Cerule operate in the nutritional supplement MLM niche and was initially launched as Desert Lake Technologies. Regulatory records show the company also goes by the name “Klamath Falls’ Antarctica”.

Desert Lake Technologies launched out of Oregon in 1999. The company changed its name to Cerule in 2014.

Cerule is a family-owned business based out of Oregon in the US. The company is headed up by CEO Greg Newman (right).

As per Newman’s Cerule corporate bio;

Greg is a co-founder of and original investor in Cerule, a company started by his father in 1999.

In January 2014, after the passing of his father, Greg assumed the role of President and CEO of Cerule and has been focused in continuing the legacy and vision his father had to build Cerule into a science-based global nutritional supplement business that brings benefit to people’s health and well being in a wholistic way.

Prior to Cerule Newman was involved in the tech and alternative energy industries. To the best of my knowledge Cerule is Newman’s first venture as an MLM executive.

Read on for a full review of the Cerule MLM opportunity.

Cerule Products

Cerule market a range of “scientifically researched, safe, potent, high-quality, and efficacious microalgae-based ingredients called Algaceuticals”.

The company itself is a “raw material manufacturer”, meaning all of Cerule’s products are sourced in-house.

Products featured on the Cerule website include:

  • StemEnhance Ultra – “combines extracts from nature’s most primitive superfoods, freshwater microalgae and marine macroalgae, providing the body with the ultimate in stem cell support”
  • PlasmaFlo – “a proprietary blend of proteolytic and fibrinolytic enzymes, concentrated plant extracts and potent antioxidants formulated to support the integrity of capillaries and improve the flowing properties of blood”
  • Cyactiv – “a proprietary phycocyanin extract from Spirulina … proven to help balance and calm systemic inflammation”

Each of Cerule’s products retails at $79 a bottle.

The Cerule Compensation Plan

Cerule affiliates are paid to recruit new affiliates and maintain a downline team of affiliates in a unilevel team.

Presumably retail commissions are available, however there is no mention of them in Cerule’s official compensation documentation.

Cerule Affiliate Ranks

There are nine ranks within the Cerule compensation plan.

Along with their respective qualification criteria, they are as follows:

  • IBO – generate 50 PV and 50 GV a month
  • 1K – generate 100 PV and 1000 GV a month
  • 3K – generate 200 PV (100 PV if autoship) and 3000 GV a month
  • 7.5K – generate 300 PV (150 PV if autoship) and 7500 GV a month (no more than 4500 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • 15K – generate 400 PV (200 PV if autoship) and 15,000 GV a month (no more than 9000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • 25K – generate 500 PV (200 PV if autoship) and 25,000 GV a month (no more than 15,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • 50K – maintain 500 PV (200 PV if autoship) and 50,000 GV a month (no more than 25,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • 100K – maintain 500 PV (200 PV if autoship) and 100,000 GV a month (no more than 50,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • President – maintain 500 PV (200 PV if autoship) and 200,000 GV a month (no more than 100,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)
  • Chairman – maintain 500 PV (200 PV if autoship) and 500,000 GV a month (no more than 250,000 GV from any one unilevel leg)

PV stands for “Personal Volume” and is sales volume generated by retail sales and an affiliate’s own product orders.

GV stands for “Group Volume” and is PV generated by an affiliate’s downline.

Recruitment Commissions

Cerule pay affiliates to recruit new affiliates.

How much of a commission is paid out is determined by how much money a newly recruited affiliate spends:

  • recruit a Starter Kit affiliate and earn $10
  • recruit a Fast Start Pack affiliate and earn $100
  • recruit a Fast Start Ultra Pack affiliate and earn $300
  • Fast Start Mega Pack – $900

The upline of the recruiting affiliate also receives a 50% matching bonus:

  • Starter Kit – $5
  • Fast Start Pack – $50
  • Fast Start Ultra Pack – $150
  • Fast Start Mega Pack – $450

Residual Commissions

Cerule pay residual commissions via a unilevel compensation structure.

A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):

If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliate’s unilevel team.

If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.

Cerule cap payable unilevel levels at seven, with residual commissions paid on sales volume generated within these seven levels.

How many unilevel levels residual commissions are paid on is determined by rank:

  • IBO – 10% on level 1 (personally recruited affiliates)
  • 1K – 10% on level 1 and 5% on level 2
  • 3K – 10% on level 1, 5% on level 2 and 7% on level 3
  • 7.5K – 10% on level 1, 5% on level 2, 7% on level 3 and 5% on level 4
  • 15K and 25K – 10% on level 1, 5% on level 2, 7% on level 3 and 5% on levels 4 and 5
  • 50K – 10% on level 1, 5% on level 2, 7% on level 3 and 5% on levels 4 to 6
  • 100K – 10% on level 1, 5% on level 2, 7% on level 3, 5% on levels 4 to 6 and 1% on level 7
  • President and Chairman – 10% on level 1, 5% on level 2, 7% on level 3, 5% on levels 4 to 6 and 3% on level 7

Matching Bonus

25K and higher ranked Cerule affiliates earn a Matching Bonus on residual commissions earned by downline affiliates.

The Matching Bonus is capped down three levels of recruitment using the same unilevel team layout residual commissions are paid with.

  • 25K affiliates receive a 3% match on level 1, 2% on level 2 and 1% on level 3
  • 50K affiliates receive a 4% match on level 1, 3% on level 2 and 2% on level 3
  • 100K and higher affiliates receive a 5% match on level 1, 4% on level 2 and 3% on level 3

Bonus Pools

Cerule take 3% of company-wide sales revenue and place it into three separate pools.

The three pools correspond to the 100K, President and Chairman ranks.

100K, President and Chairman ranked affiliates receive an equal share in the pool that corresponds with their rank.

Note that the 100K pool is paid out monthly. The President and Chairman pools are paid out annually.

Car Bonus

Cerule pay 15K and higher ranked affiliates a monthly Car Bonus as follows:

  • 15K – $150
  • 25K – $250
  • 50K – $500
  • 100K – $750
  • President – $1000
  • Chairman – $1500

Travel Rewards

Cerule affiliates who qualify at the 50K rank for four consecutive months receive a booked place on a company organized “50K Extraordinary Getaway”.

President or Chairman affiliates who qualify at their respective rank for eight out of twelve months annually are rewarded with a Presidents Club Extraordinary Destination Week.

Joining Cerule

Cerule affiliate membership requires the purchase of an Affiliate Pack:

  • Starter Kit – $69 (one bottle of product)
  • Fast Start Pack – $269 (six bottles of product)
  • Fast Start Ultra Pack – $1000 (twenty bottles of product)
  • Fast Start Mega Pack – $3000 (sixty-five bottles of product)

Selected product bottles can be any combination of Cerule’s three offered product lines.

Conclusion

One of the worst things you can do in an MLM compensation plan is leave out retail commission details.

Retail commissions are conspicuously absent from Cerule’s official compensation plan documentation. Affiliate rank criteria is also absent but more on that later.

I’m highly suspicious of any MLM company that doesn’t lead with retail sales, as usually it’s a strong indication of a company-wide lack of retail focus.

Sadly this seems to be the case in Cerule.

Compensation red flags include affiliate recruitment commissions and a reduction in monthly PV through affiliate autoship orders.

In MLM paying affiliates to recruit new affiliates is straight up pyramid recruitment.

There is absolutely no legitimate reason a new Cerule affiliate would require sixty-five bottles of product.

I can let twenty slide, but not with the attached recruitment commissions.

Cerule’s Fast Start Mega Pack in particular seems to exist for no other reason than to generate a whopping $1350 in recruitment commissions (just less than half the fee paid by a newly recruited affiliate).

After a massive upfront recruitment commission, Cerule do keep autoship PV and retail PV at the same level for the first few ranks.

When an affiliate hits 3K though for no justifiable reason monthly autoship PV requirements are half that of non-autoship PV requirements.

Again there’s no reason for this, other than to encourage Cerule affiliates to qualify for commissions monthly via autoship.

To me the core focus of the Cerule MLM opportunity seems clear: Sign people up and earn a large upfront commission, then keep earning on their monthly autoship order.

This would see an FTC investigation of Cerule likely wind up the same as the regulator’s recent settlements with Vemma and Herbalife.

The good news is establishing whether this is the case yourself is easy. Just ask your potential upline whether they’re PV qualifying each month via retail sales or personal purchase.

If it’s through personal purchase (autoship in particular), it’s highly likely they’re just focused on recruiting other affiliates who do the same.

You can suss this out based on how you were approached, or by asking what you need to do to succeed in Cerule. Pay attention to what your potential upline focuses on.

Retail sales should be part of the equation, and if they’re not – well you have your answer.

As for the blue-green algae products, if that’s your thing then have at it. Cerule do manufacture their own products and so have complete control over what is or isn’t included in their product lines.

How different Cerule’s algae is to the competition or whether that matters the algae supplement niche is up for debate. I had a quick look on eBay and Amazon and found quite a few brands going for less than half of what Cerule are asking for.

Personally I think the retail viability of algae-based supplements might be suspect at Cerule’s $79 price-point, otherwise I can’t see why the company wouldn’t have a stronger retail focus.