Acuvue - 1 Day Acuvue Moist

Cornered by perceived product parity and recession-fuelled downtrading, ‘1 Day Acuvue Moist’ needed a tangible benefit to recapture ailing market shares. We capitalized on our product technology to amplify critical moments in people’s lives where comfort is integral to performance. We used testimonials from Olympic athletes for whom every second mattered and looped in consumer engagement where Malaysians ranked 12 “moments that matter”; making comfort even more consumer-relevant. Apart from unprecedented sales, this campaign bumped up 1 Day Acuvue Moist to the number two contributor in Acuvue’s portfolio.

What was our strategic communications challenge?

Daily Lens market reaching parity levels

When Acuvue first launched their 1 Day Acuvue Moist, the category drivers were:-

1) Long lasting comfort – because the lenses are disposed of daily, this translates into longer lasting comfort

2) The Health and Convenience benefit – by not having to recycle the lens, you reduce the chances of getting an eye infection and save the hassle of cleaning it by the end of the day

Acuvue was the only player in the daily disposable lens market; however competitors quickly caught up; launching a series of daily lenses offering the same benefits, at a lower price point

Recession-fuelled Price-Driven Consumer

Due to the looming recession in March 2008, prices of essentials sky-rocketed; driving consumers to become more price-conscious. With product offering at parity, market shares for Acuvue inevitably dived.

What were our campaign objectives?

• Induce consideration and generate trial for the product among spectacle/non contact lens wearers, by demonstrating the benefits of 1-Day Acuvue Moist

• To uplift future consideration for 1-Day Acuvue Moist to 30%

It became a question of justifying the value of a premium-priced 1 Day Acuvue Moist without getting entangled in price wars. To leverage on a compelling point of difference using the right idea, message and insight that consumers will find relevant.

What was our big idea?

“The Moment of Truth”

How did we arrive at the big idea?

We knew that 1 Day Acuvue Moist is far more comfortable to wear and provide wearers longer lasting comfort when compared to competing brands – a key factor when selecting contact lens

It was then clear to us as it is for our consumers – when it comes to crucial moments; you need the best lenses to excel. It is also a human desire to perform at their optimal best to seek both internal gratification and external approval. And this is when our consumers know they can count on the brand for delivery.

How did we bring the idea to life?

For moments that matter

To give ‘The Moment of Truth’ mileage, testimonial from key individuals, whose careers depended on the health and comfort of their eyes, were sought. We also leveraged on the fact that Johnson & Johnson (Acuvue’s mother brand) was a sponsor for the Olympics, the search was therefore focused on athletes who were involved, directly or indirectly, with the Games.

2 local athletes were selected; Carolyn Au-Yong – a retired national gymnast who now trains aspirants and scouts for the National Gymnastic Team and Elaine Teo, the National Taekwondo exponent, who was training to compete in the Beijing Olympics.

Their testimonials were simple

For Carolyn – her job as a coach requires her to extend diligent watch over her students to spot the most minor of errors. Watching an entire class for their hand-eye coordination can be tough when the eyes are dry and tired.

For Elaine – although taekwondo is essentially a sport where points are gained by moves and strikes, contenders can also lose points through expressions of pain or discomfort. Elaine has even had contact lenses tear apart in some of her competitions due to blows from her opponent, so a superior lens is needed for precision and durability.

Their careers and success depended on being comfortable with their eyes during those crucial moments and 1 Day Acuvue Moist delivered when and where it mattered most.

The advertising messages featuring the testimonials from these 2 athletes ran in Magazine, Print and also in Gyms and Hair Salons (in the form of Posters and LCD Screens) to make the brand more relevant to our primary target audience.

Getting consumers involved

A contest was held where consumers were invited to rank ’12 Moments That Matter’ in the order of their personal preference. The moments that were selected for ranking were moments that had deep emotional connection with everyone i.e. Looking good for their graduation, their wedding, first interviews, etc.

We also developed a 3-minute infomercial highlighting the importance of comfortable contact lens during after-work situations; using a gym class setting to highlight the problem with dry eyes and how it affects your performance.

This created a sense of relevancy and involvement for the “Moments that Matter” campaign as well as establish 1 Day Acuvue Moist as a reliable and consistent deliverer of performance.The contest was communicated in Print, Online as well as at Optical Outlets nationwide in the form of standees and leaflets.

How do we know it worked?

A brand health monitor indicated strong total awareness and future consideration to purchase rose significantly from the high ten’s in percentage point to the thirty percent region at the tail-end of July. (Source: TNS Brand Health Monitor is a consumer online survey of the contact lens population in Malaysia tracked on a monthly basis)

Aided ad awareness showed positive trend aligned to our activities moving from the mid twenties percentage point and peaking at mid 40s percentage points in July at the tail end of campaign.

Sales growth for 1 Day Acuvue Moist also jumped to 25% compared to 9% in 2007 and became the no. 2 revenue contributor out of 8 products in Acuvue’s portfolio. (Source: Sales data obtained from Johnson & Johnson Vision Care)

Market share spiked 10% for the Acuvue brand from 67% in 1st Quarter 2008 to 74% in at the end of the 2nd Quart er 2008. Market share continued to sustain a commanding 75% and 76% in 3rd and 4th Quarter 2008 respectively. (Source: Market Share data monitored by Veris Consulting, Contact Lens Institute)

Anything else going on that might have helped drive results?

Describe all other factors in the marketplace. Judges are industry executives. Entries that omit pertinent information will be disqualified.

BFM - Breaking The Mould

In a sea of format radio, limited media channels, and a tiny advertising budget; can you launch an independent business radio station aimed at a jaded white-collared audience? BFM89.9 branded itself fast with a witty, acronym-based and topical (eg Obama’s win) taxi-back campaign. Very high visibility and word-of-mouth was created within weeks. Traffic to its website has soared and sponsorships and tie-ups with big brands have exceeded expectation. Listenership continues to rise. BFM 89.9 is on its way to being the must tune-in station for Malaysian business people.

What was our strategic communications challenge?

Building an identity for a new business radio station. Radio stations in Malaysia have become very formatted, playing the same music over and over again and consisting of entertainment considered trivial and inconsequential, with too many contests. The more discerning white-collar listeners were beginning to turn off the radio preferring to listen to their own CDs and MP3 players. Business FM (BFM) saw an opportunity in introducing a radio station that would appeal to these listeners; a radio station that would engage, educate and enlighten them. BFM would feature matters that would appeal to them like business, finance, marketing, technology and productivity, in addition to sport and a fresh music offering.

What were our campaign objectives?

a) Create curiosity, awareness, affinity among discerning listeners, and get them to tune in.

b) To quickly plant the alternative nature of “B.F.M.” and what it stands for with a very small marketing budget.

c) Create listener experience by igniting a dialogue with them.

What was our big idea?

Acronyms of B.F.M

Using witty acronyms based on the station call sign B.F.M. to create curiosity about the brand, establish a brand personality and creating listener involvement.

How did we arrive at the big idea?

Our listeners are knowledgeable, reputable and established professionals. They are entrepreneurs, investors, decision makers and influencers. They don’t want fluff in their life, they want straightforward news/information and they do appreciate a little wit. There was too much ‘sameness’ out there, it was time to break the mould.

How did we bring the idea to life?

Our listeners appreciated wit and candor. They liked to be challenged intellectually. So we took the abbreviation that represented our radio station (B – business, F – frequency, M – modulation) and created acronyms that reflected our brand essence and the type of topics we cover.

Media channel wise, we faced challenges with both the budget and the medium. Other radio channels were out of the question as they would not support a competitive radio station. The same went for TV stations which were “media owners” of radio stations. So we chose to advertise where radio was most consumed – on the road. Taxi back stickers and car stickers were created. The leading financial paper was also considered with simple B&W panel ads.

Tie-ups with program sponsors also involved playing with BFM acronyms but with a spin on the sponsor’s product or service.

As our campaign idea was so simple and adaptable, we could quickly and easily swope the advertising content and materials to keep the campaign topical for consumers and listeners alike. Topics like the US Election, oil prices hitting an all time high, the subprime mortgage crisis, the F1 season and even Sharukh Khan receiving his Datukship provided fodder for the campaign

How do we know it worked?

The campaign had a soft launch in October 2008 with the station officially launched in February 2009. Results have been very positive. The creative work is being recognized among our listeners who are also industry leaders, resulting in them being one of the “topics” on the station. The campaign is already successfully driving listeners to the station and its website. Multinational companies in Malaysia have chosen to tie up with BFM for their promotion efforts because they believe the station is targeting the right listenership. There was extensive press coverage by leading business news portals and dailies.

a) Create awareness among the discerning listeners, and get them to tune in.

• Over 55% of our listeners are corporate decision makers or influencers with a household disposable income of more than RM 7,500 per month. More than 70% had funds earmarked for investments and over 40% had an investment portfolio worth over RM100,000. (Source: Advertiser Data - BFM online survey among 543 respondents, May 2009)

b) Define what BFM stood for, and build affinity among listeners.

• So clear was the campaign and positioning of BFM that listeners contributed their own innovative acronyms for the brand. We received a total of approximately 240 acronyms (80 entries with an average of 3 acronyms submitted per entry) within one week of requesting for submissions.

c) Deepen listenership experience by igniting a dialogue with them.

• Traffic to the website increased from 1,629 in Oct 2008 to 19,918 in May 2009 (a 1,122% increase).
• Number of unique visitors to the website rose from 965 in Oct 2008 to 11,015 in May 2009 (a 1,041% increase).
• Page views on the website increased from 4,699 in Oct 2008 to 45,815 in May 2009 (a 875% increase)

(Source: Google Analytics dated 25 June 2009)

• Run rate of podcasts downloaded/played stood at about 105 a week at the end of September 2008. The current run rate of podcasts downloaded/played has since dramatically increased to 2,160 per week or over 300 per day. Total podcasts downloaded/played to-date is 45,322. (Source: BFM)

• Ranked number 8 in the “Most Interesting Use of Web 2.0 by Malaysian Brands” (Source: GreyReview – news and analysis of the business of web 2.0 (published 25 February 2009)

Anything else going on that might have helped drive results?

The world was experiencing a period of dramatic social and political developments at the time, which provided fodder for our acronyms. This included the credit crunch in the US which eventually led to a global financial crisis, escalating fuel prices globally, US elections for a new president, new leaders in the Formula One race, just to name a few.