• by Tanya Gazdik , June 19, 2007

VasoActive Pharmaceuticals has discovered a niche marketing venue that has turned out to be a grand slam for its family of ointments.

The Danvers, Mass.-based distributor is focusing its campaign on minor league baseball stadiums. Elements include ads placed on the video scoreboard, handing out print ads as well as product samples, says Stephen Cataldo, VasoActive director of marketing.

VasoActive products include Osteon arthritis pain-relieving lotion, A-R Extreme for muscle and joint pain, and Termin8 for athlete's foot.

The combination of limited advertising resources and very specific retail territories make the minor league baseball alignment ideal, Cataldo says. "We just don't have the budget to advertise with the N.Y. Yankees or Mets," he tells Marketing Daily.

The company began advertising with the Minor Leagues in 2006, which ended up being the best-ever season the Minor Leagues have ever had attendance-wise.

"During the 2006 season, VasoActive experimented with promotional campaigns designed to increase visibility to help gain sales momentum," Cataldo says. "These minor league ballparks in Michigan, New York, and New Jersey helped us reach from four to six thousand fans per game."

The promotional campaigns continue in 2007. Recently, there was some additional exposure at the home ballpark of the Trenton Thunder. Pitcher Roger Clemens, winner of seven Cy Young Awards, is now pitching with the Trenton Thunder AA club, a New York Yankees farm club. Clemens' home game event drew a record 9,134 fans.

"Promoting our A-R Extreme product with the Thunder's video scoreboard, with the game televised nationally, gave us a substantial audience that day," Cataldo says.

VasoActive products are available through retail outlets including Pathmark in New Jersey and New York, ShopRite, A&P, Super Fresh, Waldbaum's, Harmon Health and Beauty and 140 Meijer stores throughout Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio.

VasoActive began operations in January 2003 as a division of BioChemics, a biopharmaceutical company engaged in transdermal and topical drug delivery systems. VasoActive is an early-stage company established to commercialize, market and sell over-the-counter pharmaceutical products incorporating vasoactive lipid encapsulated technology.