SMaCk Down

Shirley Neese
Matthew Storer
Crystal Taylor

G.E.M.S.
Maryam Azadi
Bryan Erickson
Sheray Hall
Sasha L Clark
Synopsis:
• Rodan and Fields, dermatologists developed the product in 1995
• Knew adult acne was worse than reported
• Tested available acne products and found out they weren’t
preventative.
• Rodan hosted dinner parties and conducted brainstorming
sessions with guests to get best practices.
• Completed market research, hired a consultant to assist to
validate the research they had already begun
• Knew education was key because older women don’t believe
they have acne and they like to talk to people about it.
• Decided to do skin care not just acne medicine. Markets are
much larger for skin care.
• Stuck with a name, Proactiv which described what their product
did. Neutrogena rep told them to use infomercials.
• They partnered with Guthy-Renker and began using it as an
educational tool.
Inflection Points:

• Having a mini show where they can educate people, in their

homes, about a product they would be embarrassed to ask
about in public
• Customer base is the same as the infomercial users
• Fulfilling a wish of their patients by allowing them to tell their
story
• Money back guarantee
• Proactive is sold using infomercials, kiosks, website and a
subscription “skin care club” service
• Selling the product in USA, Canada, Europe, Latin America,
Australia and Asia
• Sales strategy is still the same
• Sales have grown yearly since 1994 first Guthy Renker
infomercial
How has the company established a brand?
Is it important to customers?

Rodan and Fields have consistently used the same packaging

and have a limited access to products. Only people who want
the product will order it online or seek it out in the mall at a
kiosk. That helps the company to have brand recognition. Also,
telling personal stories about a sensitive topic helps the public
image because the product is actually making people have
better lives: self esteem, and the way the world sees them is
changed and everyone can see it on the screen, which also
helps branding. We believe its very important to customers
because of the sensitive nature of the issue. They targeted 30 +
women who have adult acne. All the testimonials are proof that
Proactiv is thought of as very important to the customer.
How did things they learned prior to Guthy Renker
persuade them to use infomercials?
Do you think without infomercials Proactiv would exist
today?
Why was the infomercial a better choice than other media?
They learned from their patients and the focus groups what their
target audience should be. They learned from the third party
focus groups that people like to share stories about their skin
care issues. During the dinner parties at Rodan’s house they
learned it was necessary to do the market research which gave
them the information about target audience preferences. We
believe proactiv would exist without infomercials but it wouldn’t
have such a large market share of the skin care industry without
them. The infomercial was a better choice because it directly
addressed several concerns that the focus groups told them
about: being able to educate the target audience, sharing
stories about acne issues, the same target customer was the
target audience for infomercials. It was a no brainer to use
infomercials.
Proactiv positioning strategy:

Sales to 30+ women who suffer from adult onset acne. This
population needs to be educated on what their condition is and
they like to tell their story about struggling with acne. The three
marketing decisions 1. They do skin care – this allowed them to
have a wider topic of conversation with their customers. They
are not just clearing up acne they are improving the skin.
2.product is proactive and its called Proactiv - they improve the
skin by making a medicine that helps stop breakouts so there
are fewer acne occurrences. This is value added to their
customers who weren’t able to find a good product before
proactiv came along. 3. Sell the product using infomercials –
again this hits their target customer, gives them the opportunity
to be educated about their condition and allows customers to
hear stories about others who suffered.
.
 Difference between core product and
actual product:

• No difference
• They use the same product a skin
care line that stops acne before it
starts.
• It is more than just acne medicine
and its tailored to skin type
.
Application Questions:
Making Proactiv available in retail
establishments would change the market
strategy. They would have to develop a different
approach to getting their customers to buy those
products in public. It would basically require an
overhaul of their successful marketing strategy.
For the past 20 years their sales have grown
using the current strategy. Unless forecasts
indicate they will lose market share in the next
five to seven years they will probably continue
with this strategy. Also they have loyal
customers who use the subscription service and
they would have no way to do follow up tracking
if they put their products in a store.
Application Questions:
Rodan and Fields took the time to educate
themselves. They were medical professionals
before they developed their product so they
were very passionate about helping their
clients. Their product was very customer
focused. They didn’t give up when trying to
raise funds. They actually got some great
advice from a company that turned them
down – Neutrogena. They used industry
insiders to help them develop their execution
intelligence.