pruvit-logoCurrently there is no information on the Pruvit website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Pruvit website domain itself (“justpruvit.com”) was first registered in 2013, with the registration recently updated on March 28th, 2015.

Jenifer Grace is listed as the domain owner, with the address in Kentucky provided belonging to bHip Global.

bHip Global first appeared on BehindMLM’s radar back in 2013, through the relationship between Terry Lacore and Rippln.

Lacore founded bHip Global in 2007 and was listed as a Director of Rippln (along with Jennifer Grace) on Rippln’s formation documents.

terry-lacore-rippln-blogspot-blog-cached

In 2008 Lacore had a securities fraud case filed against him by the SEC. The case involved millions of dollars in “undisclosed payments”, with Lacore settling the charges by paying a $50,000 civil penalty.

Rippln meanwhile was an MLM opportunity launched in 2013. Initially Rippln released a recruitment-heavy compensation plan, with this being revised a few months later in favor of a more balanced business model (albeit still problematic).

What then followed was nothing short of a drawn out catastrophe, culminating in Rippln’s demise by early January 2014.

I myself was highly critical of the Rippln fiasco, penning an opinion piece titled “Rippln is sunk: How NOT to close an MLM company” on January 28th.

Getting back to Pruvit, it seems Lacore isn’t the only Rippln figure to be involved.

A 1st of June post by Pete Delmonico, republished on Michael Rutherford’s Facebook timeline, reads:

Just had my first delicious drink! Feeling incredible! Showing great ketones in my system.

Thank you Michael Rutherford for coming down to San Diego with samples! Can’t wait til Tuesday when mine arrives!

Thank you Brian Underwood, Michael Beal and Mike R.

Brian Underwood was the CEO of Rippln and Michael Rutherford Rippln’s Master Distributor.

Whereas Pruvit’s corporate structure has yet to be revealed, Corporation Wiki reveals Terry Lacore, Brian Underwood and Chris Harding as Directors of the company:

terry-lacore-brian-underwood-pruvit-directors-corporation-wiki

I’m not sure who Chris Harding is.

In any event, it’s pretty obvious that while Pruvit might not have anything to do with the Rippln opportunity per say, that more than a few individuals who were involved in Rippln are now running Pruvit.

Recently Pruvit entered into a VIP launch, wherein those “on the inside” are able to sign up as VIP affiliates:

invitation-only-pruvit-website-june-2015

Today we take a closer look into Pruvit and explore what their VIP launch is all about.

The Pruvit Product Line

pruvit-ketone-supplement-productsPruvit’s flagship product is called Keto-OS. It’s a drink formula that’s sold by the tub ($140 for 30 servings) or sachets ($160 for 30 servings, $80 for 15).

Marketing material I read promoting Keto-OS claimed it was

the first ketone supplement to put ketones in your system at a therapeutic level within 60 minutes.

Pending specific information about Pruvit’s ketone supplement being released, I can’t really comment any further on the product.

Raspberries appear to be the primary source of ketone supplements, and with that in mind I will point you to a WebMD article for some introductory reading.

There is some stuff about ketones and a ketone-centric diet on Wikipedia, but whether or not that pertains to Pruvit’s ketone blend drink I can’t say at this stage.

The Pruvit VIP Launch Compensation Plan

During their VIP launch phase, Pruvit are charging affiliates $350 to join the company.

Attached to VIP affiliate membership is mandatory product autoship, ranging in price from $76 for a 15 serve sachet of Keto-OS to $133 for a tub (VIP affiliates appear to be offered a discount on Pruvit product purchases).

Commissions are paid out via a unilevel compensation structure, running down three levels of recruitment.

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

unilevel-commission-structure

If any level 1 affiliates go on to recruit new affiliates of their own, 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.

Pruvit cap payable unilevel levels at three, paying out the following:

  • level 1 (personal recruits) – $120 per VIP affiliate recruited
  • level 2 – $30 per VIP affiliate recruited
  • level 3 – $10 per VIP affiliate recruited

Joining Pruvit

As it stands, the only way to join Pruvit is via VIP affiliate membership, which costs $350 plus $76 to $133 a month in autoship.

Conclusion

For anyone wondering if Pruvit is just Rippln 2.0, from what I’ve seen thus far I’m pretty confident in saying that it’s not.

Yes a lot of the same people are behind Pruvit, but otherwise the opportunity itself is unrelated.

Does that mean you should discount the past performance of Rippln management though? Hardly. But don’t write off Pruvit just because Terry Lacore and Brian Underwood are involved.

My own analysis of Pruvit starts with the product.

Ketone supplements are admittedly something I know nothing about, but I will comment on how Pruvit are currently encouraging their affiliates to market the product.

That being to consume Keto-OS, pee on a strip and then publish photos of your pee strip on Facebook:

keto-OS-pee-strip-marketing-pruvit

Tied into the name “Pruvit”, the idea is to “prove” consuming Keto-OS does indeed supply a stream of ketones into the body.

Now I’m questioning the accuracy of the test or whether Keto-OS does exactly that, but is there perhaps a better way to promote this?

Purely from a marketing standpoint, a bunch of Pruvit affiliates posting picture of their ketone pee strips on Facebook isn’t all that enticing.

Case in point, the Facebook post by Pete Delmonico I quoted in the introduction of this review:

pete-delmonico-pee-strip-advertising-pruvit-facebook

I’m not sure the marketing message behind the pee strip is going to get through to the general public at large (specifically what it’s supposed to signify, other than ketones are present in expelled urine).

Moving onto the VIP launch compensation plan, I have to say this is reminiscent of Rippln’s initial launch.

At present the only way to join Pruvit is as a VIP affiliate. And yeah, I’m then paid to recruit new VIP affiliates down three levels of recruitment.

This is stock-standard chain-recruitment, with nothing being marketed or sold to retail customers.

Of course (one would hope) Pruvit will eventually move to launching as a fully fledged MLM opportunity, but right here right now it’s a three level chain-recruitment scheme.

As the Pruvit website proclaims:

5 INVITES WHO BUY THE VIP PROTOTYPE PACK = $600

Getting your early adopters to focus solely on recruiting sets the foundation for the company. And when Pruvit does launch, pretty much ensures that that’s all your top affiliates are going to continue to focus on.

And changing the compensation plan post launch doesn’t work, as that’s exactly what Rippln did.

I note that Pruvit are calling their current product offering a “prototype”. If that’s truly the case, then by all means test it out and sell it to potential affiliates, but this three-level affiliate recruitment compensation plan needs to go.

Other than that, if Pruvit can address the VIP compensation plan issues and pee strip marketing, and pending specific information about their ketone supplement product, they might just be onto something here.

Guess we’ll have to wait and see…

 

Update 10th November 2024 – BehindMLM has published an updated Pruvit review.