Stringy Stuff

I understand the science of marketing about as well as I understand string theory, which - despite wading through two popular books that swore to make it a breeze for us regular folks - I understand not at all, especially the part about the ten dimensions.

So if anyone cares to explain to me why Adams Respiratory Therapeutics, Inc. (ARXT) chose to display on the cover of a recent presentation what appears to be a frog wearing a wifebeater that says "Mucus Rules," I’m eager to learn. I’m thinking maybe it’s a marketing technique that makes perfect sense in the seventh or eighth dimension.

Since I desperately needed an excuse to link to that picture, I was thrilled to find something to post about in the company’s proxy statement filed on Friday afternoon. Two senior officers – John Thievon, Executive VP for Sales and Business Development, and David Becker, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer and Treasurer - have been making like nomads recently. Just last year they relocated from the firm's manufacturing center in Fort Worth, Texas to its headquarters in Chester, New Jersey, with the company picking up moving expenses of $53,771 for Thievon and $146,914 for Becker. But this year both execs turned around and headed right back to Fort Worth, at a cost to shareholders of $168,782 (Thievon) and $75,520 (Becker). Apparently it took the boys only one New Jersey winter to realize that “Mucus Rules” is more than just a clever marketing slogan.

Correction: He is not a frog. His name is Mr. Mucus, and here he is with the missus.