What’s the best way to show the efficacy of Zyrtec hayfever medication? Prove it in the real world.

We created a show-stopping activation to educate and empower hayfever sufferers to live allergy-free with Zyrtec, resulting in national PR and social coverage and Zyrtec’s biggest ever sales week.

Zyrtec works quickly to help hayfever sufferers from breaking out with ‘allergy face’. To prove its efficacy, Zyrtec hayfever medication challenged supermodel and super-hayfever sufferer Madeline Cower, to wear a dress laden with over 1,200 high pollen count flowers.

Zyrtec is considered a therapeutic good and listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods. As such any marketing or advertising is required to adhere to the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code, meaning any promotional material has to be truthful, balanced and not misleading.

Our campaign targeted female skewed Gen Y consumers who choose to consume content through social media instead of traditional TV. Many hayfever allergy sufferers ignore their symptoms and don’t reach for Zyrtec anti-allergy medication. Our work tapped into the consumer’s passion for fashion and style.

Over 4.5 million Australians suffer from hay fever allergies, brought on by common allergens such as pollen, dust and mould. The challenge is many light-medium sufferers don’t realise they have hayfever allergies, instead attributing the symptoms to tiredness or the cold and flu. Zyrtec briefed us to target “unknowing” hay fever sufferers, educating them on the physical signs of hay fever allergies and how to treat with Zyrtec. KPIs included driving sales and driving earned media without relying on traditional media.

Zyrtec works quickly to help hayfever sufferers from breaking out with ‘allergy face’. To prove its efficacy, Zyrtec hayfever medication challenged supermodel and super-hayfever sufferer Madeline Cower, to wear a dress laden with over 1,200 high pollen count flowers. Designed to turn heads and get up noses, she premiered the dress at the Spring Carnival Horse Races with Zyrtec keeping her allergies under control. Coverage blossomed, with the dress featured across global news media and social.

We created a show-stopping statement to educate and empower hayfever sufferers to live allergy-free with Zyrtec, resulting in national PR and social coverage and Zyrtec’s biggest ever sales week.

Hay fever can slow you down, get in the way of social occasions, and ruin your spring and summer. ‘Allergy Face’ ruins wedding photos and can limit self-confidence. We overlaid this insight with media data showing our target audience over indexed when it came to fashion, cosmetics and social events. Essentially, our audience loved to look and feel good.

We created the ultimate Allergy Face test – a living floral dress made of over 1,200 real high-pollen-count flowers was given to a top model to wear to Sydney’s Spring Racing Carnival. The catch – she was a hay fever sufferer.

She debuted the dress at the height of hay fever season – getting through the day by proving the efficacy of the product, Zyrtec.

The floral dress mixed fashion with pollen, creating a show-stopping statement that sufferers can live Allergy Face free with Zyrtec.

Allergy sufferer, Madeline Cowe, modelled the dress - shedding light on her Allergy Face symptoms and how she lives allergy-free with Zyrtec.

The launch was supported by national and state-based media interviews on national TV, radio, print and online channels. Research and healthcare professional commentary allowed us to target consumer health media.

We collaborated with Chemist Warehouse’s to feature the dress in pharmacies nationally.

The term Allergy Face provided a platform to engage our audience, media and influencers, allowing for multiple creative and tactical executions to demonstrate that sufferers can live Allergy Face free with Zyrtec.

Commercial impact source: Johnson & Johnson

Despite –3.4% category decline during the quarter,

Zyrtec grew +0.5% at a total brand level and +5.2% in

solids, faster than key competitors Telfast and Claratyne

Chemist Warehouse’s House of Wellness partnership delivered Zyrtec’s biggest sales week ever.

Communication impact:

· 162 pieces of coverage including three full-page News Corp stories and national TV – a 116% increase on KPIs

· 122 social posts – an 144% increase on KPIs

· 39m earned reach – an 82% increase on KPIs

· 86% of coverage included 3+ key messages

· 83% of coverage included a call-to-action

· 100% positive sentiment