Allergies make people sneeze. And that’s after taking Claritin. So why do they take it? It’s better than no relief at all. We had to show them that good enough isn’t. Muddle No More poked fun at the silly things people do when they settle for mediocre relief.
Seasonal allergies were taken way too seriously. We changed all that by getting people to laugh at themselves.
Humor was a tough sell for Johnson & Johnson. But focus groups loved this campaign. And J&J listened.
Outspent 3-1, we ate Claritin’s market share for lunch and became the #1 allergy brand in the US.
The Zyrtec Story
The Zyrtec RX to OTC switch was the biggest and most successful launch in Johnson & Johnson's history. Even so, Claritin had launched eight years earlier and was massive compared to Zyrtec. We were tasked with turning Zyrtec into a consumer brand, increasing single digit awareness, and growing share from a place 30 points back. Muddle No More was the campaign that changed everything. It was the first to use humor in the J&J portfolio of medications, and that made a big impact. Our strategy, Good Enough Isn’t, along with a fully integrated strategic plan, gave us a solid foundation for our commercial work. The brand team gave us the rest: permission to try new things, test-and-learn, and innovate. We couldn’t outspend Claritin, so we had to outsmart them.
In 2018, we became the #1 allergy brand and never looked back. Muddle No More continued to drive the brand forward in 2019 and 2020, and we replaced Claritin as the iconic brand in the category. Our work has been honored at Cannes, One Show, Clios, Webby, Effies, and many more. Mashable called us out for “harnessing the magic of online.” Google included us in their annual list of Brands Making a Significant Digital Impact. Facebook used our work as a case history for other marketers. And Nielsen reported that our commercials were the most memorable in the category. Considering the distance we closed, we demonstrated the power of an idea executed in surprising ways.
Muddle No More Commercials
From Super Bowl commercials to Nielsen’s “most memorable,” Muddle No More helped Zyrtec dethrone Claritin and take the #1 position in the category.
The absurdity of the campaign was its magic, showing the follies of people who don’t have complete allergy relief.
Humor was a tough sell. In research, Muddle No More spots were consistently the highest scoring J&J had ever seen.
Spring is the worst time of year for people with seasonal allergies. So, we started a movement to get rid of this season of misery. It all started with a newspaper ad on Ground Hog Day, February 2nd.
Wild posters showed up in states with awful allergies: NY, PA, CA, GA, TX, DC. And the absurdity began.
Online videos, social, partnerships, even an Amazon store, got people to stock up way before they even thought about buying Claritin.
Muddlers of America is a grass roots movement that hates grass, trees, and pollen. Their mission is to put an end to spring. Did it work out for them? Nope. But they did discover a more effective way to get rid of allergies: Zyrtec.
The Muddle No More campaign pokes fun at the silly things people do when they don’t get relief. And trying to get rid of Spring was the ultimate folly.
Pre-roll has a skip button. We added a “skip spring” button that took viewers to the Muddlers of America landing page. They could join the muddlers or take “the easy way out” and order Zyrtec through an Amazon partnership. Fun fact: we shot social posts on iPhone, a first for J&J and JWT.
Allergy sufferers are desperate for relief. So, The Muddle Shop launched new, innovative products. Did they work? Not even close. But they did get the attention of people suffering from allergies when they needed relief most.
Case Video: The Muddle Shop sold products to help people with allergies make the worst of a bad situation.
We optimized mobile, from the edits on social to SEO on YouTube. A high-value target model delivered assets in context, like when the pollen count is high.
Creative content and media collaborated using real-time metrics to inform the asset optimizations and improve click through to purchase from our partner Amazon.
Brand awareness +7.7%. Brand consideration +7.9%. YouTube click through +217%. View through to completion 56% vs 40% benchmark.
Allergy sufferers compensate for poor relief in awkward ways. Like stuffing pockets full of tissues or wiping noses on sleeves.
The Muddle Shop pushed these compensating behaviors to an extreme with products that help allergy sufferers fumble through symptoms. These absurd suggestions made their point.
Funny enough, when Muddle Shop visitors tried to place an order, every product was sold out. Instead, the webiste recommended Zyrtec.
Allergy Impact App
ZYRTEC Allergy Impact is the first “real-feel” index for pollen. It uses a sophisticated algorithm developed in association with an Ivy League university, environmental scientists, Constant Analytics and Johnson & Johnson. Allergy Impact compares data from 10,000 weather stations against three years of daily search and millions of social mentions in order to determine which factors have the greatest impact on allergies. These variables are then pulled into the equation live from 41,000 U.S. zip codes. The mobile site and desktop tool have been visited more than two million times, the app has more than 500k downloads, 30% of users check it every day in season and it has increased purchase intent among users by 75%.
Case Video: The first reel-feel pollen index uses a novel algorithm that predicts how bad your allergies will be.
