Allergy relief is an intensely competitive category. Reactine was the #1 share leader, but share was in decline, with highly-active competitors and new players entering the market. It wouldn’t be enough to simply provide a reassuring and familiar presence. Reactine needed to find a way to prove it was #1 at stopping allergies.

Reactine’s agency, UM, found that when allergies strike, nothing else matters except getting relief and getting it fast. UM also learned that, contrary to the conventional category approach, consumers don’t want to be mocked by over-exaggerated ads depicting symptoms. They want a brand to truly understand their suffering – and walk the fine line between having fun while sympathizing with the consumer. To help Reactine stand out from the crowd, UM set out to build a platform that would fend-off competitive threats by reaching allergy sufferers in real-time along their path-to-purchase, to provide relevant information when they needed it most to stop suffering in its tracks.

The agency sought to find a way to be timely in its messaging, knowing that allergies have a diverse dynamic across Canada. Cities are hit with different pollen waves at different times. To stay relevant when allergies were at their peak, its strategy was to customize its messaging by city to keep sufferers informed of pollen-levels, in real-time. To maximize relevance, Reactine provided peak pollen alerts when it counted most to different markets and different times. It forged an innovative partnership with Aerobiology Research Laboratories to analyze pollen-levels in cities across Canada.

Then UM created 6-second videos through a custom YouTube execution that dynamically delivered tailored pollen forecasts to targeted cities. Capitalizing on this new YouTube bumper unit, Reactine delivered customized, short snackable content to the consumer, while providing them the value they seek. UM adapted the 6-second videos with 2 different compelling call-to-actions. When pollen was low, Reactine celebrated with consumers, encouraging them to get outside and enjoy the day. But when pollen was high, the videos acted as a warning to prepare. Reactine pollen alerts gave the brand great scale and flexibility like never before. Video buys were optimized market-by-market, based on pollen aerobiology, shopper and consumption data in real-time, allowing Reactine to be hyper-relevant to consumers in the moment. This unique approach allowed Reactine to dynamically scale-up where it counted, reach consumers before they got to a store and fine-tune investments based on shopper response and volume potential.

The campaign was a massive success and overcame competitive threats. By leveraging real-time data triggers and customized messaging along the consumer path-to-purchase, UM drove outstanding market impact. The campaign drove week-over-week share increases, reversing the share decline experienced pre-launch. When the Maritimes were hit with high pollen levels in May, Reactine was the only brand to increase share in the region. In the West, where pollen unexpectedly hit 3 months later than usual, Reactine was again the only brand to post a share increase across the category. Reactine fended off competitors, strengthened its #1 share position and, ultimately, provided allergy sufferers real relief when they needed it most.