Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

There are several things you might consider, but with language and message consistency:

1) Invite reporters to a media event to try the products and report the results. (You have to accept that these might not be all positive, but if you're that confident in the products, you will have no problem extending this invitation).

2) Do demonstrations with the product and live tweet event, UStream or put it up on a satellite feed and schedule interviews with reporters throughout the country.

3) Invite real people who have already used the product and like it to attend and chat it up among attendees and media.

4) Don't forget traditional media who cannot make the event in your area. A detailed news release with visuals and even samples might work well to create buzz.
Good luck!

Does the media event have to be "live"? Can you create a series of short videos with different people where you do get on-camera feedback? Do the effects of your products take a while to be noticed or are they (relatively) immediate?

My skepticism about anti-aging products is that the people in the "testimonials" may not be typical consumers. I want to see how the product really works in a "real-world" test.

Here's my fairly obvious idea:

Before your press launch, invite each of the editors to identify 5 readers (or online users) who would receive your product free. Then photograph the changes these users experience each week for the next X weeks.

You might need to require that all the "testers" be in 4 or 5 major cities, so you could monitor their usage through a visiting nurse or other professional who would contact them regularly. (You don't want people who don't use your product to later claim they see no results.)

And your photographer would need to visit them regularly, too, to take professional photos. (You don't want poor quality photos distorting the results.)

You could post the photographs on your website or Facebook page throughout the test.

It's risky, and maybe it's been done a hundred times already. (If so, sorry.) But it would be a great way to involve the editors and the readers and show the "product-in-use." You might even consider comparing your product on 10 faces vs. the leading competitor on 10 faces.

Now I suspect that editors might not be willing to try this idea if competing editors were doing the same thing. But maybe there's a third party -- an industry association? -- that would help oversee a real-world test like this.

The issue is to use your prior successes and build off it. As someone in your "target" group, it is news when someone with proven experience builds off it.

And no beauty editor worth her salt will go a-- without makeup or b believe credibly any product that gives results in a short period of time. While your skin may feel or look better immediately , that isn't what we pay a high end product for. The results that take a few weeks, last more than the Box's brand that shows the lines back again-- before I have left the store.

Look at Obagi. If you wanted immediate results this woldn't be your brand. The first 3 weeks plus are pure hell. But then, things start to fall into place.

I like the idea of the hike-- it's kind of like the new Domino's commercial. They open the door to the box office and they are on the farm and they get to sample the freshest ingredients. But it has to be relevant. How does the hike point to your product? No games, to a woman at this age, I am done with games.