Impression Healthcare scores exclusive supply agreement with corporate dentist 1300SMILES
Impression Healthcare (ASX: IHL) has recently made a lot of moves in the medicinal cannabis space, including receiving its cannabis distribution licenses last week.
This week, it has taken a progressive step towards further commercialising its custom-fitted range of mouthguards after the company signed an exclusive supply agreement with ASX-listed 1300SMILES (ASX: ONT), one of Australia’s leading companies working within the dental industry.
The company owns and operates full-service dental facilities at its sites in New South Wales, South Australia, and across ten major population centres in Queensland.
The arrangement represents the first exclusive business-to-business supply agreement for Impression’s preferred practitioner network and carries an initial exclusivity period of three months.
In a statement to the market, Impression announced that the deal will actively commence next month with the company being tasked with manufacturing and supplying all custom-fitted mouthguards on an exclusive basis to 30 dental practices operated by 1300SMILES.
The deal represents a new collaboration and a “significant expansion” of Impression’s business-to-business preferred practitioner network given that 1300SMILES serves as a major corporate dentist with many large practices, mainly in Queensland.
Marketing push
To kick-off a substantive marketing push and to promote its product to a significant market audience, Impression has said that it will work hand-in-hand with the 1300SMILES marketing team to imminently launch a joint marketing strategy.
This will include the promotion of the Gameday Mouthguard by Impression’s 55 Australian-centric sports ambassadors on social media, sporting a total social media reach of around 1.8 million followers.
The joint marketing campaign is expected to position Impression as a high-quality product supplier given the existing market positioning currently held by 1300SMILES.
A key caveat that underpins the deal is that most 1300SMILES dental practices are located in Queensland where there is a strong NRL following. Impression is seeking to hone in on high-impact sports in an attempt to appeal to large customer bases in both Australian rules football and rugby to generate strong sales.
Impression has a dental lab in Melbourne where it produces custom products under four succinct brands – Gameday Mouthguards, The Knight Guard, The Sleep Guardian and ITW.
Impression will engage its prominent NRL and other sports ambassadors to promote the Gameday Mouthguard to drive traffic to the preferred practitioner network and Gameday Mouthguard products.
The terms of agreement mean that Impression has exclusivity, and therefore, the company will be doing all the necessary laboratory work for custom fitted mouthguards for the busiest part of the season.
According to Impression, many people rely on their dentist to get a custom-fitted mouthguard where a “dental impression” is taken by a dentist or dental nurse. This consumer trend is expected to continue and to generate significant market exposure for Impression which could mean a strong boost to item sales for its proprietary range of mouthguards.
Furthermore, Impression is also seeking to leverage its newly-established agreement to cross-sell some of its other products. The two parties intend to enter negotiations to supply a broader range of dental products, including the Knight Guard and the Sleep Guardian products for the treatment of bruxism, snoring and mild to moderate sleep apnoea.
The agreement announced today will run in conjunction with existing partners within the preferred practitioner network and takes the total number of preferred practitioners to 116 locations nationwide.
“We look forward to promoting the use of custom-fitted mouthguards, which provide for superior teeth protection and reduce the risk of concussion and brain injuries,” said Mr Joel Latham, chief executive officer of Impression Healthcare.
“1300SMILES already has a strong patient network and in fact already have 12 rugby league club group fittings scheduled across North Queensland during the pre-season and the Impression laboratory has appropriately geared up for the increased seasonal workload,” said Mr Latham.