Direct marketing is another important area of product launching and research. Currently, the Crest White strips website asks individuals if they would like to participate in a survey regarding the project, upon entry, when accessing the part of the website known as "Ask Dr. Jeff." (Ask Dr. Jeff, Official Website, 2004) A new area of the site could be redefined -- instead of the clinical picture of the globe that adorns the site, clickable icons of the different flavors could add color to the 'other side' of the whitening white strips. Think outside the mint strip!

Other forms of direct response advertising could be generated by offering coupons to those who fill out surveys about their response to the product's advertising, giving out a website address to those who buy the product to fill out a survey, in exchange for a chance at winning prizes -- such as a free year of dental coverage, perhaps, and even contacting dentists, colleges, and popular venues and businesses in the area to offer promotions, such as free flavored strips in the restrooms of coffee shops and employee watering holes.

At present, this launch has the advantage of being supported by a large company that of Crest, with an already recognizable name and product line. Currently, there is a budget of $500, 000. Other potential sources of promotion and capital, however, could come from some unusual sources -- why not contact Donald Trump (he is, after all, in the East Coast area) and ask about launching the new campaign as a part of one of his next "Apprentice" episodes. More prosaically, additional sources of funding might come from local dental organizations, or the ADA, so that in exchange for dental...

Barring that, the next route to add to the products potentially lucrative launch would be the private-equity marketplace, "a broadly defined investment sector that includes venture capitalists, large and small angel investors, hedge funds, private investment pools, and even insurance companies and other institutional players that either participate through money-management funds or make direct capital investments in growth companies." (Frazer, 1998) The drawback to such funding, however is that these groups of investors receive some type of equity or stock vehicle when they put money into a growth company andeach group then has its own set of goals in regard to how much of an investment return its members hope to earn on that stock and how quickly they hope to earn it, thus adding additional elements of self-interest to the financial mix of the prodcut launch. Ideally, it would be best to keep within budget, unless investors with a similar vision and investment in the product line could be procutred.
Works Cited

Berry J. "What do they think? ADA survey offers up the scoop on your patients." ADA News. April 19, 2004, 1-8.

Fraser, Jill A. "How to Finance Anything." Inc. Magazine. 1998. Retrieved 1 Feb 2005 at http://www.inc.com/magazine/19980201/864.html

Goldblum, Jeff. Crest White strips Website. 2004. Retrieved 1 Feb 2005 at http://www.whitestrips.com/en_US/dr_jeff_says/currentarticle.jsp