have a long life. But if you haven’t got a purpose, then you’re limiting your lifespan.”
As the company continues to evolve and expand, it’s clear that Graeme’s legacy of promoting health, vitality and a better quality of life will endure. With his vision and determination, Graeme exemplifies the Kiwi spirit of innovation, expanding New Image from a colostrum-inspired dream in a remote corner of the world to a global leader in health and wellness. But Graeme is quick to remind the rest of the world that New Zealand is anything but remote.
“At New Image we have a map of the world, and it’s got New Zealand at the top! That’s another example of conditioning of the mind. The world is round so it depends on where it is approached as to where the top and bottom are!”
From the September 2023 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.
