
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 15, 1995                   TAG: 9503150031
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MORE THAN A STRAND OF TRUTH TO `BAD HAIR DAY' BLUES

Male executives will cut meetings short to keep an appointment to ``get their ears lowered'' - malespeak for getting a haircut. And who hasn't seen a male co-worker's hair part move down to an ear tip as he tries to comb a few strands over a thinning pate.

But despite evidence that men have concerns about how their coifs fall or flow, ``bad hair days'' are thought to be something exclusive to women. Today's topic is about women and how research shows that for females, a bad hair day is a real thing, not something to joke about.

Consider the evidence of a nationwide poll conducted Nov. 17-20 by EDK Forecast, a New York market research company, of 500 women aged 18-60. Of those, 26 percent said they were bothered ``a lot'' when their hair didn't ``look right,'' 29 percent were bothered ``somewhat,'' and another 26 percent were bothered, but ``not much.''

That leaves only 19 percent who didn't give a hoot about how their hair looked.

This heady research was done to get information to help marketing companies find ways to get women to buy certain products. The conclusion was that the best way to build brand loyalty was to provide styling and time-saving tips on the package of a product.

\ Brand loyalty, or something akin it it, is crucial in today's market, and some nonprofit groups are building partnerships that cash in on it. In October, The Arthritis Foundation introduced its own brand of aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen (with and without a sleep aid). The medications are made by McNeil Consumer Products, and the foundation shares in the profits from their sale. The arthritis group is guaranteed $1 million annually for research, but sales could drive that higher, said Steve Erickson, foundation spokesman.

Increased awareness of the foundation has been a side benefit of the effort, because a purchaser of any one of the products gets a free one-year membership in the organization. So far, it has 10,000 new members, he said.

In Virginia, based on 1990 data, 956,000 people - 15.5 percent of the population - suffer some degree of arthritis. The average percent of state populations with arthritis is 14 percent, Erickson said.

Percentages for our neighbors also are higher than that average: In West Virginia, it's 18.2 percent of the population, and in North Carolina, it's 16.4 percent. Florida is highest, at 19 percent, and Alaska is lowest, at 10 percent.

Obviously, age of the population is a factor in this illness. The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta projects there will be 44 million arthritis sufferers by 2000. For more information on the foundation, call the Virginia chapter at (800)456-4687.

\ The latest ``loyalty'' product to cross my desk comes from the country's largest check printer, Deluxe Corp. of St. Paul, Minn.

Through a licensing agreement with public television stations Thirteen/WNET in New York and WGBH in Boston, Deluxe has developed and is selling checks with backgrounds from five popular shows: ``Nature,'' ``NOVA,'' ``This Old House,'' ``The Victory Garden'' and ``Great Performances.''

Naturally, part of the proceeds for the sale of the checks goes to the stations for program development and production costs.

Banks that carry Deluxe products should have samples of the checks and checkbook covers on hand, or consumers can call (800)433-5893.

by CNB