Valkee Sold 5000 Devices By January 2011
Bob Helsinki, a Helsinki based advertising agency, has disclosed some interesting figures regarding Valkee in their application to Grand One, a Helsinki based annual gala for ad agencies. In the application, the agency states, that Valkee sold 691 devices during the two month campaign period from October 11th to December 12th last year. 691 devices at 185€ a piece yields a nice 127 835 euros. However, the agency later discloses that they sold a lot more by early January.
This is only a fraction of sales naturally as the device itself was in news a lot more after the period. The 691 devices were sold through the Valkee website with a conversion percentage of about 0,8%. The campaign was widely promoted in Finnish press, both in paid and earned form. Bob Helsinki states that gross contacts for the campaign were somewhere around 3 million.
The more interesting bit of information here is that they commonly agreed on a sales target of 5000 devices by mid March. This was reached in early January. Sales of 5000 devices at 185€ a piece yields 925 000 euros in sales. That's pretty astonishing for such a short period of time from a completely new device.
The campaign was bought from Bob Helsinki and it involved three steps; arousing interest, the human experiment and sales. First the company aroused interest in social media and the press. Secondly, Valkee conducted a "human experiment" where it let users themselves state how the device works. Thirdly, the focus was on sales of the device.
Not many startups buy marketing campaigns from advertising agencies. However, it's obvious that in this case for Valkee it paid off easily.
Valkee is an Oulu based technology company that has created a new way to cure seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Valkee is also backed by many high level investors such as Esther Dyson as well as Anssi Vanjoki, a former Nokia executive among others. Back in December we disclosed that the company was valued at only 4 million euros in the round Dyson and Vanjoki took part in. With a million euros in sales by early January, it seems that the investors signed themselves into a good deal.
It is pretty astonishing, especially as experts estimate that the closest comparative market - i.e. traditional bright lights - in Finland is EUR 3m annually. 25% market share in year 1 is not bad.
Well done boys & girls and - and most importantly - this shows that the device works: something that I knew already based on the still unpublished science that I have had a chance to review.
In this case, it probably doesn't make sense to even talk about market share. They didn't suddenly so much eat into their competitors sales, but created a whole new pie all to itself (a little bit like the iPod did in the mp3 players category). Product definition and channel strategy clearly hit the sweet spot. Well done indeed.
There is still no scientific proof that the device works or is it just a placebo.
@Lauri Yes, imagine the numbers when the proof is in! Great work Valkee!
There will be no proof.
http://alistairpott.com/2010/01/06/power-balance-is-rubbish/
@Lauri want to make a bet on that? :)
Valkee tells that it has sent a text to be publish on a scientific paper. They could have been publish that text on there site mentioning that "it has been sent to..."
They have not done it. Why? Because they just want to collect money before telling that it was just a kind of a joke.
Another "power-balance" based on plasebo only.
@Lauri let's make the bet then? Let's give them one year to publish proof. If they don't you win.
Tell me why they have not published it already on their site? Or have not told to what paper it has been sent?
Because,
there is no wools on it.
Then you should be able to stand behind your words and take the bet.
Any respectful scientific paper will not accept they contribution, because no plasebo tests has been done.
And they know it. They will send their text from paper to paper telling that ... you know ...
Any respectful scientific paper will not accept their contributions, because no plasebo tests has been done.
And they know it. They will send their text from paper to paper telling that ... you know
@Lauri Have you actually any proof to back your accusations? You're basically accusing Valkee about openly lying on their website.
Comparing Valkee to Power Balance it's an utter strawman argument. While the published research about the plugs is not (yet) scientifically relevant, there *is* proof of the effects of bright light in general. PB, on the other hand, is in no way based on scientific facts.
"Valkee tells that it has sent a text to be publish on a scientific paper. They could have been publish that text on there site mentioning that "it has been sent to..."
They have not done it. Why?"
Because the journal wants to get the scoop and doesn't allow leaking the info?
"Any respectful scientific paper will not accept they contribution, because no plasebo tests has been done."
Not true. If you read their research page (http://www.valkee.com/tiede.html), you can see that there have been double blind experiments going on since 2009, and that there have been "strong proof" already. These things take time, however.
Now, I'm not saying that it'll turn out to work in the end. I don't know. But neither do you. And stating that "Valkee is placebo because PowerBalance is placebo" is just plain ignorance.
They only say that they are still doing double blind tests and have only "preliminary" results.
That means that their material sent to Scientific papers can't include double blind tests and ARE NOT VALID because of that!
They are playing with time.
Nice to see that they got their business going on :).
Like Lauri, I would like to see them showing some proof that the device actually works. At the moment their proof is as valuable as PowerBalance has.
PowerBalance -> Balance helps you in sports.
Valkee -> Bright lights make you feel better.
I don´t understand why everybody is defending them at the moment.
Tekes has funded Valkee Oy by 321000 euros during 2010.
http://grohn.puheenvuoro.uusisuomi.fi/64918-tekes-on-rahoittanut-valkee-oyta-321000-eurolla