Neutrogena For Men - Start Sampling

After a crazy week of business travel, I decide to simplify things and carry on my bag. Then I remember the 3 oz. Neutrogena liquids rule at the airport. Why 3 oz. anyway; is that the tipping point when hygiene products become explosive? I digress.
As I go for my last shot, I notice I’m picking up a barely touched tube of face wash … Neutrogena Face Wash for Men, to be exact. This product gained my loyalty after sampling it when working with Neutrogena a few years back. Love the stuff, so definitely not willing to just toss it. I offer it to my cameraman who’s local and not getting on a plane. He says, “No thanks. Soap’s all I need.” All I could think was, “Dude doesn’t know what he’s missing!” But, then a quick flashback reminded me … how could he know?
This seemingly inconsequential incident brought back memories of some unfinished business. Coming off that last project I had with Neutrogena, I also had the opportunity to pitch them a marketing strategy to penetrate the growing men’s personal care market – one of their under-performing areas. Then the usual holiday slow-down hit, followed by an un-usual slowdown – J&J, Neutrogena’s parent company, announced layoffs and any new marketing efforts were put on the back burner.
So, in the spirit of closure … Neutrogena, heed the Voice of Reason:
The men’s personal care market is still growing.
By 2012, U.S. retail sales of men's skin care is expected to increase more than 60 percent
Neutrogena’s value proposition derives from being recommended by dermatologists
Dermatologists are trusted advisors for women; not so much for men.
The Reason begs the question – so who are trusted advisors for men?
My barber. So, how about a sampling program in barbershops across the country? Like most men, whether it’s about a bbq joint, tv show, or skin care product, my barber says, “Check it out.” I do.
My gym. So, how about Neutrogena Body Wash in shower dispensers at the local gyms? Let men use, and get used to, the product … then offer samples to take home. Going to the gym is all about routine … make Neutrogena part of that routine … too easy. In The Reasoning, we call this Ritual Selection.
Neutrogena, I’ll keep it simple … men are creatures of habit and don’t like change – ask any woman who asks her man to put down the toilet seat. You make quality products; just get ‘em in our hands … you can become one of those habits we don’t like to change.

Little Evidence That Treating Varicoceles In Men Boosts Pregnancy Rates

A recent review of studies from the Netherlands finds no evidence that treating varicoceles - a somewhat common condition in men with fertility problems - improves a couple’s chances of conceiving a baby.
However, a U.S. commentator questions the review’s study selection and the way it defines infertility.
Fertility experts have long thought that varicoceles, an enlarged group of veins within the scrotum, could be a cause of male fertility problems. Varicoceles occur in 15 percent of all men, and in nearly 40 percent of men undergoing infertility treatment.
Surgery or embolization — a procedure that blocks blood supply to the varicoceles — is often performed in an effort to increase fertility.
“Every year thousands of men are operated on without sufficient scientific evidence that the surgery will have any impact,” said Johannes Evers, the lead review author. “There have been dozens of observational studies published showing a positive effect. However, high-quality, randomized trials were not able to confirm these positive conclusions.”
The review included eight studies involving 607 men. In addition to the presence of a varicocele, study authors looked at other fertility indicators such as quantity and quality of the man’s semen. Pregnancy and live birth were the main outcomes measured. Treatment was either by surgical removal of the varicocele or embolization, where a surgeon inserts a small coil or scarring agent into the vein to block it off.
“This review fails to offer evidence that treatment of varicoceles in men from couples with otherwise unexplained subfertility improves the couple’s chances of pregnancy,” Evers said. “Treatment of varicoceles in men cannot be recommended. The ‘first, do no harm’ principal should guide us as long as there is no evidence to the contrary.”
Evers is a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Academisch Ziekenhuis in Maastricht a city in the Netherlands.
The review appears in the latest issue of the Cochrane Library is a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.
“My suggestion for patients is to check for other factors that might impair fertility before treating the varicocele,” Evers said. “Varicoceles do not seem to decrease fertility, or at least removing them doesn’t seem to help. Don’t concentrate on the wrong issue when there are other more important fertility factors present.”
Joel Marmar, M.D., a professor of urology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Camden, New Jersey is concerned that what he calls a “clinical hodgepodge of therapy” makes the results of the review confusing.
“Not everyone with a varicocele is going to be infertile,” Marmar said. “Treatment guidelines written by the American Urological Association and The American Society of Reproductive Medicine suggest that only those with a varicocele that the physician could feel (palpable) and a documented sperm abnormality should be treated. This review had studies that included men with normal semen parameters and very small or subclinical varicoceles.”
Using the more stringent guideline criteria for infertility makes a difference, Marmar said.
“Looking at all eight [review] studies, the odds ratio that treatment would be successful was 1.1 [indicating no benefit from the treatment],” he said. However, the results changed when the reviewers looked at a subset of three studies that met guideline criteria, Marmar said. “When including only those men who had palpable varicoceles and semen abnormalities, the odds ratio doubled. These improved results were reported despite a variety of therapies being used.”
Including both surgery and embolization in the analysis further confused the outcomes as they related to treatment of fertility issues, according to Marmar: “These techniques may have different success and failure rates. When developing a study design, it may not be appropriate to mix treatment options together.”

80% of Vasectomy Patients Didn't Complete All-clear Semen Tests

Vasectomy

A quarter of the men who had vasectomies at a US clinic didn't return for any follow up tests to make sure that the procedure had worked, according to research published in the April issue of the British� � � � � � � �"based urology journal BJU International.
And only a fifth of the 436 men turned up for both of the tests needed to finally put them in the clear, according to a study carried out by researchers at the Cleveland Clinic Glickman Urological Institute in Ohio, USA.
Of the 75 per cent that did attend their first, eight-week test, a quarter provided samples that still contained sperm. 80 of the 83 men were producing nonmotile (present but inactive) sperm, but three were producing motile (present and active) sperm, including one who was eventually diagnosed with a vasectomy failure.
65 of the 80 men producing nonmotile sperm were clear at their 12-week checks, but six months after their procedure eight men were still producing positive sperm samples. By ten months, all but the vasectomy failure were finally in the clear.
"Our results show that only three-quarters of the men in the study turned up for their eight-week sperm test, which means that a quarter of them had no idea whether the procedure had worked and whether their partner could still fall pregnant" says lead author Dr Nivedita Dhar, Chief Resident in Urology at the Clinic.
"It is impossible to assess the true vasectomy failure rate in the full study sample as many failed to turn up for follow-up tests, despite careful counselling.
"But what concerns us most is that a quarter of the men who had vasectomies did not return for any tests, despite us stressing the important of these follow-ups" adds Dr Dhar.
According to the researchers up to 90 per cent of urologists require two semen samples to confirm sterility and up to 95 per cent request further samples if nonmotile sperm are present. Doctors recommend that couples use additional contraception until vasectomy patients receive the all clear.
"The result of the study are consistent with other research which has estimated that non-compliance among vasectomy patients is between 25 and 40 per cent" says Dr J Stephen Jones, vice chairman of the Glickman Urological Institute, who directed the study.
"It may, however, be possible to improve full compliance among those who return for at least one test by simplifying the follow-up tests in line with current medical evidence and making sure that this is backed up by adequate counselling.
"For example, our study found that 65 of the men tested at eight weeks needed re-testing, but this fell to 15 when it came to the 12-week test. This suggests that a single test at 12 weeks may be adequate in the majority of cases.
"However, it is very important to stress that couples need to use additional contraception until the vasectomy patient has been given the all clear."