Personal-Care Products Help Clean Up Economy in Underdeveloped Countries

When a former employee contacted me on advice for his new business, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Not only does Michael Talve have a fabulous product, his environmental and philanthropic soaps are cleaning up this planet, one shower at a time.

Read on to hear the advice I gave to Michael on how to make his Vivo Natural Products even more desirable to customers.

Lynda Resnick: Now remind me, when did you work for us?

Michael Talve: I started after my junior year of college, which was 2006, up until the end of 2008. I was the marketing and events guy for FIJI Water. I was based in New England and bounced between the six New England states and New York quite a bit.

In the middle of my time working at FIJI Water, I came up with the idea to start this soap business, much because I spent so much time visiting different retailers like Whole Foods while I was working for FIJI and getting a better understanding for your business model. I saw an opportunity in the personal care industry, because there is such a major gap in the marketplace in terms of the price and quality.

LR: What does the average bar of soap sell for? Would Dove be considered a high price?

MT: Dove would be considered low priced. It typically retails for about a dollar and a quarter. You can buy it for as little as a dollar a bar, if you’re buying it at Sam’s Club or Costco in an 18-pack, for example. If you’re in Manhattan, like I am, you can go to a Duane Reade and it can cost as much as two dollars a bar. [Our soaps] are about 50% more than a bar of Dove in a New York City store.

LR: So, you’re about $ 3.49?

MT: Exactly.

LR: And that bar of soap will last you for about six months, won’t it?

MT: It lasts a long time. I shower two or three times a day. I’m kind of a clean freak.

LR: We better talk, because I think your problem might be bigger than the soap. You have a Lady MacBeth complex.

MT: Probably a little of that too. So, the soap is far longer lasting than the mainstream competitors, but more importantly, it’s far higher quality. The main ingredients are essentially food grade, and it’s priced closer to those guys than say companies like South of France and other high-quality bar soap lines, which typically retail for six plus dollars per bar.

LR: So, you saw an opening in the marketplace between the high-end soap and the junky soaps that are out there.

Michael Talve, Managing Director of Vivo Natural Products and former FIJI Water employee

MT: Exactly. We’re the “affordable luxury” pricing strategy.

LR: How are you doing?

MT: We’re doing great. It’s exceeded expectations.

LR: You said that your product is good for the world and good for the environment,. Tell me where you are buying your ingredients and how it’s helping other countries.

MT: I became very interested in microfinancing as a concept, after meeting some folks who were involved with lending small amounts of money to entrepreneurs in underdeveloped countries.

LR: That’s why Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Prize.

MT: I met Dr. Yunus during my sophomore year at college and became very interested in it, and also got a chance to meet him at the Milken Conference last year. I’m very interested in microfinance, and I believe in the concept.

After doing my research, I realized that shea butter was by far the most amazing natural skin remedy available. And the best shea butter comes from the west coast of Africa. So, rather than buying chemically-treated shea butter, I decided the best way we could make the best soap was to use natural, unrefined, handcrafted shea butter.

Vivo Natural Products' low-cost, high-quality bar soap comprises West African shea butter made in a microfinanced women's collective.

The country we buy our shea butter from is Togo. It’s a very small country with little industry at all. We found an organization that provides microfinancing to entrepreneurs – women, really – who produce their own shea butter. To me, I thought this was a more meaningful way than just donating money.

LR: It is! It’s a much more meaningful way.

MT: I thought, This is a fabulous way to help them grow their businesses, and at the same time, make our product that much better in quality, because we’re using this amazing-quality shea butter.

LR: Do you want to know what I think of the product?

MT: I really do, please.

LR: All right. I really like the experience of using your soap. I have to concentrate on the packaging a little.

MT: That’s where we are most lacking. This is my first shot at designing packaging for consumer-package goods.

LR: I also felt [the bar] was a little big, but I have very small hands. Do you think more is better?

MT: I thought 4.5 ounces for our product was reasonable. Some of the other brands – South of France or L’Occitane – their bars tend to be 8 ounces plus.

LR: Who wants that? You can’t keep your hands around it in the shower…

MT: …It drops on your foot. It’s, like, dangerous. But the mainstream soaps like Dove or Dial tend to be 3.75 ounces. So we’re a bit larger at 4.5 ounces, but not so much.

LR: Ergonomically, it’s a little hard to hold at first.

MT: I’ve heard this from other women, and women tend to be the decision makers in bar-soap purchasing. My mom thinks the same way.

LR: Go to RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) or any of the art schools in the area and have the bar soap designed ergonomically, because you could just make a mold for it. Can you get an existing mold from somebody and make a miniature version?

MT: Ah! We just ordered our first batch of amenity-sized to begin selling to hotels.

LR: Now will they be interested in buying just a soap, though?

MT: No. It’s very difficult to convince them. Only very cutting-edge, boutique-style hotels will be willing to carry just the bar soap without—

LR: The whole line to go with it.

MT: Exactly. But I was also interesting in doing this for sampling. This way I can affordably give out trial-size samples of our product and let people give it a shot at home for free.

LR: Yes, absolutely! And put it in goodie bags for events.

MT: We’re all over it.

LR: All right, I don’t have to teach you that, because you learned from the best.

MT: I did!

LR: Have your sales reached a peak, or are they still growing?

MT: Every week we see significant growth. It’s pretty amazing. Our existing customers are selling through their orders and re-ordering. It’s going quite well.

LR: I think you can take the next step to build a community around this soap: Bloggers, anyone who’s talking about Whole Foods and what’s there. You could go to “housewives” and any kind of site that talks about personal care. You can get those bloggers and you can build a relationship with them. You can send them samples. They will embrace you, they will use it – the product is excellent. How long will it last?

MT: I think it lasts about a hundred showers. That’s the most accurate take I’ve been able to come up with.

LR: “A hundred showers worth of luxury for $3.49!”

MT: Anyone can afford that.

LR: I kind of [don’t like] the packaging. It looks so institutional compared to the luxury feel of the soap. And the lettering is so small. And it doesn’t really reflect the beauty of what’s inside. I’d almost rather see you have a clear box with a solid bottom so they could see the soap.

I’ll give you an idea. Everyone loves a story, especially in times like this: Print the paper that the soap is wrapped in with your story.

MT: I think that’s a fantastic idea.

LR: I do, too. I’m going to give myself a pat on the back for that one. Tell about how you went to West Africa and you found this village, how you believe in microfinancing and how they make the shea butter, and how you get a hundred showers out of a bar of soap. All of these things comprise your unique selling proposition. The value is in the quality of your ingredients. Your unique selling proposition is the story of the way you got it.

The next step is to build the community around the story. Go to Tom’s Shoes on the Internet, see what he did. Look at what his site looks like. Look at what his packaging looks like. This is where you’ve gotta go. The problem is, this looks like private label to me.

MT: It’s not that well branded.

LR: It’s not that it’s not well branded. Your name is as big as life! But I’m not getting a story from it.

MT: This is a difficult balance for me. I think after speaking to you about it for a few minutes, you understand the meaningful social purpose is fully intertwined with the quality of the product.

LR: Absolutely. And this is the future of our planet by the way. As I said in the book, “If you can’t be a good citizen, there’s no place for you.” What you’re doing is the role model for young people to embrace. You should be speaking about what you’re doing. When I was doing research for my book, it was so hard to find someone who was doing something like this. This is it!

MT: Thank you, that’s really quite kind of you. For me, the biggest challenge is intertwining the social story with the quality-of-the-product story. It just works so well hand in hand, but it’s difficult to explain that in 15 seconds or less to a consumer on a package.

LR: But if you printed the paper, it would be there. The headline is “The Vivo Story,” and you tell them the whole story of why you did it. You need a line on the box about your social consciousness: “Social consciousness in a luxury bar of soap.” You’re clever, you’ll think of it. But you need that. And you need the “hundred showers” on there, too.

MT: Right now, the front and the back [of the package] look the same. I did this so it would be easy for people to stack it on the shelves. However, we sacrificed a lot of space, where we could be talking about the brand and really explaining the product well. Do you think it would be wise to replace one of the duplicate panels and take it up with information?

LR: Here’s the thing: I don’t know what the dynamics are of stacking soap on a shelf. It’s a great idea to use the space, but it isn’t a great idea if it looks like a mess on the shelf. If I were doing a bar of soap, I’d be all over that soap department to see what other people do. Is it printed on both sides the same? If you feel that you’ll be stacked properly, then you should definitely use the back. But if you feel that it’s going to make a problem, then you shouldn’t.

MT: Fair enough. That’s good feedback.

LR: So, those are some ideas, darling. I wish you the best, and I want you to let me know how you’re doing in six months. Did I help you a little bit?

MT: Tremendously! I’ll be in touch. Thank you again for your time.

LR: My pleasure. Bye-bye.