Cambridge v Lighterlife (SALES FIGURES)

bunnycd

Full Member
Thought you may be interested. I went into a local chip shop and noticed a poster for Lighterlife. So I have done some financial research on how well Lighter life is doing compared to Cambridge.

Turnover Lighterlife: £18m (2006) Profit (£2m)
Turnover Camridge £2m (2006) (Profit £800k) (Excluding manufacturing T/O which is £3m)

Looks like Lighterlife wins... maybe it's the marketing? what do you think? Is Lighterlife really that BETTER? I have also heard Lighterlife are increasing charges to £70 per week from Jan (Don't know if this is true)

As customer's of the Cambridge diet how do you think us CDC's can improve your dieting experience? Do you want group sessions in a Village hall?
 
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Looks like Lighterlife wins... maybe it's the marketing?

I'd go for that. I know a number of people who have heard of LL, even though they've never done it or even know anyone who has. They didn't know about Cambridge, even though it's been going much longer.

Can't think of any other reason that they would know of one and not the other unless it was the marketing.

Both are good diets, but Cambridge don't 'put it out there'
 
It may be the fact that Lighterlife franchise is £15k ... so this money is invested in a national campaign and leaflets etc. I heard that the Director of Lighterlife use to work at Cambridge. It's good to have these conversations as maybe we can work out what is going on and how we can improve as CDC's. I have many client's who have switched to Cambridge due to cost factors.

I think with LL you have to pay up front for a number of weeks, so they maximise profits in the drop out phase.
 
I had heard of lighterlife before I started CD. I had never hear of CD until I was browsing the net for information on slimming world 6 months ago which then brought me here. I was just browsing minimins, peeping in each forum to see what it was about when I read posts from cd'ers in this section and how fab they were doing and that grabbed my attention immediately ... then I spotted the inspiration thread and that was it mind made up I was going to do this diet.

LL advertising I see quite a few places now, in the local papers, flyers etc, so I definitely think they have the edge when it comes to advertising.

For me personally, I like the one on one sessions, I like the relaxed feel and ease of cd. Some probably do like group meetings ... I probably would now but when I was first looking into losing weight the group thing probably made me a bit wary for some reason?

I love the diet its fab and my new cdc is great .. if only I could be a model client and stick to the diet! lol
 
LL is also double the price!

Most folks have heard of LL because of the marketing whereas CD relies on word of mouth.

Since the number of CDC's is increasing then maybe we will see an increase in the profits for CD.

From what I have heard from folks coming across to CD from LL, the CD products are better than LL anyway.

The LL Counsellors are obviously not paid £35 per session for the counselling, either, it is being taken as profit by the LL Company itself.

As for Group sessions - I would not have gone to those - never went to WW or SW for that reason too.
 
hmm this is quite interesting.

I work on a lot of open source software projects, where the project isn't actually owned by anyone - and everyone pitches in with their expertise to get the project developed/out there etc. (see Linux)

Maybe us Cambridgers could apply the same principal. I was sold on the diet by IceMoose's blog alone. I read it on the friday, and had my first meal on the monday evening. I think if we offered some free time to push this crazyness purley out of passion, enthusiasm and a want to help people improve their lives - then we could contact Cambridge for permission to use their trademark to get people on the diet.
Things like viral videos on YouTube and Myspace pages etc...

I'm up for it :)
 
I found out about Cambridge through doing online research on Lighterlife (latter had been recommended to me by my doctor). Lots of people on various diet forums were saying Cambridge was as good as, if not better than, Lighterlife. That sold CD for / to me.

I like CD the way it is, just fine. Best diet I've ever done. Optional drop in group meetings would be nice, but I must admit I like my own CD arrangement with my CDC dropping by for the weigh in, a chat and my packs. Helpful when you're 'out in the sticks' like me. Other local CDC's aren't so easy to get to, various reasons.

Before I did the diet, I had been aware of it's existence. A relative of mine did CD in the mid 1980's. Beyond that, I didn't know much about the diet. I remember it being criticised for being very low calorie, as opposed to normal food based diets. Adverse publicity...!

I agree about CD being a bit of a well kept secret. Both as a brand and for it's benefits.
 
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Maybe the Cambridge magazine could go public?

Most folks know about LL because of their magazine being on view in Tesco, etc.

The Cambridge Magazine is far better than LL anyway.

Also, maybe the CDC's could write an article for their local newspaper - most of these smaller papers will publish an article totally free of charge. Might be a good idea for the start of the New Year and all those New Year's Resolutions that will be flying about.

I tell everyone I know about Cambridge and have passed a number of people onto my CDC.

As my weight falls off everyone wants to know how I did it and how they can do it too, so that is a good advert for Cambridge in itself.

The one comment I do hear is that most folks think that CD is expensive, maybe because they think that it is going to be similar in cost to LL.

Maybe it would be a good idea to also advertise the cost of CD too?
 
I have done both LL and CD - and I think one of the main things they have in common (apart from not eating and packs of space food!!) are that the diets are really only as good as the counsellor. I've had bad counsellors for both!

With LL you don't notice as much as they have alot of materials supplied by their HO - our LLC just read these out parrot-fashion (unfair to parrots actually!). But the content was still sound although she was completely incapable of interpreting it or personalising it. And the group format meant that you got the vast majority of support from your peers and discussion with them was very valuable.

With CD, I've found it really difficult to find a CDC in central London - I've been let down by 2 (if anyone knows one, let me know!). We met the second one a couple of times and he only seemed to be concerned about his profits and not at all interested in us - he didn't know answers to questions and didn't find out the answers either. In the end he said it wasn't worth his while to meet us unless we undertook to buy a month's worth of packs (and he'd substitute without consultation - he was poor at communications generally though). Personally I can't carry a month's worth of packs on the tube so this was out.

Of course, I think you feel more indignant if you get a poor LLC as you're paying so much more money and expecting some reasonable counselling skills. With a CDC I had far lower expectations - supply basically! Although LL put more into marketing and generally come across as being a glossier, more high-spec product, although I was disappointed with both, from what I've read, if you get a good LLC OR CDC you'll do their publicity for them pretty much and stick loyally by them. It comes down to individuals!

Again, in terms of consistency, at least you know what you're getting with LL whilst CDCs seem to charge quite different amounts (which tends to make you feel ripped off if it's at the high end).

In terms of packs, CD have more variety but I have found LL packs are much, much nicer. The new bars are so much better (either than CD ones or the old LL ones which are pretty much the same as the CD ones) and the shakes are thicker and creamier. CD's chocolate tetras are genius though and their soups are better generally.

Anyway, that's just my opinion.
 
I am doing LL and the councilling is what attracted me to it. I learnt a lot about myself which I had ignored with respect to my relationship with food and that was worth it's weight in gold. The cost is higher than I see here for CD but I am not bothered as my LLC is excellent and a great support when things are going wrong.
I did find out about it through the magazine being on the shelf in Tesco but I had heard about CD before that.
I didn't have to pay up front for my packs, just when I get them. Not heard that the price is going up either.
Be interesting to see how weight-matters fits into things in a year or two! They seem to be slowly getting more press.
 
I did LL a while back and it made me ill - I was off work for a week:eek: Started CD 4 weeks ago and I wish I had started it earlier - its the best diet I have been on in a long time and believe me I've tried a few!! With LL I felt hungry and lethargic but with CD (apart from the first 2 days) I have never felt better - don't feel hungry at all :)

I personally didn't like the group meetings with LL and I much prefer the one to one meetings with my counsellor who is lovely and very supportive. Cost wise CD is much better and the packet shakes are sooo much tastier.

I think the magazine should be published like the LL one - I buy magazines all the time and I think this would make a big difference - its good to see all the slimmers and how well they have done.
 
I am doing LL and loving it. I did the CD years ago (I mean about 15 years ago as I was in my teens at the time) and I had terrible terrible memories of it - the food was vile. Obvisouly things have moved on a lot from then, but I still had those negative thoughts. However, I spoke to 2 people who had tried CD recently who both said they came off it because it made them feel ill(?).

As my sister-in-law works at LL head office I had heard of it and started looking into it in September. I liked the idea of the group counselling as I was concerned that once I'd lost it I might be tempted to put back on. I liked the idea of Route to Management.

I also think it is easier to understand than CD. I checked out the CD website a couple of months after I started LL and I didn't understand all the different programmes, but I DO think its much better for people with differing amounts to lose.

LL is expensive, and people who have commented on my weightloss, but balked at the price, I have sent along to the CD website to find out more. However, I am happy to pay the price because I've never had a diet that has been so easy to stick to. I'm almost at end of foundation, then going into developers till mid Feb then into Route to Management. After that I'll be going to Maintenance and just get weighed there once a month. At least if I have a slip up I'll be able to nip it in the bud quickly!
 
The Cambridge Diet tastes fabulous!

Incidentally both LL and Cambridge products are made at the same factory!
 
I did 11 weeks of LL and 9 of CD and am using CD products for maintenance. I think they are both great but, as said above, very dependent on the counsellor. I have been told that LL counsellors have to sign up to spending a certain amount every year to market their business, which would explain it being more high profile. I only heard of CD through online forums - I had never heard of it before. I think VLCDs are dieting's best kept secret...I wish I had known about them years ago! Instead I did all the 'usual suspect' diets and lost nothing! Spread the word VLCDs are great!
 
I think with all diets it's very personal, what suits some won't suit others I personally can't speak with experience about LL but did hear about this first as coleen nolan had done it and I read her story. I decided to do CD purely because I'm a stay at home mum and my hubby pays so he said it's cheaper and that's the way I've gone and couldn't be happier. I would recommend this diet as would LL to anyone and let them make their own choice but warn them it's harsh, you've got to be 100 percent comitted to stick with it.
 
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