It all started when their boat sank ….

So began the new ad campaign by Alticor and Quixtar this week in North America. The campaign kicked off with full page advertisements in the Grand Rapids Press and USA Today and continues on with TV spots promoting Quixtar and Nutrilite. Quixtar is of course the modern, internet-powered opportunity that replaced Amway in North America. Amway though, continues in more than 8 countries around the world. From the first expansion into Canada and then Australia in 1971 and then Russia in 25, Amway continues to grow and strengthen around the world, paying out nearly US$2 billion in commissions and bonuses to Independent Business Owner's around the world. Few other network marketing businesses have even reached that in total sales, let alone in bonuses.

Amway was founded by Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel in 1959, but its business story starts earlier than that, with the California Vitamin Corporation founded by Dr Carl Rehnborg in 1934. Dr Rehnborg was one of the first people to realise the health benefits of nutritional supplements, but due to the novelty of the field in the 3s, customers needed to be educated about the product before they would be likely to purchase it. Thus, it was sold directly to customers, who then, convinced of their benefit, promoted the products to their friends.

In 1939, California Vitamin Corporation became Nutrilite Products, Inc , and six years later, in 1945 Nutrilite contracted with a company owned by Lee Mytinger and William Casselberry, Mytinger & Caselberry, Inc., to be the sole American distributors of the product. To promote it, Mytinger and Casselberry developed the marketing system that is known today as network marketing, or multi-level marketing.

In the 194s, the two young entrepreneurs, Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel, joined the company as distributors. By 1949 they were successful enough to incorporate their distributorship as Ja-Ri corporation. Things were not all plain sailing though, and in 1959, after some issues with Nutrilite and Mytinger & Caselberry, Inc., they and other distributors formed the American Way Association as a way for Nutrilite distributors to negotiate with the companies. Worried about the future of their suppliers, in 1959 DeVos and Van Andel formed Amway and looked for additional products to market through their existing network of distributors. The first product they found was Frisk a unique concentrated organic cleaner, known today as L.O.C.™ Multi-Purpose Cleaner. The rest? Well, it's history! Amway grew to be one of the largest privately held companies in the world, operating in more than 8 countries and territories. In 1999 the DeVos and Van Andel families took the same business model they'd been using for 5 years to the internet and created Quixtar, now the #1 ranked site in the Health and Beauty category and one of the top ranked ecommerce sites for North America. It proved so popular that by 22 the original Amway model was retired in North America, and Amway internationally and Quixtar had all become part of Alticor.

IBOs, take this visual trip through the story of Amway and Quixtar and be proud of the unique company you have partnered with.  

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