Veda Spa Soak™

The first new product is "Veda Spa Soak," a retail consumer product presented in a stylish plastic (non-breakable) jar of MSM powder with added Ayurceutical components to give a very healthy soak and spa experience for the entire outer body. Jars are sold in packages of five.

(The jar can be fancier than the image shown.)

(There is more surface to "skin" than the simple appearance of the outer surface. "Skin tissue" includes body cavities incuding the outside parts of the ear.) The primary ingredient in this product is MSM -- organic sulfur -- the most important nutrient for skin, hair and fingernails. Furthermore, MSM is a "transdermal" and facilitates the passage through the skin of whatever it is combined with -- in this case Ayurceutical ™ components. Click here for a pop up window on the web site for www.emmessar.com in India, a page showing reference to hundreds of US Patents allowing discoveries of "transdermal" concepts and even including the concept of "penetration" into the cells of the stuff being transported.

Veda Spa Soak is meant to be dissolved in the bathtub and bathed in for 20 minutes or longer -- while the transdermal MSM in the water carries into the skin the Ayurceutical components. Warm or even hot water will enhance the experience --- when and as it can be done in a steam room setting, the experience will be even more dramatic -- frequent into and out of the tub of water with Veda Spa Soak, onto a bench seat in a high heat wet sauna steam room.

Promotion may or may not feature a "classic" bathtub, with or without a woman in the tub.

Heated towels, soaked with Veda Spa Soak, can and should be placed around the face and hair -- or over any part of the body that needs care. There could even be a further new product called "Veda Towel Soak" which could be an "add-on" item to promote. (Towel warmers are a luxury image that may carry a good "positioning." A heated DRY towel or a Veda Spa Soaked warm WET towel could have good place in the images uses.)

MSM, and the Ayurceutical components, are each individually edible and safe for taking in through the mouth or any body opening, whether natural or a wound -- they will provide soothing and healing relief. Yes, in any usual dilution (solution of 10% or less, by weight, of the powder to the liquid) it will serve well as a douche. (The image on the left is edible fruit arranged in a floral display.)

Safe for even a baby who ducks her head and opens her eyes under water, although that is a claim that probably cannot be legally promoted. It can be promoted with images, not words. Kimberly's experience with her own baby, Sara, was that Sara "accidentally" ducked her head while taking a bath with Kimberly -- the bath was in "MSM Water" as she was often doing. The unexpected result was that the baby's then-ear infection healed like overnight -- obviously the MSM was a healing usage for the inner parts of the ear. Kimberly remarked about this experience that the baby was a bit startled and had her eyes open when she ducked her head under water -- no sting, no upset!

Dr. Ayyangar will be working on developing the formula for Veda Spa Soak. It will be proprietary, imported as a bulk powder, packaged in jars of about 12 ounces, five jars to a carton. (Here it is!)

MSM can be ground, after processing, into large crystals or in fine white powder. The crystals do take longer to dissolve, but would look more like "bath salt" in size and texture. It would be interesting to learn whether such crystals can be given an "edible color and fragrance" in addition to the Ayurvedic components (processed in our proprietary way).

A long-range goal of mine is to increase the "Indian-sourced" nature of our products. Packaging of our products in India in a final consumer form means FDA and customs difficulties, now but decreasingly in the future. This may not be true for shipments of drums of this product to other non-Indian countries for repackaging, or in retail packages for sale in those areas. Out-sourcing often has a bad image and I would be looking for images that suggest a very favorable type of "Indian source" on this product. There are US firms that specialize in building teams of staff members located in India, for US companies. They have the same need and interest.

We make payroll tax and benefits. We hire, train, manage, cover overhead, provide PC’s, Internet and secure document management systems. You don’t have the hassles or travel it takes to outsource to India. You pay one flat rate per month for a full time dedicated employee. (source)

One of the "problems" with the image of India, for a "skin food, Ayurvedic" product has shown up, preliminarily, in the survey designed by Donna. I've looked at all the results.

There is general concern that poverty and filth in India mean that a product for the skin, coming from there, would be "not as good" as if it were made in the US.

The contrasting opinion, common among those who seem to know the meaning of "Ayurvedic" is that US manufacturers are more likely to cheat and use chemicals than would be included in an Indian-sourced item.

Either way, this data is useful in "positioning" the India source for our products. Click here for a pop up window of data about pharmaceutical and food standards and experience in India.

No third world country other than India has the distinction of having a world class pharmaceutical industry today. China and Brazil are probably two other countries which are very close to India's size and quality levels. But the kind of international presence and the level of sophistication in manufacturing and research, the Indian pharmaceutical industry achieved so far, both China and Brazil cannot match.

The Indian pharmaceutical industry is one of the largest among developing countries. It contributes 8 per cent in volume terms but only 1per cent in value terms to global pharmaceutical sales (figures as of calendar 2000). Thus, the Indian pharmaceutical industry ranks 4th in terms of volume but 13th in terms of value globally. India's small share in value terms is attributable to the relatively lower prices of drugs in the country.

(source)

A VERY luxurious usage for Veda Spa Soak would be to use the full jar in one bathing. Positioning images should suggest conspicuous consumption, but obviously not in a negative way.

(I realize that I have used "positioning technology for many years, without realizing I was doing it. I have more than 100,000 web pages and probably use well over 100,000 images gleaned from Google Images. My selection of the "right image" often takes me an hour or more to "fit" with one phrase on a web page.)

I, myself, have taken MSM baths where I dissolved a full kilogram (2.2 pounds) of the powder in one bath tub. I recall, well, how Bonnie thought that was wasteful, while I thought it was just the ticket to experiment with. There should be images used that encourage high-volume usage of the Veda Spa Soak.

The Veda Spa Soak is an EXPERIENCE more than a skin treat or treatment. The picture of the experience will be key to good imaging. Images of luxury spas and resorts may be the right item.

Obviously nude women or sexual suggestions will have to be very carefully thought out for our positioning. We need a survey to see who the most likely users will be of a high-priced "bath salt" item -- we also need to survey as to whether there is any value in suggesting, carefully, any benefit to TWO people in one tub for this Veda Spa Soak.

We are on the way to make Sara Withey the "poster child" for VedaCream, and broaden usage of her images, perhaps with her 50% full-blooded Cherokee Indian heritage of her mother, Kimberly.

Sarah's feet warrant a whole promotional campaign on their own!

Kimberly's photo, on the right, is worthy of "spokeswoman" status in our campaigns -- and she has been regularly taking MSM baths.

Dr. Ayyangar may well recommend some woman or children who could add to our "poster tour" of healthy skin -- perhaps "Anu?"

There is almost no image easier to mind, and easier to find in Google Images, than "luxury spa." I've included at the bottom of the page a series of easy images found for such a search phrase.

I have also personally experimented with MSM in solution for eye drops. Water will hold up to 20% of its own weight in dissolved MSM. The amount that will go into solution depends on the temperature of the water. With a 12% MSM solution in distilled water, my eye-ball started to feel warm. I suspect that at 15% or more there would be a stinging sensation. At dilutions of about 5% MSM, in water, there is no discernable sensation.

A full kilogram in a bathtub of water would be a very low level of MSM solution.

Even a full jar of Veda Spa Soak will be a very low level (safe for the open eyes) saturation. The other ingredients may affect these findings.

A more economical usage would be one or more tablespoons of the substance -- it will dissolve in the water --does not create soap bubbles, is not intended as a cleansing like soap, but a cleansing that helps the body open up the skin to passage, both in and out -- for cleaner skin in this revolutionary new way.

The hotter the water, within ranges of comfort, the more this phenomenon will occur.

Here is a "placeholder" logo for immediate usage.

The web site is here:

http://www.VedaSpaSoak.com

The time schedule for introduction for this new product is to be driven by the marketing research and preparation, rather than some fixed-by-others date such as the Las Vegas Convention.

I have in mind a "Christmas 2006" marketing promotion, with bulk mailings done to health food stores (if that line of marketing shows promise) or direct to the consumer. This product should be marketed with all the proper research and preparation done without the pressure of having a launched product by July 14, 2006. I've thought about this, we can use Vibrant Skin to help position the beginning of a long line of Ayurceutical products -- with Veda Spa Soak being the better prepared and presented -- after this one, they should all have complete marketing analysis and planning done well in advance -- particularly to allow shipments of both the product but even jars and labels produced in India.

I'd REALLY like to recruit a new person to be our marketing director, possibly with continuing instruction from Donna so that most of the campaign for this new product can be supervised by this new staff member. I would very much love to spend MY time designing and thinking of new products and campaign themes -- and have a "management" that is able to convert the Founder's dreams into business reality and prosperity.

Possibly Donna might join us as a full-time staff member, Director of Marketing or some such title.

The price of the product should allow the needed margin to support high quality and high volume marketing.

I want a particular emphasis to be made on selling this in bulk drums, particularly in non-US countries, for local packaging -- either with our name or not, but only and always at a consumer selling price that will not appear as a discount to the US Veda Spa Soak.

Price control laws will need to be looked at for various countries.

The product may well come with different fragrances -- each of which will be achieved only with edible components. The product with fragrance may well sell at a higher price because of the highly promoted source of the fragrance -- being "natural" and, itself, healing as an ingredient.

Much research is yet to be done.

Here are my preliminary suggestions.

MSM has a beautiful "refractive reflection" when produced in "crystals" large enough to have the natural facets of each crystal act as a prism.

When we first started importing MSM it came in a large crystal form. A bag of the crystals, held in the sunlight, gave a startling and beautiful array of rainbow colors -- as if the crystals, themselves, were multi-colored. But, a slight shift of the bag in the sunlight showed the colors shifting and changing.

Not much of this form of MSM was probably sold in the US, so not many would even recognize it.

MSM crystals, even large as these, dissolve easily, particularly in hot water.

It should be part of the "mystique" of this product to give "instructions" for use -- not that the instructions are vital to results, but to make the product seem more high tech and "mysterious from India."

In order to further expand the flexibility of marketing this product I further suggest that ALL the Ayurceutical components be combined into "granules" or small easily-dissolved "pellets" which would mix physically with the MSM crystals, not be combined in any way as a coating or compound. If the pellets were light in color, but distinctive from the crystals, that would give the image I have in mind.

These pellets should be, themselves, edible and safe, yet easily dissolved to go into solution in the water/MSM mixture in a tub of hot water, gradually turning to the warmth of water desired by the user.

The pellets, then, can be formulated in many different formulas, such as any of the following, individually, or any combination of several of these:

• Some that impart color
• Some that impart fragrance
• Some that give "Level 10" degree of therapy to the skin
• Others that give "Level 20" degree of therapy to the skin
• Others that give other various levels of therapy to the skin
• Still others that give entirely different results
• Some that provide fizzle or effervescence

These different formulas can be released into the market place gradually, even over some years, as we get feedback on the usage of the first one(s) and as we develop even better skill at marketing. We could even then ship the "raw" MSM crystals separately from the Ayurceutical pellets and allow others to combine them -- either with complete control over the process when they use the Veda name, or without control if they do NOT use the Veda name.

There could well be a Veda Spa Soak packaged with minimal of these Ayurceutical pellets, for the low price market without use of the Trademarked name. (Click here for the approved copy of the Trademark application.)

We should develop a full marketing program for promoting this product in some form of bulk container to the spa industry.

I can also see, with the web site being a convenient central place of attention, having one or more restricted sections where selected persons could be invited to participate in surveys with the offer of free samples of the Veda Spa Soak before public introduction -- with surveys taken before and after their experience with the product. These "beta tests" could even be done early enough to influence the actual formulations and packaging. It would NOT be too early to be offering restricted access (even to hundreds of people who agree to help us test) as early as the Las Vegas Convention -- we would not need large supplies and I suspect that Dr. Ayyangar can come up with something that could be shipped to us, say 100 KG, in plenty of time to do test packaging.

If there is some way, particularly a proprietary way, to alter the actual manufacturing process for MSM to enhance the crystalline prism effect or to impart any other characteristic that we can then describe as a superior feature, that should be explored.

Those most intimately involved in the planning and marketing process should now start taking baths in MSM -- even if they usually shower, take a bath at least once per week, measure the amount of MSM used, make a written report to me, I'll accumulate those reports on THESE pages, and eventually on the www.VedaSpaSoak.com site.

In fact, perhaps we can tie in our marketing with a "bathtub manufacturer" == since more and more people take showers routinely and don't ever take baths.

At the Beverly Hilton: Showers but no bathtubs in 200 of the Beverly Hills hotel's 570 rooms. (Click For Pop-Up Window with source) (The reference includes a batch of personal survey results on preference of showers over tubs in hotels -- worth reading as marketing research raw material.)

Better yet would be to develop a "product" that could be used in the shower -- presumably by first getting wet, then a spray of Veda Spa Soak" and an interval of waiting, possibly including moist towel applications -- then return to the shower and get good results.

I have in mind packaging this product in a see-through carton that holds FIVE jars, selling for $100, with our normal discounts based on ONE item at $100, or FOUR of these cartons for $300. The costing will be kept confidential.

The images below? The very first is the best positioning image I have found and could be the keynote of our label and marketing.

Our Own Images

Sara? For Some Marketing, Non-porno women for others?

How about a woman with a baby in her arms, in water or tub?