BUSINESS THREADS

Editor’s Note: The team at www.libida.com will be reviewing three for-women sexual-enhancement products: Viacreme, HerTurn and Climatique. For a bio on the author, Dr.BUSINESS THREADS

Editor’s Note: The team at www.libida.com will be reviewing three for-women sexual-enhancement products: Viacreme, HerTurn and Climatique. For a bio on the author, Dr. Kathleen Van Kirk, see page 2.

Designed as the female answer to Viagra, Viacreme promises that you’ll “reclaim the sexuality only known to you in your early twenties.” I’m not quite sure what this statement means exactly, but I’m sure there are plenty of women out there that wouldn’t trade the sex they have now for the fumbling, uneducated sex of their early years.

I’ve heard these gushing promises of Viacreme distributors and of some of its users. On the flip side, I have also heard the concerns that Viacreme is nothing but a trumped-up menthol ointment akin to the diluted menthol chest rub gel moms rub on their sick kids to relieve congestion.

The active ingredient that Viacreme promotes as the savior to women’s sexuality is L-Arginine. L-Arginine is an amino acid that is the basic building block of the Nitric Oxide Pathway — the body’s key signaling molecule for starting and maintaining an erection/vaso-congestion. Preliminary research has shown that when L-Arginine is ingested, it can have a similar effect to Viagra: the dilation of blood vessels. However, I am not aware of any research that shows that putting it on your skin has the same results as ingesting it. Perhaps this is a slight oversight on the part of the marketing plan?

In fact, Viacreme seems to be less about the product and more about its multi-level marketing campaign. There are basically two ways you can sell Viacreme: 1) Purchase the product in individual tubes (which retail on average for $15-$16). Slim margins if you consider that the “wholesale” cost is $14; or $2; 2) Pay $100 to become a distributor and you can purchase a minimum order of $250, with a discounted distributor price of $9 per tube (each tube contains about 3 applications). The more you purchase, the better the price break.

Distributorships are handled through a company called Lexxus, the only company that maintains exclusive rights for the life of the patent of Viacreme. Your $100 buys you access to the distributor website for one year, allowing you to purchase your product and obtain marketing support information. Once you’ve established yourself as a distributor, you can then sign up other distributors under you, which will pay you an ongoing commission of 10%, of that new distributor’s revenue. It’s through this structure that you can work your way up the chain to a gold distributorship, which pays distributors a bonus when they reach $14,000 in sales.

Viacreme distributor Leslie Levy emphasizes the incredible support system Lexxus offers, saying, “They offer access to marketing information and help of other distributors. In fact, it’s obviously in your sponsor’s best interest that you do well in not only selling [the] product but in continuing the multi-level marketing chain.”

The only way anyone can purchase Viacreme is by going through one of these distributors. Each distributor is responsible for how they want to market the product. If Etailers don’t want to pay the extra $100 to become a distributor they may choose to take on an individual distributor as an affiliate and share in revenue (percentage varies). However, not every distributor may have the affiliate capacity to set something like this up. Some distributors may have websites; others may not.

This inconsistency from one distributor to the next is also noticeable in the packaging of the product. Although suggested by Lexxus, some may send out product indiscreetly in unattractive packaging. The user materials included in the shipment vary widely as well. There may be little information about sexuality or even the use of the product included. However, Levy believes that it’s in the distributor’s best interest to address these issues.

Lexxus also doesn’t have a central customer service department to field queries or concerns from users. The only person to go to if you’re not happy with the product or have questions is the distributor you bought it from.

The effectiveness of the product depends on several factors, says Levy. The product packaging from Lexxus specifies that the user must apply the cream three times before the full affect is felt. Levy suggests that her customers use it 12 times. “Some users just don’t make the commitment to the product in the beginning by following directions, or aren’t prepared to try the product at least a dozen times to get the full impact. Then there are some people who just aren’t sexual in general and don’t use the product regularly enough.”

Levy believes that Viacreme is the best product on the market because, “Viacreme has found the right balance of ingredients that appeals to the greatest number of women and the fact that it is only sold in small pillow packs, means people don’t have to invest $50 or $60 for a full bottle of a product that they may not be satisfied with.”

Considering the growing interest in making a buck off of the female sexuality market, jumping on the bandwagon to become a distributor may not be a bad idea. Although, there don’t seem to be any clear estimates of how many affiliates are currently in existence, it appears to still be early enough to turn a profit. However, if you’re planning on maximizing the revenue potential of Viacreme, you’d probably be spending more time signing up other distributors than actually selling the product it self.

My own experience with Viacreme was equivalent to that of my friend’s and fellow associates who also tried it. The initial application feels warm — almost a slight burning feeling, with an urgency to urinate. The directions specify to rub the cream on the clit as well as on the under side of the clit. This may allow the ointment to come in contact with your urethra — this produced a mildly uncomfortable effect for me. I definitely didn’t notice any increased feelings of desire. Maybe it’s me, but the sensation of having a urinary tract infection doesn’t really arouse me.

But wait…the product insert does state that “progressive improvements” are common with three or more applications, so I decided to keep trying. The next two applications resulted in initially the same burning sensations, but trailed off to a more of a tingling.

At most, Viacreme is an interesting sensation. I would recommend it to women who might just want to try something new. I don’t want to discount that there are some woman out there who may get some other sexual benefit from this cream experience (e.g. becoming more aroused/orgasmic). But from my own experience, this is not the new Viagra for women.

Rubbing a little cream on your clit will probably not save your sex life but it may be a new way to experiment, if you’re getting a little bored with the same old thing. Then again just rubbing your clit can usually help with or without the Viacreme.

*If interested in finding out more about a distributorship you can contact Leslie Levy at www.viacremequeen.com or toll free at 866.269.9195.

Dr. Kathleen Van Kirk is the Vice President/Director of Content of Libida.com, a San Francisco-based company. Dr. Van Kirk can be reached at sexkat@libida.com.