Vital Performance /HP 2000

Vital Performance /HP 2000
New Tingle Product Garners R Rating

by Scott Eric Barrett

Baton Rouge, La.-based manufacturer Vital Performance/HP 2000 has plenty of loyal customers throughout the country. When its customers said they loved the company's formulations but wanted a tingle formula, the company answered in 2002 with Rated R. The sensuous, shimmering, hot-action formula contains luxurious marine chitosan and hemp seed oil to nourish and condition the skin, leaving it with a deep, dark and exotic tan, according to Tim Sonnier, Vital Performance/HP 2000's president and owner.

"We believe consistency is the key to achieving the results you want," he says. "Vital Performance provides you with the exact tools you need. You add the determination and vision of what you want to be. Rated R is a great example of this."

The company has been around since 1996. While Sonnier has been there since the beginning, his presence in the industry goes back much further.

"I was a competitive bodybuilder for 13 years," he says. "As you know, bodybuilders have to tan to look good on stage. Back then, I always tanned outdoors with baby oil and iodine. I didn't know anything about lotions until I decided to open a tanning salon in 1995."

Sonnier jumped into the industry headfirst. He bought three $3,500 tanning beds and did a lot of pre-opening advertising and was ready to start making money. Then a close friend of his who had been in the industry for many years came to Baton Rouge to check things out. He helped Sonnier put the beds together, then walked into the lobby and slapped his hands together, asking where the lotions were. Sonnier's answer was that he was selling tans, not lotions.

That was a wake-up call for Sonnier. His friend sat him down and explained the exfoliation process, and the rest is history.

"I ended up getting involved directly with lotions and eventually bought HP 2000 and have been with it ever since," he says. "Once I started using lotions I realized how important they are to create value for the customer."

All of Vital Performance/HP 2000's formulas have a three-in-one process designed to accelerate, moisturize and protect. When used as directed, the company's formulas can increase results by 40 percent, he says.

"We have four other products besides Rated R," he says. "Our Tan Maximizer is aloe vera-based instead of water-based. This means your skin stays moist the entire time you tan. Our Facial Booster works well because the skin on the face is more delicate than the skin on the rest of the body. The product is enriched with DNA-RNA enzymes that repair damaged cells."

Super Dry Body Oil was created to penetrate deep, yet won't leave a tanner's skin feeling greasy. Salon owners that have banned the use of oils allow Super Dry Body Oil in their salon because this oil won't stain towels or acrylics, Sonnier says. The fourth product, Moisturizer, is recommended for use daily after a bath or shower. The product not only prolongs an existing tan, but also helps boost the skin's supply of melanin, he says.

All of the company's products sell well, but 2002 has been the year of Rated R. "We're really proud of how Rated R has done," Sonnier says. "We have never had a tingle product before. I think over the last decade, since John Abat introduced the first tingle product, it has been a hot trend. We have been very successful without a tingle product, but so many people were asking us to release one because they really liked our line of products. So we decided to do it this year."

Rated R has worked because it's a quality product that was cleverly marketed, Sonnier says. The company advertised it as a sexy, restricted product for adults only. For 2003, Vital Performance/HP 2000 is planning on releasing a tan maximizer with a bronzer. While the indoor tanning world is very different than the professional bodybuilding world, Sonnier is happy where he is now.

"I think that it's a great industry," he says. "It's fast- changing and fun. If you don't like it now, stick around because it will change before you know it."