Dumb Luck or Marketing Genius? StriVectin-SD® Signs Isaac Mizrahi as Spokesperson; 'The stretch mark cream turned anti-wrinkle phenomenon™' to Feature Fashion Icon in New International Advertising Campaign

Business Wire, Sept 7, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY -- While most of the major cosmetic giants turn to aging Hollywood starlets to hawk their wrinkle creams, Klein-Becker has a fresh perspective ... tapping a most unlikely spokesperson for its StriVectin-SD ... the "Better than Botox(R)?(1) stretch mark cream tuned anti-wrinkle phenomenon" ... fashion icon and television personality, Isaac Mizrahi.

"Frankly, we didn't turn to Isaac to sell StriVectin to women," says Gina Gay of Klein-Becker. "Virtually every woman who knows anything about wrinkles already knows about StriVectin. It's the no. 1 selling prestige skin cream in the entire world (including France, of all places). Instead, our goal was to reach men, the fastest-growing segment of cosmeceutical buyers. Why did we choose Isaac? Well, like most everything we do, it was dumb luck. Our market research team stumbled on this unlikely fact ... men trust Isaac just as much as women do; men actually like Isaac; and, men find Isaac engaging. That makes Isaac the perfect person to introduce StriVectin to men."

The unexpected choice of Mizrahi as StriVectin spokesperson is just one of a series of "unexpecteds" that have turned StriVectin into cosmeceutical legend. For those of you who haven't heard the remarkable StriVectin story, here it is...

The StriVectin Story

In a remarkable turn of events, arguably one of the strangest in the history of cosmetics, women across the country are putting a stretch-mark cream called StriVectin-SD on their face to reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and crow's feet. And, if consumer sales are any indication of a product's effectiveness, StriVectin-SD is nothing short of a miracle. Women, as well as a growing number of "Boomer" men, are buying so much StriVectin-SD that finding a tube at your local cosmetic counter has become just about impossible. Did everyone go mad? Well ... not really.

Although StriVectin-SD's(R) functional components were already backed by clinical trials documenting their ability to visibly reduce the appearance of existing stretch marks (prominent because of their depth, length, discoloration and texture), the success of StriVectin-SD as an anti-wrinkle cream was "dumb luck," said Gay.

"When we first handed out samples of the StriVectin(TM) formula to employees and customers as part of our market research, the sample tubes were simply marked 'topical cream' with the lot number underneath," Gay explained. "As the samples were passed to friends and family, the message became a little muddled and some people used this 'topical cream' as a facial moisturizer. As we began to receive feedback from users, like 'I look 10 years younger' and 'I can't even notice my crow's feet' we knew we had something more than America's most effective stretch-mark cream. The point was driven home as store owners began reporting that almost as many people were purchasing StriVectin as an anti-wrinkle cream as were buying it to reduce stretch marks."

Dr. Daniel B. Mowrey, Ph.D., Klein-Becker's director of scientific affairs, said, "Clearly, people were seeing results, but we didn't have a scientific explanation as to why this wrinkle-reduction was occurring. "Based on the incredibly positive reports from users and the Paris reports," Mowrey continued, "I started using StriVectin myself ... as an aftershave in the morning and before I go to bed at night. And let me tell you -- no one has ever accused me of being handsome, but now I'm happy to say that I look young and ugly rather than old and ugly. For me, that's a big improvement."

Dumb Luck Strikes Again!

Then, at a meeting of the 20th World Congress of Dermatology in Paris, a series of studies detailing the superior wrinkle-reducing properties of a patented oligo-peptide "called Pal-KTTKS" versus retinol, vitamin C, and placebo, on "photo-aged skin" was presented. "As luck would have it," Dr. Mowrey stated, "the anti-wrinkle oligo-peptide tested in the breakthrough clinical trials turned out to be a key ingredient in the StriVectin cream."

In the trials, subjects applied the patented peptide solution to the crow's feet area on one side of the face, and a cream containing either retinol, vitamin C, or a placebo to the other side.

Subjects in the Pal-KTTKS/retinol study applied the cream once a day for two months and then twice a day for the next two months. Using special image analysis, the study's authors reported "significant improvement" in both the overall appearance of skin tone and wrinkles for those women using the peptide solution.

Better yet, at the two-month halfway point, the peptide solution worked nearly 1.5 times faster than retinol "in measured parameters," and without the inflammation retinol often causes in sensitive skin. As was expected, the results of the remaining studies confirmed that the Pal-KTTKS solution's effectiveness at reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles far exceeded both vitamin C and placebo.

A smoother, younger complexion, with less irritation and faster results -- all without expensive (and painful) peels, implants or injections.