FYI-
'Coattail marketing' is under fire by maker of Viagra
San Antonio Express-News
TRENTON, N.J. - Entrepreneurs peddling
audiotapes, herbal remedies, even sunglasses,
are trying to make the most of the flimsiest links
to Viagra to make a buck off the impotence pill
craze.
Las Vegas-based BluBlocker Corp. says its "BluBlocker Viagra" shades
help mask the blue tinge Viagra adds to some users' vision.
"This is crass commercialism," conceded BluBlocker chairman Joseph
Sugarman. "I just couldn't resist the opportunity to tie in with that product."
While some companies might be reaching a little far to take advantage of
Viagra, others say they're merely acknowledging a link consumers have
already made.
For [ Bradley Pharmaceuticals ] , newly sexually active men have created a
new batch of customers for its vaginal lubricant. Bradley's pitch: "What
Viagra does for him, Lubrin does for her."
Bradley executives say they noticed a jump in sales of their Lubrin vaginal
suppositories. They credited Viagra, or more precisely, an increase in the
number of aging women bothered by vaginal dryness who are dealing with
reinvigorated Viagra users.
Marketing vice president Gene Goldberg hopes to ride the trend by
increasing Lubrin production dramatically and introducing a new liquid
lubricant months ahead of schedule - linking the product to the impotence
pill in ads.
Some companies are clearly flouting trademark laws, and Pfizer is fighting
back.
"We expect that there will be copycats or attempts at coattail marketing,"
said Andy McCormick, spokesman for Viagra's maker, [ Pfizer Inc. ] of
New York. "When they step over the line in terms of the law, we will step
in."
That's already happened in three cases, Nels Lippert, an attorney for Pfizer,
said Tuesday.
Blublocker chairman Sugarman says he'll probably give away the 200 pairs
already made, after Pfizer attorneys threatened a lawsuit "that kind of
dampened our enthusiasm."
Two other companies have run afoul of Pfizer attorneys since Viagra was
approved for sale March 27.
Both sell herbal supplements over the Internet and were promoting sexual
potency products with extremely similar names: Vaegra and Viagro.
"They've capitulated," after Pfizer filed trademark infringement suits, Lippert
said.
Courts in Georgia and New York promptly issued temporary restraining
orders barring outfits called the Institute of Sexual Research and Consumer
Protection Services from selling the products.
Other Viagra-related ventures aren't blocked by trademark laws, though.
At least three books on Viagra and impotence treatment are on the market,
including one by New York internist Dr. Steven Lamm, "The Virility
Solution."
Some herbal supplement makers are promoting products with names such
as NuMan and Stamina as natural alternatives to the Pfizer medication.
And a subliminal audiotape maker, HypnoVision Inc., has gotten nearly
1,000 orders for its mood-enhancing tape, newly reworked to include
messages like, "My body works perfectly during sex because my Viagra is
working."
Other businesses naturally stand to benefit from the sex surge.
Durex Consumer Products, the world's top condom maker, says sales
began climbing slightly about five weeks ago as pharmacists started stocking
Viagra.
The increase is more dramatic at Condom Express, which distributes
condoms and "intimate lubricants" over the Internet. Sales of both more than
doubled starting in March, when hype about Viagra's anticipated arrival
began.
"I don't know if it's from Viagra," company president Bruce Gasparre said.
"It's quite possible."
Pharmaceutical industry analyst Hemant Shah in Warren, N.J., expects an
increase in oral contraceptive sales as younger men, and even women,
experiment with Viagra, which is only approved for use by impotent men.
"That's a second coattail you may see," Shah said.
Some companies are clear losers, though.
Prior to April 6, when Viagra began hitting store shelves, about 22,000 U.S.
prescriptions were filled each week for four impotence drugs that are either
injected into the penis or inserted directly into the urinary tract.
By the first week of May, only 10,179 were filled for those impotence
treatments, compared to 303,424 Viagra prescriptions, 92 percent of them
to new customers, according to IMS Health, an information consulting firm
in Plymouth Meeting, Pa.
(Copyright 1998)
_____via IntellX_____
Publication Date: May 31, 1998 |
