Table of Contents
SKILLMAN, N.J. — Personal health care products veteran M’lou Arnett has joined Matrixx Initiatives Inc., maker of the Zicam cold, sinus and allergy remedy line, as chief executive officer.
Matrixx said Wednesday that the 47-year-old Arnett, previously chief operating officer of Scerene Healthcare Inc., takes over the CEO post effective immediately.
Considered a pioneer in the personal health product space, Arnett has more than 20 years of management and health care marketing experience and was a chief architect of the marketing campaign for Mucinex cold remedy products.
She co-founded Peapack, N.J.-based Scerene Healthcare in 2009 to develop the Puristics brand of personal care products.
"Matrixx is an opportunity I couldn’t pass up," Arnett said in a statement. "Matrixx’s Zicam cold remedy line of products has strong brand equity and a great history, and I feel that I have been given a fantastic opportunity to write the next chapter."
Before Scerene, Arnett was senior vice president of marketing and advertising for Adams Respiratory Therapeutics, the marketer of Mucinex and Delsym. She is renowned in the over-the-counter medicine industry for overseeing the development of the award-winning "Mr. Mucus" advertising campaign, which boosted sales of Mucinex and raised awareness of the entire category of mucus relieving products.
From the time she joined Adams in 2004 until 2008, Arnett played a key role in growing the Adams business from $60 million to nearly $500 million. Adams was sold to Reckitt Benckiser in 2008.
Prior to joining Adams, Arnett managed a range of health care businesses at Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and its predecessor Warner Lambert Consumer Healthcare, including Listerine, Lubriderm and Benadryl.
She was named one of the top 50 marketers of the year by Advertising Age in 2006 and one of the top 20 marketers of the year by OTC Perspectives in 2008.
Zicam is poised to take advantage of consumers’ increasing interest in self-care, according to Arnett. "We have a solution for consumers that can change the way they take care of themselves, and Matrixx is well-positioned to be a major player in this space," she stated.
"I have a long history of growing brands through developing strong strategies for consumer brands based on insights into the needs and daily lives of consumers," Arnett added. "We have the opportunity to make Zicam a household name, something everyone has in their medicine cabinet."
