- Once ignored by investors and known mostly for its catchphrase treated as a punchline, Lifeline eventually sold to Royal Philips Electronics for $690 million
- InnerScope Hearing Technologies is making its presence known in the affordable hearing aid market, including a memorable commercial and a rapidly expanding list of physical and online retailers
- InnerScope is expanding at a breakneck pace, making acquisitions, and forging partnerships, adding manufacturing and R&D facilities, customers, new product development capabilities, and a comprehensive customer service platform
“Can you hear me now?” “Liberty Biberty.” Some advertisements leave an indelible impression on people, often after seeing a commercial just one time. Unfortunately, most people probably associate that type of success with a mega-company sporting 10-figure marketing budgets. However, that is not always the case, and companies that get your attention as an upstart deserve a closer look now.
Consider Lifeline Systems, the personal emergency response system conceived by Andrew Dibner. Dozens of venture capital firms turned the company down in its early days. The take-flight moment came in the late 1980s with a television commercial featuring actress Dorothy McHugh lying on the ground pressing the Lifeline button and saying, “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” Suddenly, everyone knew about the brand. Lifeline went public in 1983, and while generating $100+ million in sales in 2006, it was acquired by Royal Philips Electronics for $690 million.
Upstart InnerScope Hearing Technologies (OTC: INND) may have struck gold with the commercial for its Hearing Assist hearing aids, where the son repeatedly says, “I love you, Dad,” only to become disgruntled by his father’s hearing loss and the incessant response of “What?” However, that changes when the dad gets HearingAssist hearing aids, and the two share a heartfelt moment because he could finally hear his son’s kind words. It’s one of those commercials that is hard to forget and jumps right to mind with any discussion on hearing aids.
InnerScope’s portfolio of products include FDA-registered Direct-to-Consumer (“DTC”) self-adjusting hearing aids, self-adjusting Personal Sound Amplifiers Products (“PSAPs”), doctor-formulated dietary hearing and tinnitus supplements, and assorted ear and hearing health-related products.
InnerScope sells its hearing aids through multiple channels, including its eCommerce site www.iHEARdirect.com and its partners www.FSAstore.com, www.HSAstore.com, and www.WellDeservedHealth.com. The latter three sites are curated to meet demand from consumers enrolled in flexible spending accounts, health saving accounts, and employers’ health incentive plans.
The company also has a strong retail presence through the acquisition of HearingAssist last year. The acquisition catapulted InnerScope to being Walmart’s largest selling brand of hearing aids, with over 500,000 sold to nearly 400,000 customers. HearingAssist products are sold in 757 Walmart locations, and online at www.Walmart.com, and have generated aggregate sales of approximately $72 million.
About a month ago, another milestone was reached with a deal struck with Rite Aid to begin selling HearingAssist’s hearing aid care and assorted hearing aid batteries, earwax removal ear spray, and a Wireless Neckband TV Listener Hearing Amplifier on www.RiteAid.com. That was followed this past week by a wholesale vendor agreement with Best Buy to start offering HearingAssist products in the U.S. and Puerto Rico at the big-box giant’s brick and mortar retail locations, as well as online at www.BestBuy.com.
The retail and online list has grown impressively to include the aforementioned plus, to name a few, Giant Eagle, Amazon.com, Hy-Vee, Food City, and Hartig Drug stores.
With the HearingAssist brand becoming more and more recognizable, InnerScope is making moves to better serve customers, as well as expand its physical and digital footprints to attract more customers. These efforts include launching a comprehensive customer service portal complete with free access to doctors and hearing specialists to answer questions and the installation of dozens of hearing kiosks in stores of major retailers and pharmacy chains. Elsewhere, InnerScope acquired iHear Medical Inc, a DTC cloud-based provider of hearing solutions, holder of 40+ patents, and owner of an FDA-registered manufacturing and R&D facility. R&D is part of the strategy, which is now supported by a partnership with semiconductor company Atlazo to work on next-generation devices.
There are at least 70 million people in North America suffering from some level of hearing impairment, yet effective solutions elude most due to prohibitive pricing. The industry is changing to bring lower pricing and different payment solutions, so hearing aids are far more inclusive. The timing is perfect considering the bipartisan support on Capitol Hill to hurry up and get the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid law enacted.
Overlooked by most (INND trades at half a penny per share and a $33 million valuation), the next chapter is being written in which InnerScope will command a much stronger presence in the space.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.INND.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to INND are available in the company’s newsroom at https://nnw.fm/INND
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