Cashing In On Breathing

Tue., Feb. 4, 1997

Chicago Tribune

Football fans got their first glimpse of the funny-looking adhesive nose strips in 1994 when NFL stars wore them as they ran for touchdowns on national television.

Three years later, Breathe Right nasal strips are so successful that the product’s marketer, CNS Inc. of Bloomington, Minn., paid more than $1 million for 30 seconds of Super Bowl advertising time for the second consecutive year to boost brand awareness.

CNS, which started in 1982 as a medical equipment and supply company, licensed the Breathe Right strip from its inventor, Bruce Johnson, in 1992.

Breathe Right works by sticking on the sides of the nostrils and pulling open the nasal passages to increase air flow, said company chairman and chief executive officer Daniel E. Cohen.

The remedy took off so fast that the company exited its other product lines to concentrate on expanding the nasal remedy, Cohen said.

From its first year of $2.8 million in sales in 1994, CNS posted sales of $48.6 million in 1995. In 1996 sales jumped 77 percent to $85.8 million.

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Cashing In On Breathing

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