2020 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Challenges and Goals
With Canada’s extreme seasons, it’s no surprise that many of us get sick. – For instance, an average Canadian suffers two colds per season. But the treatments that clutter drugstores merely provide relief from cold symptoms, rather than doing anything to treat the illness itself.

Betadine is a new introduction that actually attacks the virus or bacteria that causes sore throats – typically the first symptom of the cold to come – when it’s used properly at the onset of symptoms.

The brand’s challenge at launch was to create awareness and trial for a new type treatment in an overcrowded category. As a brand new product with a format that’s quite different from the norm, the campaign had to introduce a new behaviour – gargling – to an audience that typically turned to pills and syrups.

Insights and Strategy

People credit the cold and flu category with more effectiveness than it actually offers – as the majority of products available only offer symptom relief, not effective treatment. Even the biggest brands only promise “relief from symptoms”, and an examination of years of category advertising will show that this is the benefit virtually all products promise.

Now, with the introduction of Betadine, people have a product that fights the bacteria and virus that are proven to cause cold and flu – providing treatment to get ahead of sickness all together, not just mask symptoms once a cold has developed.

The insight is that people will do anything to feel they’re getting ahead of sickness, – but have been trained to confuse or mistake temporary comfort from cold and flu symptoms with actual effective treatment.

The concept was "Feel the sign? Betadine."

Execution

The campaign had to establish both when to treat symptoms (as soon as the first symptom strikes), and the new behaviour that the product relied on.

To launch Betadine and the gargling ritual into a cluttered category in the heart of the dreaded cold season, the brand took a two-pronged approach: Drive awareness quickly with the public in mass media and leverage doctors as influencers.

When it came to public support, a video strategy played out on TV and in digital formats, OOH and search drove brand awareness and introduced the gargle ritual. Social media reinforced the usage occasions and portability of spray for immediate use. Media prioritized frequency, given that the need to treat at the right time was critical for success.

Trade print and digital publications drove awareness of the brand’s proven efficacy and the ritual. Communications encouraged doctors to gargle to keep themselves healthy while examining patients and to recommend the product.

The tone and look of the campaign intentionally avoided established category tropes. Rather than scenarios depicting ‘feel-sorry-for-me’ snifflers wrapped in flannel, the brand portrayed people in real-world situations taking the bull by the horns. Even the contemporary colour palette for the campaign felt a long way from traditional medication advertising.

Results

Disrupting a cluttered category can take years. In just three short months, Betadine drove awareness and trial and expanded the throat spray category as a whole.

The campaign broke through to change cold treatment routines and behaviours, driving 47% purchase intent and perceptions of uniqueness 7% above TV category norms. Betadine’s distinctive approach helped the brand in breaking through to the top of the category at launch. The brand accounted for 90% of the category growth versus the past year, where it achieved 27.2% market share and became the #2 brand in the category (and was briefly the #1 SKU).

Credits

Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo
Chief Creative Officer: Zak Mroueh
Executive Creative Director: Patrick Scissons
Art Director: Kevin Sato, Gail Pak
Writer: Vinay Parmar, Irfan Khan
Agency Producer: Jac Benoit
Account Team: David Tremblay
Strategic Planner: Heather Segal, Michael Szego
Client (Company): Avrio Health Canada
Clients: Sheryl Willison, Ryan Brown, Rhea Rousseau
Media Agency: Cairns O’Neil
Media Agency Planner: Rebecca Shropshire, Trish Irwin
Production House: Soft Citizen
Director: The Perlorian Brothers
Production House Producer: Marrie Wasson
Director of Photography: Kris Belchevski
Casting Director: Shasta Lutz – Jigsaw Casting
Video Post Facility / Editing Company: Zulubot
Editor: Max Lawlor
Video Post Facility: Alter Ego
Compositor / Online: Darren Achim
Animation: Ed Deng
Colourist/Transfer: Wade Odlum
Audio Post Facility/Music House: Pirate Toronto
Audio Director: Tom Eymundson
Producer: Joanne Uyeyama