Editor’s Note
By now, I suspect you’ve heard of Breathe Right, the strips worn on your nose to help you breathe
more easily. What you probably don’t know is that PR played a very significant role in launching
Breathe Right. The Breathe Right story goes to the heart of what public relations is all about. I
should know. Our firm helped get Breathe Right off the ground a few years back. Through persistence, hard work and cooperation from a great client, we partnered to help turn an unknown
product into a superstar.
First Impressions
When people first encounter a Breathe Right strip, they are a bit skeptical. I know I was.
My first contact was with Dan Cohen, the president of CNS, the maker of Breathe Right. We talked
on the phone about his product and set up a meeting. Dan arrived at our office the next day
bringing with him what looked like a nose bandage. Dan was pretty excited about his product
and wanted to know what type of publicity we could get for it. Based on the amount of PR we
could generate, they asked us how many million units they should ramp up to produce.
Dan had about 1,000 prototypes and a $20,000 budget. I remember thinking they may have
produced more than they could ever sell. But I tried one on and I was immediately impressed. It
actually worked. I felt I could breathe more easily. But I still thought the Breathe Right strip might
be less than media-worthy.
Waiting for FDA Approval
For ten months there was nothing for us to do.
We were stuck. CNS was waiting for the FDA to grant approval to market the Breathe Right strip
as a medical device. CNS didn’t need FDA approval reserved for new drugs because these strips
weren’t medicated or didn’t alter the body chemically. But they did alter the body physically so
the FDA needed to examine how the strips worked before giving approval. Without FDA approval, there was no product. And without a product, there was no point in publicity. So, we waited
and planned.
Phase One: To Market to Market
From the start, the most obvious angle was the athelete.
If we could get athletes to wear them, the masses would follow. This was a good idea, and Dan
Cohen and the people at CNS had previously thought of it. However, they didn’t want to do the
sports angle first. They wanted to position the product as a medical device because it would carry
a higher price tag. That was smart.
The FDA had initially approved the strips as a medical device, not a cure, which created a problem
with our publicity campaign. Here’s why: The Breathe Right strip was approved as a cold remedy,
a snoring remedy and an allergic rhinusitus remedy. The problem was that we had to dance around
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1 Create a brief, bulleted list of
the most important points
you want to mention during
the interview. Avoid writing
out entire sentences because reading from a script
can sound too rehearsed.
Sometimes a secondary
value point versus a primary
value point will need to
be used with the media to
make the story seem more
mediagenic.
2 Use media interviews to
build your spokesperson’s
biography. An impressive
list of media interviews can
help convince other media
outlets that he or she is an
experienced, credible and
worthwhile guest.
what these strips could or couldn’t do. We couldn’t say how effective Breathe Right strips were.
We couldn’t say they helped relieve congestion due to colds. We couldn’t say they helped reduce
snoring (an angle that really interested the media).
After a few misfires, we decided to position Breathe Right as a product that could help people
sleep more easily. Dr. Dan Cohen was the spokesperson. As a trained neurosurgeon, he knew
enough about sleep disorders to be able to talk about the value of the Breathe Right strips. He
could give tips on how to get as much sleep as you needed.
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If you followed Dan’s advice, you’d
feel rested. There would be no more waking up in the middle of the night and lying awake until
dawn. That’s how we pitched the story to the radio stations and newspapers.
Little by little, the media became interested. 2
Dr. Dan and the Media Limelight
One of the very first placements we secured for Dan Cohen was actually for our company.
The local TV news thought it was interesting that my company placed guests on talk programs
and news shows. They wanted to know who some of our clients were, and we told them about
Watch Dan on the news
CNS and Dan Cohen. They interviewed him as part of the news story. When the piece aired on
the local evening news, there was Dr. Dan holding up his Breathe Right nasal strips and talking
about why he had hired Media Relations.
During the interview Dan said, “We don’t have the kind of resources to spend millions of dollars
on media advertisement like a pharmaceutical company can. We simply can’t do that.”
http://youtu.be/dDeSgGTqUV0
3 Arrange to get a recording
or link to each interview.
Send it to your customers
and prospects to ensure
everyone sees it; and add it
in the Media section on your
website.
4 A good media interview
typically has a solid problem/solution format. We are
helping to solve a problem
that the target audience is
struggling with.
5 Quotes from media interviews make impressive additions to your sales literature
and website. Pull excerpts
to use as sidebars, with the
station or publication listed
as a source.
Dan continued by saying that he was sure that if he could get on radio and television, and actually put this nasal strip on some people, then they would buy it. “I would love to take somebody
from the audience and (have them) put it on,” he said.
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Our goal was to get Dan Cohen all the media interviews he could handle. Dan did a great job
talking about how much sleep you should be getting, what things interrupt your sleep, and what
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you could do to make sure you fall asleep. He’d talk about specific reasons why people had trouble
sleeping. He’d explain that if you had a head cold or suffered from allergies — or if you were
congested —you’d expend more energy breathing, which meant you wouldn’t get the kind of
restful sleep that you would if you could breathe more easily.
An average interview for Dr. Cohen lasted about 20 minutes, but the format varied from day to
day. One day he’d do an interview on a straight news/talk radio station, so he’d have to get serious
and deliver a no-nonsense health/medical segment on sleep, snoring and treatment.
The next day he’d be on one of those off-the-wall morning drive-time shows, so he’d have to be
off-the-wall himself. One morning Dan called to say that while explaining that his product helps
people who have a deviated septum (a broken nose), the host interrupted and asked if it would
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help with a deviated rectum. Dr. Dan rolled with the punches.
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One radio station even had a snoring contest and gave away free Breathe Right strips. The DJs on
a Seattle radio show recorded their wives snoring and then played the tape on the air. The wives
called in and protested. Dr. Dan explained what they could do to prevent such offensive tapes
from being made in the future. This was the kind of publicity we had all hoped for.
Of course, for every radio station or newspaper that interviewed Dan Cohen, there were many that
didn’t. Some stations or papers simply weren’t interested in the story.
Some companies give up on getting coverage if they aren’t seen as a media darling right off the
bat. But not CNS. Dan pressed on.
6 Use media interviews to
support your product at
trade shows. Running taped
media interviews can draw
attention in a more interesting format than the standard
corporate video.
One Problem was a Catch-22
CNS had signed with major distributors, so Breathe Right was stocked in their warehouses.
But that didn’t mean the product would get onto the shelves of major retailers.6
In most cases, before distributors of pharmaceutical products will do anything to promote your
product, they want to know that the retailers will buy it. Without this demand, they do nothing.
The only way CNS could create this demand, given the fact that they didn’t have a million-dollar
advertising budget, was through the media. However, the media is also reluctant to run stories
about a product unless it is readily available in stores.
7 Maintain a list of your media
appearances and have it
available for your sales staff
to use during sales calls. It
makes a powerful statement
about the importance of
your company.
So, there was our Catch-22. All we could do was keep plugging away, and slowly but surely, we
created a demand. 7
Creating Demand
In the early stages of promoting a pharmaceutical product, you need proof that people
want it.
With Breathe Right, Dr. Dan would tell readers or listeners to go to their local pharmacy manager
and ask for this new product. People began to do exactly that. The store managers would pull out
the product list provided by their distributors and they would find Breathe Right. That’s when the
orders started to roll in.
It was through this process of “forcing distribution” that we increased nationwide coverage through
Target Stores. Oddly enough, a slip of the tongue started the ball rolling.
A reporter in Denver mistakenly mentioned that you could get Breathe Right at Target. At the time,
Target stores were test-marketing Breathe Right strips in the Twin Cities but not in Denver. The
publicity resulted in more than 100 requests for Breathe Right over the next two days, and Target
decided to stock Breathe Right in its Denver stores.
Getting Breathe Right in Walgreens stores also involved hitting the media at the right time and
place. CNS was scheduled to meet with Walgreens executives at their Chicago headquarters. We
scheduled an extensive publicity campaign for the Chicago area to coincide with the meeting.
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8 A good media story reassures investors that you are
applying serious marketing
support to your product.
A few days before the meeting, Dr. Dan was interviewed on WGN, Chicago’s top news/talk radio
station. As fate would have it, some of the Walgreens executives listened to the interview. Distributors and large retail chains like to see suppliers who are committed to marketing. The people
at Walgreens felt more comfortable signing on with Breathe Right because they could see CNS
was aggressive about its promotions. 8
The ensuing publicity pushed CNS and Breathe Right into the marketplace big time. CNS had
signed on with some of the biggest retail chains in America: American Drug, Osco, Winn-Dixie and
Walgreens to name a few. Before long, Breathe Right was in 40,000 stores and counting. Now it
was time to turn off the publicity machine, fill orders and reorganize.
9 Featuring media interviews
on your website can not
only shorten the sales
cycle, it can also help you
to recruit high-caliber employees to staff a growing
company.
Phase Two: Becoming the Media’s Darling
When people see your product as a “winner” a replay with the media is easier.
We had our pitch and we knew what people wanted to hear. The radio producers and newspaper
editors who had turned down the story the first time because Breathe Right lacked widespread
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distribution now couldn’t wait to do a piece. Everyone who had gone with the story the first time
wanted more. Finally, we started going after the television market. We put together video footage
of the Breathe Right strips themselves. We showed everything from how they were packaged to
how they were displayed in the stores. Along with the video segments, we included sound bytes
from various experts and Breathe Right users who spoke about the product’s benefits.
We sent this footage to health and medical reporters at television stations around the country. If
any were interested, they could run the video segment. The TV stations embraced the footage.
One reporter in San Diego used the footage in a story and then fed the story to the CBS news feed.
Suddenly there were 80 stations around the country doing a Breathe Right story. This was the
typical kind of exposure we were getting.
Breathe Right and the NFL
The idea of sending Breathe Right samples to professional athletes was something that
everyone believed would eventually happen.
We had discussed it a few times with Dan and the CNS executives. Timing was critical. During
the start of the NFL season CNS decided the time was right. We put together a mailing list of the
NFL team trainers, and sent each trainer some Breathe Right strips.
It worked!
The trainer for the Philadelphia Eagles received the package when his kids were sick with colds.
He brought home the Breathe Right strips and tried them on his kids. They liked these “unusual
nose Band-Aids”. But more importantly, the strips worked. The next day at practice, Herschel Walker
came in with a cold so the trainer had him try Breathe Right.
At the game the following Sunday, Herschel was wearing a Breathe Right strip and his picture
ended up on the front page of the sports section of the Philadelphia Enquirer. He was hurtling
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10 As a cost savings tip, be
sure to check on celebrities
or major athletes who have
a charitable tie to your
product as they may volunteer or have a lower rate for
events on other dates.
11 When selecting a celebrity
spokesperson, consider your
target demographic to
ensure that they can identify
themselves with your chosen spokesperson.
12 There are many ways to
leverage your media interviews for your maximum
advantage. A completed
media interview is a tool
that can be used again
and again. You can take
those media interviews
and showcase them in your
office lobby, push through
your social media channels
and highlight in marketing
content.There are numerous
ways to bring more life to
your media coverage!
himself over the goal line with a Breathe Right strip on his nose. The caption didn’t mention the
product, but the article did. Of course, a few sports columnists couldn’t believe Herschel had played
so well. They said it must have been that “Band-Aid thing”. People take their cues from celebrities,
and this was a celebrity telling everyone it was okay to wear these things.
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Herschel Walker was only the beginning.
A couple of other Eagles started wearing the strips and the next thing we knew players throughout the NFL were wearing Breathe Right strips. John Madden started talking about those “funny
Band-Aids” on Monday Night Football. Jerry Rice and the San Francisco 49ers were big-time wearers.11
So were the Dallas Cowboys. Suddenly, Breathe Right was a national story. The sports media was
immensely interested. Regis and Kathie Lee were talking about the product on their show. Shows
that had previously interviewed Dr. Dan wanted him again. People started calling us and asking
if they could interview Dr. Dan about these mysterious nose strips. What were they? How did they
work? In two weeks, we booked more interviews for Dr. Dan than we’d booked during the entire
five months of the first phase.
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Achieving Superstar Status
I read a public relations book that chronicled the Breathe Right Story.
After achieving $85 million in sales through our partnership, CNS sent us a plaque commemorating the role we’d played in launching this product.
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13 Be sure to hang copies of
your print media coverage
in your lobby, post on your
website, and repurpose it in
your digital content streams.
those media interviews
and showcase them in your
office lobby, push through
your social media channels
and highlight in marketing
content.There are numerous
ways to bring more life to
your media coverage!
We helped create a phenomenon.
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Media Relations Chief Executive Officer Lonny Kocina pioneered the game-changing
concept of the Pay Per Interview® performance-based PR model. It enables clients to
purchase publicity by the story, rather than pay an hourly retainer to an agency with no
guarantee of coverage. Kocina’s business foresight is evident in many other ways. When
the Internet was in its infancy, Kocina quickly reserved the web addresses that would
give him an extra competitive edge: Publicity.com, MediaRelations.com and Checkerboard.com (the latter for a web development company he established). Kocina has
written two books: Media Hypnosis: Unleashing the most powerful sales tool on earth,
published in 2002; and Reach & Teach Product Promotion: Teaching Consumers to BUY,
published in 2007. He also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Dakota Technical
College, where he teaches marketing.
Media Relations, Inc.
350 W. Burnsville Parkway
Burnsville, MN 55337
www.publicity.com
612-798-7269
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