Taking On The IRA...

IRA? That’s Infrared Radiation A. And remember you read about it here because there’s no doubt that soon you’ll be reading about it everywhere. The latest research has turned everything we thought we knew about sun protection upside down; it turns out that UVA and UVB rays are just part of the story. Infrared radiation, which comes from the sun as well as numerous heat generating appliances in our homes, is proving to penetrate the skin deeper than UVA and UVB, with 65% of the sun’s Infrared Radiation reaching the skin’s dermal layers. Studies are showing that IRA destroys healthy, supportive collagen in the skin, causing deep wrinkling, fine lines and highly accelerated photo-aging. Today SkinCeuticals Anti-oxidants, the brand’s core products, are the only products that protect against IRA.

But let’s back up a little. Our client, SkinCeuticals, the exceptional U.S. skincare brand that’s arguably the most advanced, effective and highly active skincare line on the market today, was about to launch Physical Fusion, a remarkably effective, lightly tinted sunscreen. We were charged with launching Physical Fusion to the press, which seems simple enough. The challenges however, are daunting, in that each year dozens of new sun care products, most claiming to have new technology, are introduced to the market and the press coverage opportunities are limited. While most of the beauty press write about sun care, they do “round-up” stories; they’ll choose a half dozen of the many new sun care products and write just a few lines about each. We wanted more.

We challenged ourselves with three objectives: make Physical Fusion stand out from the sunscreen crowd, use SkinCeuticals impressive IRA research to reinforce the brand’s skincare leadership and own the lion’s share of the sunscreen stories with our strong IRA news.

A media event would allow us to tell the IRA story in-depth. Twenty-five top beauty journalists joined us for breakfast and a presentation by IRA researcher and SkinCeuticals U.S. consultant Dr. Nadim Shaath, who carefully explained the complex IRA story while SkinCeuticals executives presented Physical Fusion. We hosted the event at Toronto’s Monte Clark Gallery in the Distillery District, the first media event to be held in this extraordinary space.

In-depth media relations followed; it was a complex story and we knew we needed to reinforce and clarify it. Our efforts generated more than 90 placements. Top publications like The Toronto Star, Elle Canada and Flare interviewed Dr. Shaath; seven in-depth interviews in all. Ninety two magazines, newspapers, blogs and websites wrote about Physical Fusion and the IRA news, and we reached more than 17 million people.

Click here to see some of the exceptional coverage we generated for SkinCeuticals Physical Fusion and IRA