New advertising blitz may give University a lift
Peter Malbin
A new advertising campaign for University Medical’s Face Lift skin care treatments tries to convey the message that people who use the products over a three-month period will get the same satisfaction as those patients who endure laser resurfacing.
University Medical is spending in excess of $20 million on an advertising campaign for the line. Ads are appearing this month in American Health for Women, a Reader’s Digest publication. In the next six months ads will be placed in Allure, People, Reader’s Digest Vogue and Cosmopolitan, as well as on television game and talk shows.
“We are committed taking Face Lift to the next level with a major sampling and advertising program,” said Ray Francis, president and chief executive officer of Irvine, Calif.-based University Medical Products.
The ads’ startling claim comparing the results of the product to laser resurfacing is based on clinical research conducted for University Medical by Dr. Jim Cook, a plastic surgeon at Stanford University Medical School. University Medical paid for the clinical study.
“He [Cook] did a double-blind clinical study with 40 women over a three-month period,” Francis said. The study will be repeated for an additional three months at Stanford, as well as in Japan and England.
“The study confirms why the brand has such a high repeat rate,” said Francis. “We wouldn’t have gotten to third position without tremendous consumer word-of-mouth.”
In the anti-wrinkle sub-category, Face Lift is in third place behind L’Oreal’s Plenitude and Pond’s Age-Defying, according to University Medical and Information Resources Inc. data, Francis said.
In selected markets, University Medical will also be distributing Face Lift product samples in the outer wrap of newspapers.
University Medical is adding three new products five-step Face Lift cell regeneration regimen. Two products, Ultra Skin Lightener and Deep Wrinkle Mask, which retail for $9.99, are selling in Walgreens, Francis said, and will soon have other drug distribution. Meanwhile, the third new product, Ultimate Lip Experience, priced at $4.99, will ship in November.
The original five Face Lift products are priced between $9.99 and $14.99. The first product cleanses the skin, while the others strengthen collagen fiber matrix, hydrate skin cells, smooth out wrinkles and lighten age spots.
University Medical does co-op advertising with-drug chains. “We are not doing any FSIs at this point,” Francis said. “We will do an extensive amount of counter displays and free-standing displays.”
COPYRIGHT 1997 Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
