A Watch to Help People Quit Smoking?

Dr. Neil Perlman, CEO and Medical Director, ElectroMed Technologies, LLC, was frustrated. In his successful practice, he would counsel patients on how to quit smoking, they would quit for a short while, and then they'd start smoking again. “One of the major problems with smoking cessation is keeping people from smoking again,” Perlman said. “Most people smoke again after quitting. The success rate at six months is only 25%. The more people attend classes, behavioral therapy, the higher the success rates are. I was wondering if I was able to give people daily supportive messages, would that help? The concept we came up with was a watch, something that people wear every day, which would send these reinforcement messages.”
The result is the Quitting Time Watch, a digital quartz timepiece manufactured in Hong Kong that has a bundle of smoking cessation features built in. Not only does it tell time, it displays the motivational and congratulatory messages, tracks the time since the wearer last smoked, computes the amount of money saved by not smoking, and personalizes all the messages, positive and not so positive, using the name entered into the watch at set up.
The watch will be officially on the market in October of this year and ElectroMed Technologies is actively looking for partners in the watch industry and beyond. Dakota Watch Company is selling the watch in the company's Chicago stores to start, then is planning to roll it out nationwide. “I just think it's a terrific idea, to be able to wean yourself off cigarettes with a device on your wrist,” said Marty Cooper, Co-President, Dakota Watch Company, himself a former smoker. “I've gone through quitting smoking and everyone can use the help and encouragement of this watch. When I first saw the watch, with the messages on the display and the thought behind it, I saw that they had really put a lot of work into it.
”You have to market it as an aid, because that is what it is, it is made to help people quit smoking,“Cooper continued.”We hope that we can get the benefits from the PR, otherwise it could get lost at the watch counter. Done right, the watch could really do well."
The Quitting Time watch retails for US$ 139.95 and ElectroMed is hoping to open at least one thousand doors within a year. They are talking to pharmacy chains and are also selling the watch off their website, www.electromedtechnologies.com (also at www.qtwatch.com).
“We want to guard against discounting,” said Dan Mapes-Riordan, President, ElectroMed Technologies, LLC. “We have a minimum advertised price of $124.95, which gives retailers some leeway to do some different things, promotion-wise. My principle is to get the watch anywhere our customers can buy it. I'm not only going to go through the watch channel, though we think it is a good one. Our watch is easy to use, there is a little bit of set up involved and we feel that the watch retailer, with the individualized customer service they can offer, will be a good way for our customers to buy the watch. We are a hybrid product - we are a watch and a healthcare product. There aren't many others like us so that provides opportunities but also challenges to finding the right opportunities.”
For more information, please contact Bill Grelecki, National sales manager, @ 312 458 9769.

www.electromedtechnologies.com
www.qtwatch.com
Contact: Bill Grelecki
(please credit europastar.com)

Source: Europa Star International
Oct-Nov 2002 issue