The Halo UV-ST has been all the talk as of late, but here is the link to the official release from our agency of record, BooneOakley.

http://www.adweek.com/aw/regional/southeast/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003664568

Take a look!

Another great write-up by our friends at MediaPost!  Halo is literally shining a whole new light on clean.

IT WAS A EUREKA MOMENT. Pun intended, given that Ken Garcia's light-bulb moment was the notion that nobody had thought up a device combining a vacuum cleaner with the sterilizing virtues of UVC (ultraviolet light in the "C" band, also called Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation).

Garcia, the CEO of Halo Technologies, Inc., a privately held firm in Charlotte, N.C., says he had returned home from his job with a water company to his wife and triplets when he realized that the same UVC used to purify water could be used in the home to kill bacteria, dust mites and other pathogens inhabiting carpets and causing a variety of kids' allergies and asthma in the home.

Fast-forward four years or so, and the result--the firm's Halo Ultraviolet Germ-Killing Vacuum--has begun a national rollout this month in several major chains, and will get support from an ad push starting this week. The machine, which retails for $499, is available at Bed Bath & Beyond and Best Buy starting this month and at Sears starting in November.

Garcia uses the analogy of a kitchen countertop on which poultry is being prepared to describe how the device works to kill dust mites--which account, he says, for the vast majority of indoor asthma and allergies. "If a traditional vacuum is like a paper towel used to wipe the counter after preparing poultry, Halo is like including the Clorox you spray on the counter to kill organisms left behind.

The effort, via Charlotte, N.C.-based BooneOakley, includes TV, print, outdoor and interactive elements. The campaign targets women with kids under 10, and includes two full-page print ads in People, Oprah, Parenting, Real Simple, and Parents; two :30 TV spots will run in Early AM News, Daytime, and Primetime on all broadcast networks in the New York, Dallas, and Minneapolis. The company will also promote the machine on a billboard in New York's Times Square. The effort includes a Web site, GetHalo.com.

Garcia says the TV advertising is going to begin as a test-run in New York, Minneapolis and Dallas this week, although product rollout is national. He adds that although the company tested the machine for its ability to kill MRSA, the dreaded strain of staph that has evolved a resistance to most antibiotics, the company will not make that capability central to its marketing message.

In all media, the only visual is the vacuum itself and its glowing ultraviolet light. Copy emphasizes the vacuum's germ-killing features. One TV ad reads: "Just before dying, dust mites report seeing a brilliant flash of light. Ultraviolet light." One print ad asks: "Is it a vacuum cleaner that kills germs? Or a germ-killer that vacuums?" In the Times Square display, initial text reading: "Kills dust mites, mold, flu ..." is always visible while "... and other invisible germs" appears only when the vacuum's intermittent black light comes on.

David Oakley, partner in the agency, says that the two spots are focused on the UVC light. "We really wanted to emphasize the light chamber underneath." The agency also handled media.

Oakley says the company is also running an Internet banner-ad campaign on sites like About, WebMD, iVillage and Yahoo, has redesigned the company's consumer Web site, and is handling packaging and POP. He says that displays have motion sensors so that when consumers are within three feet of the machine, its UVC light comes on.

Garcia says that since launching the company, he has attracted staff from Dyson US, including Jeff Collins, formerly head of sales at Dyson and now vice president/sales and marketing at Halo. Halo's head of field sales also comes from Dyson.
Karl Greenberg can be reached at karl@mediapost.com

With our huge billboard in Times Square and now our article in the New York Times today, you cannot miss us!  Halo is everywhere.  Read the article below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/business/media/26adco.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

A Snippet:

Jeff Collins, Halo’s vice president for sales and marketing, said the company “is creating a new category in the floor-care market.”

“Any vacuum, by Dyson, Hoover, Bissell, can’t kill germs while it vacuums,” he asserted. “We’re not going after any maker or model. We don’t see any competition.”

Halo does not see its products as replacements for other vacuums, Mr. Smith said [Phil Smith, president of our agency of record, BooneOakley]. Rather, the pitch is: “You should get this regardless, because of its germ-killing properties. We consider this the final frontier."

Next to our exciting new vacuum (haha!), the "Superbug", MRSA, is the hottest topic around.  Making the biggest news programs, the most widely circulated papers, MRSA is taking the country by storm, quite literally. 

IVillage has a great collection about MRSA, what it is, how to protect yourself from it and more. 

http://totalhealth.ivillage.com/portal/site/totalhealth/menuitem.a4bb8fed5c2c8f64945b2eb9493c2d04/?vgnextoid=83219c531d3b5110VgnVCM10000075c1d240RCRD&vgnextchannel=52f12d1c71043110VgnVCM10000094c3d240RCRD&nlcid=ht|10-25-2007|

Our friends over at Apartment Therapy have written up a great review on our Halo UV-ST Ultraviolet Vacuum.  Give it a read:

http://la.apartmenttherapy.com/la/test-lab/halo-uvst-ultraviolet-vacuum-in-the-test-lab-033726

Don't take our word for how great the Halo UV-ST works.  Just ask Gregory at Apartment Therapy.  "There's something admittedly extremely pleasurable vacuuming knowing you're not only cleaning, but also eradicating uninvited microscopic house guests, and so it hasn't taken much for us to use the UV-ST regularly."

An interesting article came out recently about the allergens in schools and what precautions parents need to be taking to prevent their children from getting unnecessarily sick.  A study in two Houston schools actually forced the district to shut down the facilities.  What steps are your kids' schools taking to help your children?  Read more here.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou071019_ac_asthmapreview.1870da04d.html

You may or may not have seen us the other day on TV, being touted as one of Good Housekeeping's best vacuums of 2007.  Halo was voted 2007's Most Innovative!  Read more about the exciting news here!

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/products/best-vacuums-1007

There are even more folks out there using ultraviolet light for great things.  Just recently, Rialto, California has joined the plethora of cities using UV light to purify their drinking water instead of using only chlorine and other chemicals.  The area realized there is a lot of risk with having that much pure chlorine around - a gaseous chemical that is very deadly if not used with stringent guidelines in place. 

Read more about it here.

http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_7100919

A very interesting article came out recently about the effect of space travel on different bacteria and viruses.  Did you know that salmonella turns deadlier after only a few weeks in space?  At this time, NASA has chosen, in part, to disinfect the space station with chemicals, but wouldn't it be cool to see a Halo Ultraviolet Vacuum floating around in zero gravity?  Certainly, if Halo can be used to clean our homes on earth, the same ultraviolet light could be employed to help sterilize the environment all around the galaxy, right? 

Read more here.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2007-10-11-Germs_N.htm

The Nobel Prizes were awarded this last week and while there were many awards that went to world-changing individuals, there were several "Ig Nobels" that also went to rather interesting causes as well.  The magazine, Annals of Improbable Research, put out a list of their Ig Nobel Prizes, bringing attention to the humorous, yet thought-provoking and ultimately valuable studies that go on in research labs around the world.

With that being said, Halo would personally like to congratulate Prof. Dr. Johanna E.M.H. van Bronswijk of Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands, for doing a census of all the mites, insects, spiders, pseudoscorpions, crustaceans, bacteria, algae, ferns and fungi with whom we share our beds each night. 

It is work like yours that helps solidify the claims of Halo.

There has been a lot of talk recently about MRSA (pronounced MUR-sah) and it's prevalence in the US.  MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is simply a variation on the Staph germ that is resilient to antibiotics.  Approximately 19,000 people die from MRSA each year.

MRSA is often times carried by many of us with no symptoms whatsover, remaining dormant.  However, people who do come in contact with it and do become infected are then subjected to rashes that can then turn into boils as the bacteria moves through the body.  If not caught and treated, MRSA can and does result in death. 

Clearly, MRSA is a very serious germ and needs to be treated as such.  While MRSA is contagious among people in the public realm, the most seriously contagious form is often times acquired while one is in the hospital, being treated for various open wounds.   Disinfection is critical in hospital settings to ensure that MRSA is not spread.  

Fortunately, ultraviolet light in the C spectrum kills MRSA on the spot.  Hospitals have been using UV-C light for decades to prevent the unnecessary and totally preventable spread of infection.  And now you can at home with Halo!

An interesting article came out about the effect of drought on allergy symptoms today and I thought I'd share with our reading public.  Drought effects different plants differently and effects how harsh the fall allergy season might be. 

Read more below.

http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/health___fitness.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2007-10-11-0023.html

Hello again!  I've missed you!  Thanks for stopping in and checking on me and the rest of the Halo team!

As you can see by our new website, big things are happening at Halo.

We shipped the new Halo UV-ST to selected Bed, Bath and Beyond stores this last week...

...Will be in selected Best Buy stores on October 21st...

And the icing on the cake?  We will be in all Sears stores, nationwide, come mid-November.

We encourage you to visit our retail partners to see and touch the new Halo UV-ST for yourself...and join us in the exciting months to come!  Stay tuned!

The winds are getting colder and the leaves are changing colors...sure fire traits of allergy season.  While there seemed to be little reprieve for me this year, ear, eye, nose and throat doctors are seeing a new influx of patients as of late.  What are the symptoms?  The sniffles, headaches, coughs and watery eyes are popular...but these symptoms are not just for colds or flu anymore.

The best way to find out if you're suffering from allergies rather than a cold is to visit your doctor.  Read up on the internet and get educated as this year's fall allergy season comes around!

http://wjz.com/topstories/local_story_286144532.html