Launching a billion dollar brand in a highly competitive category

CHALLENGE:
Akorn Pharmaceuticals hired us to help launch their Thera Tears Dry Eye Therapy Lubricant into the national marketplace beginning during the Fourth Quarter of 2017. Given the intense competitive nature of the category–over $110 million in spending for numerous Rx and OTC brands–their efforts needed to be highly focused to reach core segments of dry eye sufferers to drive both sales and awareness

SOLUTION:
The planning process began in 2015 with OCD developing extensive category and customer based research relative to the both current categories users and non-treaters (those not using any brand). Based on our findings, while we identified Women 35+ with relevant symptoms as the overall target, with a significant concentration amongst Women 55+, we also discovered opportunities amongst specific Male segments:

Working with Bases, and through the development of our own statistical analyses, we created multiple spending/plan options for Years 1 & 2 of the campaign, to identify ideal spending and media mix.

From a planning standpoint, a rich mix of Television, Digital and consumer magazine support was identified. While digital went beyond simple demographic profiles to include symptomatic measurements, OCD took planning beyond simply negotiating TRP goals and relative CPMs. Extensive analyses of media consumption habits were employed to identify the actual programs, networks, and magazines consumed by these individuals. Furthermore, from a negotiation standpoint, OCD negotiated against the Women 35+ overall target, since it is a harder demographic to deliver, knowing that our primary target of Women 55+ would be over-delivered (significant bonus delivery at no additional charge.

RESULTS:
The combination of digital and print provided a strong base of customer communication, establishing an effective level of advertising continuity. Television delivered a clear sense of immediacy driving enhanced response during each advertising window.

Sales result success was clear. In addition, the dramatic improvements that were achieved in terms of aided awareness (approximately a 60% increase while the rest of the category while active in advertising remained relatively flat) put the brand in a strong position moving forward.

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