Eisen Makes New Cold Sore Ointment
Look and Sound Sexy for Dr. Krane's

By Larry Jaffee

When you think cold sore medicine, you usually don't think sexy. When women are in need of a remedy, however, their vanity gene kicks in. They don't necessarily want to call attention to the fact that they're using something to deal with their contagious facial blemish.

Canadian bioscience company Taiga Bioactives Inc., headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, needed a way to make its first branded product line, Dr. Krane's KoolLips, to sound and look sexy. KoolLips is a topical ointment for treatment of cold sores that breaks away from the clinical presentation of its competitors.

Taiga's creative agency, Eisen Management Group, recognized the opportunity in reinvigorate a stagnant product in a stagnant market, according to Eisen president Rodger Roeser, whose agency has offices in greater Cincinnati and greater Cleveland. Taiga president John Heibert says, "Seventy percent of cold sore product purchases are made by women. We asked the question,'How do you make it stand out?'"

Research into consumer insights suggested an innovative design was needed to take the brand away from the medicinal look pervasive in the industry in favor of an ultra sleek, sexy, and sophisticated brand aimed specifically for professional women aged 18 to 49. Roeser explains that the number one thing that women said was that they felt ugly with a cold sore.

Winning over women

The company concluded that the way to win over prospective female purchasers was through an elegant package design—a package that would not cause embarrassment if being seen taken out of a pocketbook.

Dr. Krane's is the rebirth of a product known as Korner's Cold Sore Remedy, which had a rather plain-looking package. The radically changed packaging now features the logo in sleek script, black tone-on-tone varnish, and high-end metallic copper ink with purple accents. Printed by InstaBox of Calgary, the package now appears more akin to makeup packaging.

Roeser and Eisen v.p. Angela Denniston conceived and developed the package to securely hold the precision application tube, which holds three grams (0.1 oz.) of the ointment. Since the product is available exclusively throughout Canada, the copy is presented in both English and French. All pieces don the phrase "Always Ready" and a vibrant picture of a geranium, a primary ingredient and inspiration for the new brand name.

Dubbed the "Matchbook," the package opens similar to a matchbook and measures three by four inches. Sold initially only through the Dr. Krane's website at www.drkranes.com since early 2008, the package has been slightly tweaked for a slightly smaller sachet (at 2.5" x 3") for pharmacy distribution.

The extended package

The KoolLips package won the 2008 Award of Excellence from the 14th Annual Communicator Awards for best package design and corporate identity. "It's a very innovative design, and completely sets Dr. Krane's well above its competition visually, practically, and from a general brand design standpoint, " comments Roeser. "We looked at the industry and the packaging in an entirely new way, focused on the needs of a very specific consumer set. "

The packaging was an integral part of a larger campaign that included print and radio advertising, sponsorship of female-oriented special events, and social networks. Eisen devised a 28-year-old, glamorous-looking fictional character named Laura, who writes about the package features in her MySpace blog. A few men checking the page out didn't realize that attractive Laura wasn't real, and Roeser had to break the news via email that it was just advertising.