Pepto Bismol: HOT DOGS

Credits & Description:

Category: Consumer Goods, including FMCG and Household Products

Advertiser: PROCTER & GAMBLE

Product/Service: PEPTO-BISMOL

Chief Creative Officer: Rob Feakins (Publicis New York)

Executive Creative Director: Joseph Johnson (Publicis New York)

Art Director: Slate Donaldson (Publicis New York)

Writer: Zoe Bell (Publicis New York)

Creative Director: Dan Cohen (Publicis New York)

Print Producer: Kristan Gabriel (Publicis New York)

Project Manager: Liane May (Publicis New York)

Senior Art Producer: Samantha Jaffoni (Publicis New York)

Founder & CEO: Ryan Fitzsimons (Gigunda Group)

Chief Operating Officer: Scott Schoessel (Gigunda Group)

Vice President, Consumer: Joan Ceter (MSL Chicago)

Vice President, Healthcare: Catherine Falcetti (MSL New York)

Media placement: Conducted Extensive Outreach To Top-Tier Media - Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, CNN, CNBC, Today, CBS Early Show, Forbes. - Late June

Media placement: Enabled Live National Broadcast From Event - ESPN And ESPN Properties - 7/4/2010

Media placement: Issued Partnership Press Release/ Announcement - ABC News: World News Sunday, NBCNewYork.com, Brand Freak, WSJ.com, MyFoxNY.com, - 7/4/2010

Media placement: Secured AP Photographer On-Site - FOX News, AP, Chicago Tribune, Etc. - 7/4/2010



Summary of the Campaign

Nothing says summer overindulgence in the US like hot dogs, so we partnered with the famous Nathan’s Hotdog Eating Contest held every July 4th in New York City. But to truly connect indulgence and Pepto to garner additional usage we needed someone to endorse the product.



Joey Chestnut is currently ranked no.1 in Major League Eating, and in 2009 broke the record by eating 68 Nathan’s Hotdogs and Buns in 10-minutes. We made Joey the face of Nathan’s Hotdog Eating Contest, and after he retained his title by eating 54 hotdogs he raised the championship belt and took a dose of Pepto.



Sales of Pepto-Bismol increased 10 percent during the month of July and they increased 20 percent in New York alone.



The Situation

Pepto-Bismol is an ubiquitous American medicine cabinet staple that’s been around for over 100 years. The brand was built on covering more stomach problems than any other product – illustrated by the famous advertising jingle that most Americans can still sing ("Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. Yay Pepto-Bismol!").



Although Pepto is in more than 40% of US households (that’s more than Facebook!), usage over the past six months was really low. This highlighted a core problem for the brand: although the brand had high awareness and high household penetration, the product sat in people’s medicine cabinets collecting dust.



The Goal

The goal was quite simple: If we could get everyone who already had a bottle of Pepto at home to take just one more dosage, we could bring the brand back into double digit growth again.



Research showed that the brand’s strength was also its toughest hurdle to overcome. People consistently played back the five symptoms, making the brand a last resort for when people were truly sick. The objective was to get people to think of Pepto earlier: be a brand for overindulgence and celebration, rather than treating sickness.



The Strategy

Our approach was to remind people who already have Pepto at home that it is great for occasions involving overindulge with food and drink, rather than just when you’re sick.



Nothing says summer overindulgence in the US like hot dogs, so we partnered with the famous Nathan’s Hotdog Eating Contest held every July 4th in New York City. But to truly connect indulgence and Pepto to garner additional usage we needed someone to endorse the product.



Joey Chestnut is currently ranked no.1 in Major League Eating, and in 2009 broke the record by eating 68 Nathan’s Hotdogs and Buns in 10-minutes. We made Joey the face of Nathan’s Hotdog Eating Contest, and after he retained his title by eating 54 hotdogs he raised the championship belt and took a dose of Pepto.



That dosage cup toast was ubiquitous with Nathan’s and was the key image featured in news broadcasts.



Execution

Third-Party Partnership:

· Coordinated Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest sponsorship, including signage, logo on championship belt, t-shirts and product integration of winner taking Pepto-Bismol



Nathan’s Execution:

· Conducted national media outreach offering interviews with spokes-eaters

· Integrated Pepto dose during the winning moment, creating the ultimate photo op, while crowning Joey Chestnut the winner

· Distributed b-roll to local media

· Featured Pepto-branded photo cut-out with upload to Facebook and distributed branded thundersticks



Social Media Amplification:

· Pitched food, sports and lifestyle bloggers leveraging MLE partnership and spokes-eaters

· Created infographic and seeded to bloggers and citizen journalists

· Utilized micro-contests with product giveaways



Food Festival Execution:

· Conducted local media outreach

· Partnered with radio stations for chance to compete against Joey

· Featured Pepto-branded photo cut-out upload to Facebook and distributed branded thundersticks

· Held eating contests with Joey versus five consumers



Documented Results

- Sales of Pepto-Bismol increased 10 percent during the month of July



- Sales increased 20 percent in New York alone



- Generated more than one Billion impressions including placements in Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, CNN, CNBC and Today show



- Reached more consumers through PR in two weeks than in the full previous fiscal year



- Pepto-Bismol was featured on live ESPN continuously, which garnered its highest ratings ever



- Increased social media discussion of Pepto-Bismol with more than 650 tweets, and nearly 41,000 Facebook "Likes" and an unprecedented number of Google product searches