BREATH

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No. 2

Breath Asure

Business: Breath fresheners

Location: Calabasas

Percentage Growth: 410

The lure of sweet-smelling breath keeps wafting a Calabasas-based company into the front ranks of L.A.’s most successful private companies.

Breath Asure, founded in 1992 by the husband-and-wife team of Anthony and Lauren Raissen, recently manufactured its billionth Breath Asure capsule.

“We think the key to our rapid growth is the way retailers have embraced Breath Asure,” said Anthony Raissen.

When the Raissens founded their company, the market for breath mints was already crowded by the likes of Certs and Clorets. Breath Asure was different; sold in capsules, it is marketed as an almost medicinal substance that attacks the cause of bad breath, instead of being a candy that masks odors.

What inspired the support of retailers was an aggressive ad campaign on AM radio. “Our philosophy is that radio is theater of the mind,” Raissen said.

You cannot show bad breath on the radio, he noted, “but if you choose the right image, that image will relate the idea in a unique way, almost sensually.”

Another key marketing move: Creating a 15-capsule package that sells for $2, which consumers find easier to swallow than the standard 50-capsule package, which retails for about $6.

The Raissens are “just killer marketers. They stop at nothing,” said Gary Seehoff, chief executive of Williams Worldwide Television, an infomercial distribution company based in Santa Monica.

Born and educated in South Africa, the Raissens divide management duties between them. Anthony Raissen says he is responsible for advertising and product development, while Lauren Raissen is responsible for financial management.

The couple apparently has a taste for entrepreneurship “I never worked for anyone,” Anthony said as well as a flair for the dramatic. One example was the product’s launch at L.A.’s Garlic Festival in 1992.

“We believe that if you are going to sell a breath freshener, take it where people are most skeptical of you,” said Anthony. “We proved that even at a garlic festival, we can clean your breath.”

Morris Newman

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