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Teens Targeted With Subscription Skincare

One of the biggest names in local biotech, David Hale, is joining forces with an e-commerce expert to bring the sale of skincare products into the digital age.

The firm, called Adigica Health, is a bit of a hybrid between a tech startup and a cosmetics company. It’s starting out with a skincare treatment for teenagers dealing with acne.

Skincare is an area of familiarity for Hale, as he served as chairman of SkinMedica for over a decade until it was sold to Allergan in 2014. He’s also been a founder and/or chairman of several other skincare companies over the years, including MDRejuvena, ColoreScience, and Dermata Therapeutics.

But Hale doesn’t have experience designing an online marketplace, constructing digital strategies, or targeting the tech-savvy youths who make up the consumer base for Adigica’s products.

So Hale recruited the help of Rick Sliter to develop a tech platform to sell the company’s products. Sliter, now CEO of Adigica, is the former chief business officer of Provide Commerce, the San Diego e-commerce company that built ProFlowers and Shari’s Berries into major consumer brands.

The Model

Together, Hale and Sliter have created a business model for Adigica Health that sort of resembles the subscription models of Dollar Shave Club and BirchBox. These kinds of companies operate within the “subscription economy,” a relatively new marketplace in which products and services are no longer sold individually but as a monthly subscription.

This model is seen all over the makeup and beauty products space, but there are relatively few acne-focused companies using the model. This is an opportunity, Sliter said, considering the target market for acne products is often teens.

“When considering millennials and the Gen Z generation, it’s surprising that not many companies have taken advantage of offering these products on an online environment,” Sliter said.

After all, teens are trained to look to the internet when buying a new product.

The Products

Adigica’s first skincare line, called BioClarity, includes three products: a cleanser, a treatment, and a restore gel. It’s developed specifically for the skin of teenagers, Hale said, and it will likely be appealing to the younger generations for a number of reasons. First, the product contains salicylic acid, a well-vetted ingredient of acne products that is known to work and work well. But salicylic acid is also known to make skin a bit raw — inflamed, dried out, and almost scaly.

The restore gel is where Adigica really upped the acne treatment game. The gel contains a proprietary ingredient called Floralux, which contains properties from chlorophyll (the green stuff in plants) and copper. The formulation is meant to restore and soothe the skin after it’s been treated with the more abrasive salicylic acid.

Adigica Health is employing every digital marketing tool in the book to get BioClarity in the hands of teenagers across the country, an area of expertise for Sliter.

“At Provide Commerce, I had tremendous training on e-commerce channels from a digital standpoint, everything from paid search to social media,” Sliter said. “We apply all of that knowledge to this different target demographic at Adigica.”

Making Contact

Sliter said the company will be using “social influencers” (like fashion bloggers and YouTube stars) to try out and review its products. “Teens want to hear from people in their networks that are talking about effective brands, so part of our launch approach is to focus pretty extensively on social media,” Sliter said. “We’re looking at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, and especially YouTube. Video content in the health care and beauty space will be big for us.”

Once customers are “in the door,” Adigica offers only one option: a $29 monthly subscription to BioClarity.

“Acne is something that you treat, it’s not something you cure,” Sliter said. “So a pain point for consumers is running out of the product, and seeing an acne flare-up just a week later.” Sliter and Hale said the subscription model is meant to be convenient, and it helps ensure that customers are consistent in treating their acne (a key to getting acne under control).

“Obviously our goal is to maintain a lengthy relationship with our customers,” Sliter said. “And that will be good for their skin and also good for our bottom line.”

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