Bayer launched a new painkiller, Aspirina Plus, created to combat muscular pain. This launch was part of a strategy focusing on the creation of specific products in response to pressure from competitors. Since Bayer had a customer database of Aspirin users, it decided to carry out a campaign to communicate this launch to the target public with the closest links to the product. There was just one problem. The Spanish Ministry of Health does not allow direct marketing campaigns for new products to be aimed directly at consumers and so some other way of communicating had to be found.

The strategy employed was to get customers to go to their pharmacies, as chemists are legally entitled to inform them about the new product. Clients received a giant gameboard creatively evoking The Twister, as the way the game is played links putting one’s muscles to the test to the therapeutic application of the product designed to combat muscle pain. In addition, to obtain the second part of the game, they had to go to their regular pharmacy, where the chemist gave them the spinner required for the game together with the playing instructions and information of Aspirina Plus.

The campaign achieved a 35% response rate. Further to this, research was undertaken to evaluate the impact of the direct marketing actions comparing Aspirina clients not impacted by the campaign with clients that were impacted.

The results were as follows:Awareness of the product was 20% higher in the impacted vs. the non-impacted sample. Product trial in the impacted sample was 150% higher than in the non-impacted sample. In addition, we achieved various synergies with the pharmacies such as improving commercial relations with Bayer and guaranteeing increased customer traffic during the campaign.