Introduction
As healthcare costs rise, consumers are increasingly turning to over-the-counter (OTC) options to treat ailments and injuries. Until now, OTC pharmaceutical marketing brands had to navigate a maze of regulatory complexity that told them how to package and market OTC products. But thanks to changes in regulation and a growing number of pharmaceutical drugs switching from a prescription model, the OTC pharma market is booming.
With an eye on the key trends in the OTC pharma market, we’ve put together some pharmaceutical marketing strategies to help your brand and pharmaceutical marketing agency partners promote their products more effectively!
Current Landscape of the OTC Pharma Market
4 Key Trends in the OTC Pharma Market
OTC Pharmaceutical Marketing Strategies to Consider
Poise distinguishes itself among its counterparts by offering an array of useful online content, such as FAQs, video testimonials, articles, podcasts, and live chat options.
GlaxoSmithKline and Propeller Health have a ‘smart inhaler’ for drug adherence that also detects usage, location, and surrounding air quality, to track potential asthma attack triggers
Iovate needed a way to foster trial and affiliation with its Hydroxycut weight loss product. Snipp created a continuity rewards program that allowed consumers to earn coupons off their first three purchases, a process they could repeat for ongoing savings.
GSK partnered with obé Fitness to promote awareness for Centrum vitamins as an essential part of a New Year Wellness program. GSK leveraged Snipp’s turnkey promotions platform to convert consumers from an extensive omni-channel media program with an offer two free months of online fitness classes with the purchase of any Centrum vitamins.
Sudocrem, one of the UK’s top baby brands, runs one of the most popular and influential parenting blogs in the world. Every month, its diverse content engages 1.1 million people on Facebook, 1.4 million on Twitter, and over 250,000 on YouTube.
Novartis publishes high-quality reports from freelance writers and internal contributors on topics ranging from curing leukemia to how giraffes stay alive with high blood pressure. Over the years, this platform has become vital for driving its reputation and telling the company’s story.
Allergan dove into social media to promote its dry-eye relief product, Restasis, with a Facebook digital campaign. The campaign featured patient testimonial videos and interactive quizzes that encouraged users to test their dry eye levels. Incorporating immediate social analytics, Allergan offered discount coupons to interested users. The campaign generated 35 million impressions and resulted in a 10.5% lift in ad recall
Flonase leveraged Snipp's solutions to help bring a program to market where customers customize an Allergy Monster based on their unique allergies and symptoms. We supported Flonase with two solutions to help power this promotion - a receipt API with Flonase.com and Shoppable to collect customer data, as well as receipt validation to help determine the grand Sweepstakes prize winner and other prizes. Consumers get a valid sweeps entry every time they submit an order on Flonase.com via Shoppable. In addition, after consumers create their Monster, they could share it on Social in augmented reality!
Mundipharma leveraged NFC technology on its BETADINE® Cold Defense nasal spray product packaging for an interactive marketing campaign. Consumers could tap interactive product packs with their smartphones for the chance to win prizes, including an all-expenses paid trip for two to a Manchester City soccer game.
Flonase relied on a set of influencers — chosen due to their impressive social media followings — to form its “Eh Bee” family campaign. Flonase sent them on “The Greater American Road Trip,” asking them to chronicle their adventures in popular destinations with high pollen counts on their website and social media. Flonase even added a sweepstakes element as part of the promotion to boost engagement. The campaign, which lasted two weeks, generated more than 1 million views, 1.3 billion impressions, and $100 million in sales during the first 16 weeks after launch.
A cooperative of independent pharmacies has banded together under one loyalty initiative – the TopPharm Card Plus Loyalty Program. Snipp created a central loyalty program that allows each pharmacy the freedom of individual promotions. Linked with each pharmacy’s point of sale (POS) systems, customers can earn points which they can then redeem for financial vouchers. With each redemption, the program gains more customer analytics to inform future decisions and strategies.
Henkel, GlaxoSmithKline, and Scotties developed a partnership program for cough and cold season to drive basket and market share across all three brands. Snipp created a promotion that required consumers to make product purchases of each brand to qualify for movie rental prizes, redeemable via a simple receipt upload.
Putting it All Together
The OTC pharma market shows no signs of slowing down. If anything, the recent cost-of-living crisis, coupled with rising pressure on healthcare facilities, has magnified the global population’s reliance on OTC pharma products.
With the right strategy, OTC pharma brands can support consumers during these difficult times. Whether that’s by engaging with consumers on social media, partnering with influencers, running digital promotions that meet pharmaceutical promotion guidelines or being more transparent with your packaging ultimately depends on what works for your customers.
