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Skincare Company Plans Media Push for Drugstore Products

An Irvine maker of skincare products is planning to spend about $50 million on television commercials and other marketing this year in a bid to gain market share during the downturn.

“Now is a great time to invest and grow market share,” said Tom Roche, senior vice president of global sales and marketing at University Medical Pharmaceuticals Corp. “If you can grow market share in these tough times, when the economy recovers you’ll yield the growth you anticipate from the marketing spend.”

University Medical sells a patch designed to reduce wrinkles around the eyes and an acne treatment that competes with Palm Desert-based Guthy-Renker Corp.’s Proactiv.

The company’s products are sold at stores of Rite Aid Corp., Walgreen Co., Target Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and others.

University Medical has estimated yearly sales of about $100 million.

The company is looking to take advantage of lower rates for national TV commercials with 30-second commercials that started this month in prime time on the four major networks, according to Roche.

University Medical is looking to the commercials to introduce the company to those who’ve never heard of it, he said.

Founder and Chief Executive Ray Francis “saw this downturn as the perfect opportunity to get into television,” Roche said.

Except for a onetime TV spot last year, University Medical up to now has only advertised its products in stores and magazines.

“We’re increasing our marketing spending to about five times what we have historically spent,” Roche said.

The company’s 2008 sales grew about 20% from a year earlier, according to Roche. WrinkleFree, the company’s patch for eye wrinkles, started selling in stores in January and is expected to spur sales this year.

“We’re expecting the projected sales for 2009 to be close to a 40% to 50% increase,” Roche said.

Nationally, sales of acne treatments rose 14% and skin care products grew 11% for the 12 months through November from a year earlier, according to Port Washington, N.Y.-based NPD Group Inc., a market researcher.

The products seem to be holding up well in downturn, Roche said.

“We’re actually in two markets that are still growing even as people cut back in other categories,” he said.

University Medical could benefit from people cutting back on medical cosmetic treatments, including Botox injections from Irvine-based Allergan Inc., according to Roche.

“Not everyone can afford to go and get Botox,” he said.

The company gets questions about whether its products work, according to Roche. Unlike Botox, University Medical’s over-the-counter products aren’t regulated by the Food and Drug Administration or the Federal Trade Commission.

The company works with dermatologists and does its own clinical trials that show effectiveness for most users, he said.

University Medical, which started in 1992, designs and tests its products in Irvine. It employs about 70 people in the Irvine Spectrum.

The company’s first product was the Original Thigh Cream, designed to firm up leg flab. Next was the Face Lift line, which includes a chemical peel, moisturizer and a firming cream.


Big Seller

University Medical’s AcneFree is a big seller at drug stores and competes with Proactiv, which is sold directly to consumers via infomercials featuring celebrities such as Jessica Simpson and Mandy Moore.

With University Medical’s ads, the company is looking to drive shoppers to stores that carry its products. It aired its first TV commercial last summer during the Olympics and saw a jump in sales afterward, according to Roche.

The company’s stepped-up marketing coincides with Roche’s arrival at University Medical. He was brought on in January to oversee sales and marketing.

Roche previously was vice president of field sales for Maybelline-Garnier, a New York-based division of France’s L’Oreal SA, where he oversaw the Nutritioniste line of wrinkle treatment creams.

Earlier, Roche worked in marketing with Pfizer Inc. and Schwarzkopf & Dep, part of Germany’s Henkel KGAA.

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