I think the time is getting close for our next product, so I though I'd offer some speculation on what that might be. So...
What is the next P&G product and when ?
There is a great deal of information telling us to expect at least one new product in 2018 and that product will be integrated with the P&G cream so that every sale will deliver royalties to OBJ. Consider these statements from the November 2017 AGM Presentation :
1)
2)
And consider these statements from the new announcement of June 2018 :
3)
4)
Putting all this together leads to these conclusions :
- Two integrated products are committed for launch
- One of these, perhaps both, will launch in 2018
- Two more products are planned for launch in 2019
- One of these 2019 products will likely be an integrated 1st tech product; the other will be 2nd tech.
- No more wands (i.e. no more optional devices)
So an integrated product in 2018... But what exactly and how soon...
Olay or SK-II
A number of reasons suggest that our first integrated product will be from SK-II :
1) Precedent. So far SK-II has been first with all OBJ tech. specifically, the Eye Wand and Magnetic Booster where both launched before the corresponding Olay products (eye wand and Magnetic Infuser).
2) Olay has been very busy in the past year and needs to settle a bit. Between Magnemasks, CellScience, Whip, and Golden Aura lines, Olay has released 23 new products in the past year or so. I could be wrong, but I think a short rest is needed.
3) SK-II has been very very quiet over 2017 and 2018. Almost as if they are gearing up for something big. Consider this chart of SK-II Japanese product releases since 2009 :
Some important patterns are found here:
a) each year, SK-II releases some whitening products in the Feb-April time period
b) each year SK-II releases some anti-wrinkle products (red series) in the July - September period
c) the anti-wrinkle products are refreshed on a 3 year cycle. 2009 (skin signature), 2012 (stempower), 2015 (RNA power).
What does this suggest for 2018? Consider :
a) SK-II has launched very few products in 2017-18, and only ONE so far in 2018.
b) SK-II has for the first year missed launching a whitening product
c) the RNA power series is due for a refresh this year (or at least an upgrade)
All this leads me to think that SK-II is way overdue for something major. Something has to happen with the RNA series in August/September.
And given that we are expecting an OBJ integrated product this year, it seems most obvious to expect that product in the same series of products where all OBJ tech has so far been launched and according to the same schedule. i.e. SK-II RNA Power upgrade in Aug/Sept. And whats more, we should start to see signs of the pre-release in July (as we did last year for the Booster).
Which product will it be?
Looking back at the prototypes gives a good idea of what to expect. OBJ has in the past telegraphed both the eye wand and the booster well in advance of product releases. So looking at the prototypes above suggests that the first product will be for a small skin areas because the head is small. That means either for the eyes, or for intensive spot treatment. Given we are looking at the RNA series, and that the old eye wand has been phased out, it seems natural that the
first product will be an integrated eye cream. But also consider the oddities of this year : no whitening release...RNA face cream due for replacement...silence from SK-II in general. Beyond the eye cream, we could be looking at a bigger series of integrated products, perhaps based on the 1st AND 2nd integrated device at the same time.
What about Olay?
This is just speculation, but I do not believe Olay will be too far behind SK-II in deploying both the 1st and 2nd integrated devices. Just as with the eye wand, and the Booster, the tech will be re-used by Olay, and here is where I think it gets really exciting. Why is Olay currently bundling the Magnetic Infuser with its two best selling products? The products are already market leaders, so I don't think they are trying to boost sales. And its certainly not to just sell more wands. I believe they are trying to condition their huge customer base in the use of the magnetic tech. To prepare them to want the integrated devices to come and the 2nd tech devices to follow.
(20min delay)