The Story Of "No More Stinky" Products
Sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s an American maxillofacial surgeon, named Alan Newhouse, who had graduated college as a chemist, became interested in foot odor. Foot odor may seem like a joke, unless it's you that has it, or you live with somebody that has it. Dr. Alan Newhouse applied his chemistry background, and created a shoe spray product which he named, "romantically", ARDA 19.
Not surprisingly, the product attacks the organisms which live in your shoes, and cause both shoe odor and, by proximal contact, foot odor. The chemical also attacks and denatures the compounds which we perceive as "stinky". It has never been entirely clear which is the chicken and which is the egg, since the bacteria which infected your feet, infected the shoe from the time you first tried it on, and created odoriferous "stinky chemicals" right away, so that everything smelled badly, foreverafter, or until you set about to eliminate them .
How many people do you know who have house rules "Take off your shoes and leave them outside"?? We can fix that, we guarantee it.
Back to the story...Alan Newhouse invented and named "ARDA 19", now titled No More Stinky products. Nontoxic, and safe to use, ARDA 19 was the culmination of a series of experiments in various disinfectant/and deodorant products studied by Dr. Newhouse . Once Dr. Newhouse was satisfied with the performance of ARDA 19, he set about to market it, contracting with the US military amongst other major purchasers, and hundreds of cases of the product were sold during the 1960s and seventies to the US military and other purchasers.
ARDA 19 was used in Nicaragua, and elsewhere in hot climates where foot odor and shoe sanitation were major issues Dr. Newhouse, at some point in the late seventies, early eighties, took on a marketing manager/partner, whose first major effort, apparently, was to attempt identity theft of Dr. Newhouse's identity, in order to divert income into his own personal account. During the legal struggles, the product fell entirely off the radar screen. Identity theft was practically unheard of at that time.
Approximately ten years ago, just after final judgement in the identity theft case, with a defunct product and no active remaining customer base, Dr. Newhouse was introduced to Dr. Terry Bennett MD , a Harvard educated solo GP, practicing in Rochester New Hampshire. Dr. Newhouse wished to reestablish the production of his old ARDA 19 foot odor product, and proposed the formation of a new corporation or company to market it, taking on Dr. Bennett as his partner and chief operating/financial officer.
Dr. Bennett took one look at the product's name, which it had absolutely no connection with anything which the product did or claimed to do, and renamed the product No More Stinky products , reasoning that "truth in advertising" is a tried and true method. Local marketing of the product began at that time, but the product remained under marketed, and unknown to any broad cross-section of the national population.
Shortly after the newly renamed product, No More Stinky products was rebottled and went on sale, Dr. Newhouse suffered the first of a series of crippling strokes, which were ultimately fatal. Recently a new effort has been undertaken, with a number of changes achieved New attractive bottling and labeling were developed, the volume of product increased so as to represent a much better value for a purchaser, and a search was begun for a nationwide marketeer to assist the new company in going nationwide in its sales.
No such partner has been found, to date.
Despite very positive field and marketing tests, and multiple focus group exposures which were conducted, and with the product found to be very effective in eliminating foot and shoe odor, not much increase in sales occurred A Nationwide exposure campaign was begun with trade show exposures conducted and orders taken.
We have had some nationwide and even some international sales resulting, but no landside sales uptick, to date Local efforts have been markedly successful.
Anyone who ever bought a bottle remains a solid customer.
No More Stinky products is now sold from the shelves at L Bean, Eastern Mountain Sports, Kittery Trading Post, Reds Shoe Barn, and a number of sporting goods and sport shoe dealerships, all of whom field test all such products before stocking them.
No More Stinky products works and we offer a "money back guarantee", which has been honored on TWO occasions only, with thousands of cases sold.
That said, no nationwide marketing outfit or marketing partner has been found and signed up. Surprising, because, simple surveys have revealed to us that at least three out of 10 people suffer from some degree of smelly feet.
If you're either one of the three who suffers directly, or one of the seven who suffers from proximity to one of the three, you should contact us forth with.
If you are a nationwide healthcare or footcare company, we would like to hear from you.
If you are our customer, new or old, we thank you for your business.
Terry Bennett MD MPH