Case Study: Bringing an Innovative Product to Market

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Goodman reminded his colleagues that without "real missionaries" like Vitti, as well as several prominent doctors on the west coast of Florida, Biolife might not have had any sales at all. In 2002, the year QR was launched, Biolife had revenue of $150,000. Last year, after convincing more health care providers, including nurses at the MD Andersen Cancer Center in Texas, to try QR, Biolife's sales increased tenfold.

The Decision

By last fall, Entenmann and the others in the advertising camp had been convinced that sampling represented Biolife's best bet. The company began by training 16 pharmacists at CVS stores in the Tampa Bay area, figuring that people often ask pharmacists for medical advice. But after an initial bump in sales, interest in the product, which costs between $5 and $10 a box and comes in four different packages designed for different uses, such as Nosebleed QR, quickly died down.

Next, Biolife sent several of its own employees into a new CVS store in nearby Bradenton and handed out 400 samples in one day. Sales quickly surged and even after a few months, Biolife was still managing to sell 11 boxes a month at that store, compared with an average of one and a half boxes a month at the stores with trained pharmacists. But Goodman knew that there was no way that Biolife's 40-odd employees could duplicate those results at the 15,000 stores, including 3,000 Wal-Mart stores, that began selling QR in March.

More recently, the company has been looking into training off-duty emergency medical technicians, figuring that their experience with emergencies would bring tremendous credibility to the average consumer. Biolife has also been experimenting with different departments within a particular store. At several Wal-Mart locations, the company had started offering samples in the first-aid section but only received a lukewarm response. When they moved to the automotive and sporting goods sections, however, Goodman says the interest from shoppers was overwhelming.

The company has also experimented with its packaging by trying not to look like a typical medical product. On the Kids QR package, for example, Goodman's eight-year-old son, Bakie, is seen riding his bike and kicking a soccer ball. Actually, all of QR's boxes feature employees or investors. On a new package of Urgent QR, an extra-strength version of the product, Entenmann, 74, is shown rappelling down a mountain.

"We're learning how to get the most out of our marketing dollars, so we've been throwing around different things to see what sticks," Goodman says. Eventually, he hopes that ordinary consumers will be as enthusiastic about QR as Vitti has been. If that ever does happen, a box of QR just might replace the box of Band-Aids that most people have in the back of their medicine chests.

The Experts Weigh In

Should Biolife Emphasize Sampling or Advertising?

Biolife already has the distribution in place, which is a big accomplishment. But if the stuff doesn't move, it will be a huge problem. The company needs to put together a multitiered program: advertising in CVS's or Wal-Mart's Sunday circulars, signage in the stores, samples, and coupons. Because its margins are high, Biolife has the luxury to make the coupon for $1 or even $2 off. Every package it sells should include a coupon for the next purchase.

Stephen Shapiro, marketing professor,
Babson College

Everyone loves free samples and if Biolife has a good product, it makes sense to sample heavily. The problem is that as a small company, it needs to be smarter and more tactical to get its product into the hands of the right people at the right time. The fact that the product's in Wal-Mart is fantastic, but getting a shopper's attention is difficult. Biolife should consider piggybacking on a complementary or targeted product. Figure out who the heavy users are likely to be -- sports is obviously a natural -- and drill very deep in terms of high-user groups.

Art Averbook, president, Co-Op Promotions, and author,
All About Sampling and Demonstrations

A crucial element of any nationwide rollout is significant marketing dollars. Since Biolife doesn't appear to have them, it has to be creative. Media exposure like it got during that Lakers game is a huge plus, but it needs a lot more, particularly in front of women, who are still the primary shoppers in most families. It can really drive home the message that QR is a modern way to treat cuts and nosebleeds. There are probably a lot of parents who don't need much convincing that there's an easier way to treat a nosebleed than tilting a child's head back for five or 10 minutes.

Ben Solomon, BJS Consulting, Seattle

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