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Hold your horses: Breathe Right hopes to go viral at Belmont

Bruce Horovitz
USA TODAY

It's not easy to go viral when you make a product that unclogs nasal passages.

The New York Racing Association approved the use of a nasal breathing strip on the horse California Chrome as he tries for a Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes. They are made by a company called Flair.

Unless, of course, you climb atop a proven winner who just happens to be vying for horse racing's Triple Crown. That's essentially what Breathe Right nasal strips is about to do.

The brand, made by GlaxoSmithKline, is announcing plans to not only be a co-sponsor of Saturday's Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the famous Triple Crown races, but to hand out at least 50,000 of its nasal strips to adult fans attending the race. These, of course, are nasal strips meant to be used by humans to help them breathe better when they sleep. They're not the controversial equine nasal strips (made by another company, Flair), to be worn by California Chrome, the horse that wore them — and won — at both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.

But hold your horses. The stunt gets goofier. Breathe Right reps will nudge folks to wear them during the race — just like the celebrated horse — and flood social media with selfies posted from the racetrack.

Voila: instant, viral nasal strips.

"This is a moment-in-time opportunity for us," says Mandy Hennebry, senior brand manager for Breathe Right. "California Chrome's use of equine nasal strips has sparked huge interest — and conversation — around all nasal strips."

That interest has been aided by the fact that the horse came perilously close to being banned from wearing the nasal strips at the Belmont Stakes — until the New York Racing Association changed its rules and said, heck, any horse in the race can wear nasal strips.

With all the nasal strip buzz, Breathe Right couldn't resist the PR stunt. Since May 19, two days after the running of the Preakness, social-media mentions of "nasal strips" are up 148%, reports social-media research specialist Visible Technologies. All because of California Chrome, of course.

"This gives us an opportunity to communicate what Breathe Right can do for people," says Hennebry.

The brand also will air TV spots in the 10 largest markets featuring a jockey who wears nasal strips. It's also promoting the stunt on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

One PR pro says the gambit is brilliant. "If you didn't know what Breathe Right was before this, you will certainly know after," says Chris Ann Goddard, president of CGPR. The stunt, she says, will go seriously viral.

Which is really all Breathe Right wants.

It will set up two booths inside — and one outside — the race track, where it will hand out its strips to race-goers. "We'll ask people to get in the spirit of the day and wear the strips during the race," says Hennebry. Since it's a race sponsor — just like Coca-Cola, Kia and Coors — Breathe Right also will have an ad inside the official race program.

Not going to the race? No problem. You also can click on Breathe Right's website for a free nasal strip.

Saturday may be the human nasal strip industry's biggest-ever day, at least in pop cultural terms. It's nearly a $120 million industry, and Breathe Right already owns about three-quarters of it, reports the research firm Information Resources. But clearly, Breathe Right wants more.

And for once, it's getting more limelight than its veteran sister brands Tums, Sensodyne and Aquafresh.

So, which horse is Breathe Right's Hennebry betting on? "I need to pull for California Chrome," she chuckles. "That's the horse who brought us here."

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