TheraBiogen Supports Theramax Expansion With Education Push
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Homeopathic firm TheraBiogen plans to roll out products “every six to nine months” to add to its existing lineup of homeopathic remedies for allergy and cold and flu, says CEO Kelly Hickel. The firm also counts on sales growth from a social media campaign to explain what is not in its products as well as what is.
TheraBiogen Inc. plans soon to expand rapidly and drive growth of its TheraMax homeopathic brand with the release of a migraine product and a sore throat formula.
The New York firm also is counting on sales growth spurred by a social media campaign partly intended to educate consumers about homeopathics.
TheraBiogen plans to add products “every six to nine months” to its existing lineup of homeopathic remedies for allergy and cold and flu, said CEO Kelly Hickel.
TheraMax marketing is “really letting people know about the fact that it is all natural, it’s safe, it’s effective and it’s available at your local pharmacy, and that’s the key.”
– TheraBiogen CEO Kelly Hickel
Hickel and a group of investors in 2008 licensed formulations for the TheraMax line from an inventor who also created the formulation for Zicam products, marketed by [Matrixx Initiatives Inc.].
However, the link to Zicam’s history is not an element of TheraBiogen’s marketing.
TheraMax products hit the market in 2009 after Matrixx pulled several zinc-containing Zicam intranasal products from shelves following an FDA warning about numerous adverse event reports about the loss of the sense of smell (Also see "FDA Uses "Unusual" Action To Get Matrixx's Zicam Off The Market" - Pink Sheet, 29 Jun, 2009.).
Although Matrixx did not promote its products as homeopathics and asked retailers to place its products on shelves with OTC drugs, the homeopathic industry incurred some consumer suspicion, and zinc-containing products were particularly scrutinized following the firm’s withdrawal of its top-selling products.
TheraMax products are all-natural and “as our package says, proudly, there is no zinc,” Hickel said.
There is “no relationship” between Matrixx and TheraBiogen “except for the fact that this solves the problem that Zicam never solved,” he added.
The creator of the TheraMax formulations left Matrixx and his non-compete agreements had expired before he licensed to TheraBiogen, Hickel said.
The TheraMax website does not identify the products’ ingredients. According to the National Institutes of Health’s website on medicines currently available in the U.S., TheraMax Allergy Relief, a spray product, contains camellia sinensis, allium cepa, natrum muriaticum, nux vomica, luffa operculata, galphimia glauca, histaminum hydrochlorum and sulphur.
Informing Consumers Through Marketing
In addition to possible doubts from consumers, TheraMax and other homeopathic firms are hampered by a general lack of knowledge about homeopathy, Hickel said.
TheraMax marketing is “really letting people know about the fact that it is all natural, it’s safe, it’s effective and it’s available at your local pharmacy, and that’s the key,” he said.
Homeopathic firm Heel CEO Cliff Clive agreed that educating consumers is essential to marketing the products.
“My guess would be like 3% of the population even understands what homeopathy is, how homeopathy differs from herbal medicine, for example. It’s not understood,” Clive said in an interview at the Natural Products Expo West conference and trade show in Anaheim.
He added he expects some people never will try homeopathy. “But I think there are a lot of people who, if you were to just present the argument in a fair, accurate way, would be intrigued enough to try and once they try, they’re going to like it.”
Targeting consumer awareness, TheraBiogen plans to add more educational materials to its website. Direct-response and direct-to-consumer materials will run in both social media and TV ads.
The firm ran direct-response ads for its cold and flu product that got a “good result” and will be used soon for the allergy product, Hickel said.
Through a public relations firm, TheraBiogen rented ad time on a large, overhead TV screen in New York’s Times Square during the 2011 holiday season and employed representatives to ask people on the street to try TheraMax Cold and Flu.
The firm videotaped about 200 of the Times Square trials and posted them on YouTube and Facebook. “We’re using that to drive people to the TheraMax website,” which will soon have e-commerce capabilities, Hickel said.
TheraMax products currently are available at more than 12,000 locations including Rite Aid and Walgreens drug stores and grocery chains including Food Lion.
The firm expects to have products in other large chains by next flu season. “That makes a huge difference because people go and shop at the larger chains,” Hickel said.