My thanks also go to all those who have contributed such informative summaries, I would hope that future pressos be video recorded for SHs' benefit.
A persistent thought I have regarding the selling of the technology - to date the consumer has been bombarded with pseudo-scientific claims of this or that product having x% better effect on skin/hair/eyelashes etc etc. These claims are made, in my understanding, by having tailored "trials" conducted by "research laboratories" which advertise to manufacturers that their labs can virtually prove whatever claim the manufacturer wants. I haven't got a link to hand but informed SHs will know what I am talking about. Thus every month there's a new ad on TV claiming 73% or 96% or whatever of users found the new formulation, in the new packaging, to be 57.4% more moisturising, 68.3% longer lasting, 78% fuller volume hair, etc etc ad nauseam.
This is a new product industry and so far this type of hype is all the counter sales staff have to work with, together with backup merchandising material at the POS. The cosmetics/skin care industry is really an industry selling hope, and I evidence the statement in one of the recent posts that Chinese consumers are prepared to outlay on roughly 3 packages of eye treatment cream on the promise of a result. At $100 bucks a little pot that's a lot of promise. I have been at the sales end of this industry and I can tell you women, most notably the older age group, get jaded after such outlays and no result. That's why, perversely enough, there's always a new product to pin their faded hopes on, and they fall for it! It's almost as good as the weight-loss industry. Of course the VMS industry is rife with all of this and there's no end in sight.
Enter OBJ technology - for the first time, the industry has real science behind it that has a proven tangible benefit. I can only imagine what a difference this will make in the last 30cm of sales space between the consumer and the sales staff. The counter staff will have uncontestable evidence of a proven effect, that doesn't take 3 expensive jars for the purchaser to notice. For years they have been selling on the back of advertising, basically, without truly significant differences between cosmetic houses' products in any order of magnitude. Well, OBJ tech can now deliver that.
They are consequently very skilled talkers using very little evidence, which is why the packaging and product presentation in beautifully designed containers with nuances calculated to wring out the last drop of appeal are so important. And the sales staffs' presentation has to be immaculate, those girls must spend an hour every morning before work just getting their own make-up right!
They now will have the opportunity to be dragon-slayers of their competition, if they recognise and truly grasp that. If you want an amusing sketch of my premise, take a look at the bar-scene in Love & other Drugs where Jake Gyllenhaal creams his opposition who despondently looks on powerlessly while Jake "distributes" his cache of newly marketed Viagra, his competition doesn't stand a chance. That's the benefit of having a dermatologist on our board, Jase,
- a lot of understanding that gels at the right moment.
P&G, Coty etc must be salivating at the prospects, and we can only trust that Jeff and Glyn have negotiated strongly now for a really decent royalty for us. As always it'll be the numbers that tell the real story, but it's looking very promising at this stage. I'd just love to have several parties handing over $500k each for the privilege of deciding on a range
.
I wonder what the FY will bring us.
(20min delay)