Monday Spotlight: Global chief executive talks nipple cream and Japanese boardrooms

Not many people can go from nipple cream to Japanese boardrooms to Star Wars in a half-hour conversation, but Kevin Vyse-Peacock can.

The life of the global chief executive of breastfeeding specialist Lansinoh Laboratories is a whirlwind. At least four days a month he spends in Japan, another week at headquarters in Alexandria, Washington DC and the rest at the company’s UK base in Leeds.

Lansinoh supplies baby products to 40 countries, and it was Kevin who spearheaded its launch in the UK in the 2001 after a meeting with the company’s chief executive while he was working for another Yorkshire business, listed chemicals firm Croda International.

2016 marked Lansinoh’s 15-year anniversary in the UK with Kevin at the helm, and 12 years since it was acquired by Japanese giant Pigeon Corporation.

We caught him before he jumped on a plane to Japan for a two-week stretch.

“I’m from the North East originally,” said Kevin, “my mother was a hospital cleaner from Belgium and my dad was a TV salesman – it was definitely not in my career plan to become an international nipple cream salesman.

“When I went to university I wanted to have a job where I had the opportunity to travel, so I became a chemist.”

Kevin took a job at Snaith-based Croda International straight out of university, and worked there for 12 years, travelling extensively in the US, until the opportunity to launch Lansinoh in the UK came up.

“I really enjoyed what I did at Croda, mainly in sales and marketing and helping set up the healthcare division. I did an MBA with a focus on choosing markets and market setup, as well as business models for export.

“While I was there, my wife had a baby and tried a Lansinoh product, as they were one of our North American customers at the time at Croda.

“She used the nipple cream and thought it was amazing – we were getting samples to give to friends. It was such a powerful product and it just twigged in my mind, the realisation that this could work here as a business idea. I basically approached Lansinoh chief executive and said I wanted to do it.

“My friends thought I was insane, I’d given up a nice car and business class travel to set up Lansinoh in a back bedroom in Leeds. There was just something about the product that was really cool.”

Originally a lanolin producer for a number of areas including feet and lips, its nipple cream became a significant seller, which launched the company in the direction of breastfeeding, producing products from milk storage bags to breast pumps and nursing pads.

Now Lansinoh is a major proponent of the breastfeeding agenda – supporting the #freethenipple cause and advocating for the acceptance of public breastfeeding.

“We strongly believe that women have the right to breastfeed in public, and the benefits of promoting breastfeeding to our business is clear. But we also have to look at our own ethics and it’s the right thing to do. There’s definitely a marketing aspect but it’s part of our ethical DNA as well.”

Over in the US the company has even sponsored a lounge at baseball games to allow women with young babies to breastfeed and watch the sport.

The difference in attitudes towards breastfeeding and parenthood are very clear when you’ve travelled as much as Kevin has.

“American women go back to work so early, nearly a quarter of them have to go back after two weeks. In Scandinavia you get two years off. It really does massively dictate how you market and how you go to market, as well as how you present information to women in that country.”

With major expansion plans in the works, it’s something Lansinoh will have to think carefully about, but international markets are nothing new, particularly after its acquisition by Tokyo-based Pigeon Corporation, in 2004.

Thankfully, Kevin’s love of travel and in particular Japan helped with the transition – although his first love was the Star Wars film series (A New Hope his favourite of course) he said: “I was obsessed with Japan as a kid because of Richard Chamberlain in Shōgun!”

Now he gets to visit every month, and has even been honoured with a place on Pigeon’s board, an almost unheard of appointment for a Westerner, particularly for a large corporation such as Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Pigeon.

“Having a Western guy on the board is a big deal. I didn’t appreciate that until it happened – it’s a huge opportunity and a huge privilege,” he said.

“Japan is fascinating to most people. You have these stereotypes of Japanese culture and a lot of it’s true. In the corporate world it’s all about planning and the long term approach. That’s the biggest difference. For an American or UK owner, particularly a listed company it’s all about how you are looking this quarter – Pigeon allows a lot more ability to plan long term. What we bring Pigeon is insights into Western markets.””

And his plans seem to be working, with 10% year-on-year growth every year since Kevin started managing the business.

Worldwide Lansinoh employs 250 people across nine offices, with corporate planning and export divisions based in Leeds, and this may even increase on the back of a new factory being developed in Turkey.

“It’s amazing to be honest and it will be a huge opportunity to export all over the world from there. We’ve already opened up a Shanghai office. New and emerging market are really interesting to us, we’re definitely looking to expand our global footprint.”