Visi is a multilevel marketing company that sells a small selection of Nordic and Viking-inspired health supplements and anti-aging cosmetics.
They are best known for their products based on the arctic cloudberry, a raspberry-like fruit found in Scandinavia.
So have I been involved? This explains everything:
Both the small product selection and the lack of press on the company give away that this is a smaller MLM operation. When it comes to popularity, it’s dwarfed by other competitors in web traffic. Over time, search traffic for Visi has been slowly trending upward, but the rise is slow and unimpressive.
On one hand, this means the name recognition of the brand is very low, which could present both problems and opportunity. It will be a much harder sell initially, but the advantage of working with a smaller MLM is that the market saturation is much, much lower.
The arctic cloudberry hasn’t hit it big either. Search engine traffic for it is low enough that it doesn’t even register on Google Trends on some occasions.
Compare this to the traffic for goji berries, which have experienced a few periods of huge popularity, indicating that people will have heard of them and their potential health benefits. Maybe the arctic cloudberry will hit it big someday, but without some science or endorsements, that’s unlikely.
Products
Visi’s product selection contains seven health and wellness supplements and one skin cosmetic. They’ve got mainstay products for all the major categories you’d expect from this type of MLM: protein powder, energy/weight loss supplement, mood supplement, etc.
Energi is Visi’s take on powdered energy drink mix. As far as energy drinks go, it’s pretty basic. It is a sugar-sweetened powder with a handful of fairly common supplements, including vitamin C, L-arginine, GABA, green tea extract, ginseng, lingonberry, and Visi’s signature ingredient, arctic cloudberry.
As far as providing energy, there isn’t a whole lot to get excited about. Arginine, according to research in the scientific journal Circulation, has some mild positive effects on circulatory function when taken for long periods of time, and some other research suggests it may reduce fat mass, at least in diabetic rats.
But aside from green tea extract, which contains caffeine and theanine (which are known to synergistically work together to boost your energy levels and metabolism), there isn’t much to suggest that Energi provides an actual energy boost.
Immuniti, Visi’s newest product, is similarly uninspiring. It’s a pretty standard immunity-boosting supplement: it contains a heavy dose of vitamin B6, as well as strong doses of other “letter vitamins” and minerals thought to be related to immunity, like vitamin C, vitamin A, selenium, and zinc.
Immuniti also contains a blend of herbal extracts and ingredients, which appear to be mostly antioxidant-focused. According to a study published in 2007 in the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism by researchers in Switzerland, several of these trace vitamins and minerals can have beneficial effects on immune function–if you are already deficient.
Beyond that, there’s no evidence thus far that levels beyond what your body needs are beneficial.
And what of the arctic cloudberry, the signature ingredient of several of Visi’s supplements? Research on this obscure berry is sparse.
While it’s known that high consumption of berries is beneficial for your health, the specific effects of the arctic cloudberry are not well researched.
A 2008 scientific review of the health benefits of berries, written by Navindra P. Seeram at the University of California Los Angeles, groups arctic cloudberry along with other rare, exotic berries like mangosteen, pomegranate, and goji berries that may have beneficial unique biochemical effects on the body, but more research is sorely needed.
There’s one outlier in the product selection from Visi, and that’s the anti-aging Mikla rejuvenating cleanser. It’s a cosmetic product, not a dietary supplement, and it doesn’t have much in the way of unique or innovative ingredients either.
From the ingredients, it looks to be a combination facial cleanser and moisturizer. Ingredients like decyl glucoside and lauryl glucoside help the cream achieve deep coverage on your skin, and the jojoba oil helps hydrate and protect your skin.
Jojoba oil is a good antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, and it does not leave a greasy finish, according to a 2003 review article in the journal Phytotherapy Research.
Compensation plan
Visi’s compensation plan is a bit inscrutable. Joining up is tricky–you have to send in your contact info, and they’ll reach out to you. Start-up kits seem to run about $250 though it looks like Visi has re-arranged the pricing on these on several occasions.
What is clear is that the minimum product volume needed to keep yourself active and eligible for commissions is 75 product volume per month. The plan is a binary structure multilevel marketing set up, meaning you need two active distributors below you, and your performance is based on the worse-performing “leg.”
There are some hefty bonuses available, but you won’t be looking at these until you build up a pretty big distributor chain and move a heck of a lot of product.
Recap
Mediocre products with mildly effective but unremarkable ingredients, and a signature ingredient that hasn’t yet hit it big: there are a lot of reasons to be unexcited about Visi.
It’s small and it doesn’t have a real killer hook. If arctic cloudberry was featured on Dr. Oz, or if search engine traffic was more promising, it might be a different story, but these facts combined with a compensation plan that seems stacked against you mean that this MLM is one to pass on.
Look, I’m not a Visi hater. But if you’re considering it just for the money, there are better ways to kill your day job.
You might like our coaching because it shows you the good life without peddling products to your family and friends.
http://bodynutrition.org/visi-review/
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