Phase 2
Proper Positioning And Fast Action
Enable Client To Capitalize On Low-Carb Trend
Media Relations, Inc. began working with Pharmachem Laboratories, supplier of Phase 2® starch neutralizer, towards the end of 2002. This was just prior to the low-carb diet phenomenon that began sweeping the country in early 2003.
The challenge was to become a respected product in an extremely fast-growing category, and to maintain visibility in a market that would soon have hundreds of entries.
Background
Pharmachem was six months into the launch of its consumer media campaign introducing Phase 2®. An extract of the white kidney bean, Phase 2® acts as a starch neutralizer preventing it from breaking into sugars, and has been shown to significantly reduce the absorption of starch calories in a pilot study. It has also been shown to reduce weight in two separate human weight control studies.
"We contacted Media Relations after the agency was highly recommended by two members of our marketing team," says Pharmachem's Director of New Product Development Mitch Skop. "Timing was critical and we wanted an agency with a strong, results-driven track record. After reviewing Media Relations' history with other health and nutritional products, we felt that they were the most capable and best positioned to meet our needs."
Media Relations started by creating a media toolkit With a potential avalanche of products on the horizon, the Media Relations team realized it had to act fast. Team members began by assembling what the agency refers to as a media tool kit - an arsenal of studies, experts and background information designed to pique reporters' interest and support the agency's assertion that this was a product whose story needed to be told.
"We were fortunate to have great timing because people were just discovering the merits of a low-carb lifestyle," recalls Mike Danielson, Director, Health & Medical Division of Media Relations, Inc. "And you can't have a successful campaign without a great product. Phase 2® was something people could easily identify with. It made for an easier story to tell."
The aim of the consumer media campaign was to reach and teach the public how a weight management program using Phase 2® could be part of a healthy lifestyle. To be taken seriously by reporters and consumers, Danielson knew they needed to show that Phase 2® was backed by solid science "There were some preliminary studies that showed its effectiveness," he says. "And it was a product that was studied in its original form 20 years prior at the Mayo Clinic. So it had some good history."
By the time Media Relations' professional media specialists began personally contacting reporters and producers a few weeks later, they also had a panel of expert resources supporting Phase 2®'s credibility. "In addition to the science, we had pharmacists, medical doctors, and well-known authors who all projected the Phase 2® branding message during their individual media opportunities," Danielson explains. "And not long after the media campaign began, Harper Collins published The Starch Blocker Diet, by Steven Roseblatt, M.D., a hardcover book featuring Phase 2®. It made for a great tool."
In addition to Dr. Rosenblatt, media specialists also offered to coordinate interviews for reporters with such third party experts as Pharmacist Sherry Torkos and Jay Udani, M.D., Medical Director, Integrated Medicine Program, at Northridge Hospital, who had done independent research on the product's effectiveness.
Campaign Results
"With a great product and lots of preparation, we were rewarded with a plateful of media opportunities," says Danielson. Within the first six months of Media Relations' participation in the consumer campaign, more than 21 million people had heard health professionals discussing Phase 2® on the radio, or read news accounts in leading newspapers and magazines.
By 2003, as awareness of, and confidence in Phase 2® escalated, its distribution had grown from 25 to 150 North American manufacturers. Simultaneously, Media Relations' team arranged for news reports and interviews reaching more than 130 million people.
Phase 2® achieved complete worldwide market penetration in 2004. By then a phenomenon in its own right, the Phase 2® story was still being marketed hard by Media Relations. That year, the campaign reached a remarkable 570 million consumers.
"Media Relations' efforts have generated more than 721 million consumer impressions since we joined the consumer campaign in 2002, at a cost of approximately 1/10th of a cent per impression. To reach that many consumers through paid advertising, it would have cost somewhere around $45 million," Danielson explains.
Among the prestigious media outlets that have featured Phase 2® stories to date are The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, Woman's World, Men's Journal, WebMD, Good Day Live, WCBS-TV New York, KCAL9 Los Angeles and ABC News.
Danielson is quick to point out that Media Relations' role in the project has been just one part of Phase 2®'s success. "We may have generated the publicity, but an entire team was necessary to leverage the millions of impressions we made. That included Pharmachem's sales representatives and those responsible for its trade advertising. As the campaign progressed, the product was sold to several significant companies that had their own marketing departments - and its momentum just continued to increase.
"We were proud to be part of this cooperative team - and proud to have made it all happen."
