Hallie Friedman poses in front of her desk at headquarters of Emjay Labs in Beachwood. She is the third generation to run the family business. Photo credit: LESLIE STROOPE Related Photo Galleries »  Emjay Labs Related Links Pinxav

Hallie Friedman still seems a little taken aback at people’s exuberant praise for Pinxav (pronounced “pink salve”), the diaper rash ointment her grandfather cooked up as part of a class project while studying to be a pharmacist at Western Reserve University in 1927.

The vice president and third generation owner of Emjay Labs points to the stack of letters sitting on the desk in the company’s Beachwood headquarters. Some are typed. Others are handwritten on colorful stationary. They are filled with gushing testimonials — and many share the same refrain: “Where can I find Pinxav?”

Distribution woes are a challenge many small companies face. But Emjay Labs is hoping that enlisting its customers as a virtual sales force and a deal with a local discount drugstore chain will push the company’s product out from behind the counter and into the national spotlight.

One of the most exciting parts of the job is reading the customer testimonials that come in each day through Pinxav’s web site, said Gregg Steiner, Emjay’s California-based vice president of marketing and Ms. Friedman’s brother-in-law.

“People get so excited about something that eases the pain of their baby,” Mr. Steiner said. “It’s amazing to see the passion and loyalty.”

But parents aren’t the only ones singing Pinxav’s praises. Mr. Steiner and Ms. Friedman said they’ve received testimonials from surfers, physical therapists and bicycle police officers who have used the product to alleviate everything from chafing to pressure sores to eczema.

The company is trying to capture some of that enthusiasm and put it to good use. Mr. Steiner in May contacted 2,000 Pinxav customers by e-mail to find out if there was interest in an affiliate program. Through the program, customers can buy Pinxav at a wholesale price and sell it at a profit.

It’s a grassroots approach to establishing Pinxav’s presence in a market that the company might not otherwise reach.

“I tell them, ‘If you can sell four tubes to 16 moms a day, you can make $160,000 a year in profits.’” Mr. Steiner said.

So far, the company has received 50 responses expressing interest in the program. Mr. Steiner said 10 customers have signed on and are already selling Pinxav — to friends, family and baby boutiques. Some are even including it in baby baskets that they sell online, he said.

Ms. Friedman said Pinxav's packaging looked "more like jewelry cleaner" before its packaging was changed in 2002. Photo credit: leslie stroope

Before the advent of e-commerce, Lillian Harris, wife of Pinxav creator Milford Harris and grandmother of Ms. Friedman, would deposit a customer’s check, mail out a glass jar of Pinxav and log each transaction in the meticulous black ledgers she kept while running the company from 1986 to 1999.

When Ms. Friedman took over the company’s day-to-day operations in 1999, she and Mr. Steiner said they knew they had to give Pinxav a makeover. The product, which is manufactured in Connecticut and distributed through Bedford Heights-based Handl-It Inc., posted sales of $50,000 in 1998, according to Ms. Friedman.

They overhauled the Pinxav’s packaging, going for an “old-fashioned, 1930s feel,” Ms. Friedman said. Mr. Steiner launched a web site for the company. The three owners — Ms. Friedman, her brother Kevin Harris and sister Jodi Harris, who is married to Mr. Steiner — invested $40,000 to have 250,000 samples made to pass out at trade shows and pediatricians’ offices — anywhere moms and dads might gather.

According to Ms. Friedman, the makeover worked.

Emjay Labs posted its biggest sales growth in the year following the image overhaul, pulling in $90,000 in sales during 1999. Last year Pinxav’s sales reached $150,000.

The company’s growth is noteworthy considering that many pharmacies stopped carrying Pinxav on their shelves after being bought by larger chains. However, many pharmacists still kept Pinxav in the store for customers who wanted it — albeit behind the pharmacy counter.

“Most people won’t see it on the shelf, and they won’t ask the pharmacist,” Ms. Friedman said.

This most likely means those customers will reach for another brand. According to Mr. Steiner, Pinxav’s biggest competitors are the “huge, billion-dollar mammoth companies,” such as pharmaceutical company Pfizer, maker of Desitin, and Johnson & Johnson, the maker of Balmex.

One of Pinxav’s smaller competitors shares a similar story and goes by the memorable name of Boudreaux’s Butt Paste. Customers began clamoring for the diaper rash cream, which was developed by a Louisiana pharmacist, after Oprah Winfrey mentioned it on her show in 2004. In May, Columbus, Ind.-based Blairex Laboratories bought the company for an undisclosed sum.

It’s a dream scenario that has not happened for Pinxav.

While The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Good Morning America expressed an interest in featuring the 98-year-old owner who “keeps a finger” on the family business, the logistics of shuttling Ms. Harris from appearance to appearance have squelched that avenue to national attention, Mr. Steiner said.

“My grandmother’s 98 — I want to make her proud,” Mr. Steiner explained.

And, according to Lillian Harris, she is.

“I certainly have been very pleased with the way they’ve taken on things,” Ms. Harris said. “We hope that it keeps building.”

So Emjay Labs continues to branch out — whether it’s bringing attention to the fact that their product works on skin ailments across the “pediatrics to geriatrics” spectrum or by adding products to the company’s lineup.

Mr. Steiner said it is difficult for a company with only one product to be taken seriously by a national chain. Accordingly, both baby wipes and baby sunscreen are “heavily under research” as possible future offerings.

The company’s goal has always been to bring Pinxav to the entire nation, according to Ms. Friedman.

Three weeks ago, Emjay Labs got word that Marc’s Discount Drug Stores would give Pinxav a shot on its shelves.

While Ms. Friedman was hesitant to talk about the deal, she did say that the Parma-based company would offer Pinxav a trial run of 12 tubes at “four or five” of its 51 stores. If the product sells out within a month at each store, it opens the door for the opportunity for the product to appear on more Marc’s store shelves, Ms. Friedman said.

Messages left at Marc Glassman Inc., the owner of Marc’s Discount Drug Stores, were not returned.

The trial run is critical because success at Marc’s could be the experience that Emjay Labs needs to prove to a national chain that they have the ability to keep up with demand.

“Our goal is to get a national chain within the next five years,” Ms. Friedman said.

“It’s just a matter of someone who can believe in us,” Mr. Steiner added.

If the testimonials collected in manila folders at the company’s headquarters and displayed on Pinxav’s web site are any indication, at the very least, the buying public believes in the product.

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