2009: alli, New Brands - Case Study

Snapshot

The company rewrote the rules of the weight loss category with the ambitious launch of a revolutionary new brand.

Key insights

• Launching a radical new product into such a sensitive area as weight loss meant establishing a positioning that was honest, credible and truthful about what could be achieved.
• Insights enabled the company to empathise with consumers’ struggles by developing a number of initiatives, including offering them online forums and ensuring that pharmacists were well briefed on how to consult effectively about weight loss.
• The innovative campaign ran across a wide range of channels and paid off with high levels of consumer awareness and strong sales from the start.

Summary

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare UK is part of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), with headquarters in the UK and an estimated seven per cent of the world’s pharmaceutical market. GSK’s Consumer Healthcare UK is the UK’s leading over the counter (OTC) company and home to a wide range of household brands.

In 2009 the company launched a new weight loss brand into the UK marketplace. alli was the first OTC medicine to be granted a single licence for sale across Europe as well as being the first non-prescription weight loss aid to receive a European licence. The UK launch was one of the company’s most ambitious marketing campaigns ever, with a simultaneous pan European launch across 27 countries. The fully integrated, cross channel campaign was based on in depth consumer research and liaison with key experts.

In the UK within only a few months the weight loss brand had 56% prompted consumer awareness and strong sales, making it the leading weight loss capsule on the market

Gaining deeper insights

Before launching alli the company had spent a significant amount of time understanding its consumers and their needs and expectations for weight loss products. It had also liaised with key obesity experts to build the brand positioning in a credible and responsible way so that the launch could have a positive impact on public health.

This was critical, since obesity is set to overtake smoking as the biggest preventable disease within the next five to 10 years. So it was important that consumers were educated responsibly and with consideration for their needs.

The target audience for the brand were adults with a BMI 28 or more trying to lose weight and who claimed to have been overweight for a significant period of time. However, they often adopted a cycle of ‘yo-yo’ dieting as well as setting unrealistic targets. It was therefore essential to make sure they understood that the key to successful and sustained weight loss in the longer term was diet and exercise.

In addition, they suffered from low confidence and self esteem so it was important not to patronise them but also, from a brand point of view, ensure that the brand was not perceived as a ’scary medicine’ which would be off putting to them. So the brand tone of voice the company developed was empathetic, supportive and based on an emotional connection, not just rational messages about the product benefit.

Because this was a category that had traditionally offered quick fixes, the brand positioning had to be honest, credible and truthful. The message throughout all the communications was based on the recognition that losing weight is not easy and that alli is not a magic pill. Not only did consumers need support and advice to help them on their way to healthier habits for life through traditional media channels, but also through a dialogue with well trained and knowledgeable pharmacists.

How it works

alli works by stopping around a quarter of the fat you eat from being absorbed. So for every 2lbs you work to lose through following a reduced calorie and lower fat diet and introducing exercise, alli can help you lose 1lb more

The role for the alli brand was to act as a spur and reward their hard work and efforts with increased weight loss (50% more weight loss than dieting alone). The company had found that giving them realistic expectations of the product could lead
to an excellent experience, and, potentially, the adoption of healthier eating and lifestyle habits
over the longer-term.

Forming close connections with prospective customers

The brand positioning was clear: “alli is not just a pill because it comes with a programme of support. Added to healthy eating, alli can help boost weight loss by 50%. So for every 2lb you lose on your own, alli can help you lose 1lb more” (Figure 1).

Once the company gained approval to launch, it initiated a programme called the ‘alli first team’ which brought 60 people from across the UK to preview the alli programme. They were given handheld video cameras, access to a blog and a connection to a pharmacist so the company could learn more about their experiences and ultimately ensure it was giving consumers the right support
and information.

A lot was learned from following their journeys,
and this insight informed the communications. An important finding was that community and peer-to-peer support would be critical. As a result, initiatives such as the discussion forum on alli.co.uk were put into place. Their videos were also shared online and with media partners, along with open and honest commentary about their struggles. Many of these participants were used for case studies in the media.

All this reinforced both the honesty and credibility the brand stood for also while also offering added value to consumers looking to try the product through increased information and resources.

Effective use of marketing resources

The launch plan was focused but also ambitious and designed to make a big impact. It included a number of elements.

Public Relations (PR)

PR was seen as a major contributor to consumer awareness and had three core objectives:

• Cutting through cluttered ‘fad diet’ reporting to establish a credible, clinically-proven product.
• Managing expectations: media over-hyping could have led to the wrong consumers buying alli.
• Providing the reassurance of pharmacists’ expertise in weight management.

Many tactics were deployed, including medical media briefings, developing relationships with media journalists with long lead times, showcasing consumer successes as case studies and holding a huge press launch day event which received TV and press coverage (Figures 2 and 3).

Digital

Online is the first place that consumers go to search for weight loss information so it was important for alli to have a dominant presence,

This was delivered through:

• A website with information and resources, including online recipe planners, weight loss trackers, case study videos and live discussion forums to engage with other consumers.
• Display advertising across key food and lifestyle sites.
• Partnerships with Channel 4 Food and Hearst Digital to amplify relevant content.
• Search activity.
• Visibility on many retail sites.

Many elements of the campaign were a first for the company. The most innovative element was the live discussion forum on the website at alli.co.uk/forum, which gave consumers an opportunity to discuss their experiences with others and share advice and support. This had to go through a complex regulatory approval process, with the company committing itself to moderating this content in a responsible way while still allowing consumers to speak freely.

Pharmacy support

Support from the pharmacy sector was crucial for a successful launch. The aim was to ensure that pharmacists and pharmacy assistants were well-prepared and engaged so that they could offer the best service and support to consumers.

The plan included:

• Extensive training: hard copy, interactive and face-to-face training at 60 workshops.
• Advertising: display and advertorial content to educate about weight management.
• Support tools to aid discussion with consumers in store.
• A website for pharmacists with education and support.

The pharmacy campaign was the most ambitious ever and included many innovative elements, such as the face-to-face training in a series of 60 workshops across the UK. It involved using live action filmed scenarios together with handset technology to train pharmacists and pharmacy assistants

Films were played of consumers in pharmacies asking for alli in order to demonstrate how a successful consultation should take place. During the training live handset technology was used to allow trainees to vote on the right outcomes. In this way the company could monitor any confusion or misapprehension about the process and adapt the live training to address these areas on the spot. This was the first training of this type for an OTC launch that the company was aware of.

Consumer communications

To raise consumer awareness and to establish the alli brand proposition the company put substantial investment into the media campaign, which included:

• TV: April-August on terrestrial and satellite channels with 30-second ads.
• Press display adverts in April in retailer magazines and national magazines titles (She, Cosmo, Prima, Company, Good Housekeeping, Zest) (Figure 4).
• Outdoor posters for key grocery accounts, with 6-sheets placed during May in Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s.
• Publication of a supporting book — ‘The alli Diet plan’ — sold in pharmacies and retail chains.
• A year-long series of press advertorials in key titles showcasing successful users of alli and providing help and advice regarding healthy eating (Figures 5 and 6).
• Online partnerships and display activity with Channel4.com and Dietdiaries.com.
• Consumer starter guide handed out in stores.

Although many aspects of the plan were ambitious, the most innovative element of the consumer communications campaign was the extensive consumer advertorial series which the company ran with National Magazines Company from April 2009. These advertorials were developed to showcase key brand messages and share stories of successful users by following key first team members in different titles throughout the year.

They were used to help educate consumers about the alli lifestyle and ensure that they were well prepared to follow the reduced calorie and lower-fat diet. The close working relationship with National Magazines helped to make content relevant to the readers of each publication while still maintaining the brand style and messaging.

In-store visibility

The aim of the launch was for l00% visibility in pharmacies, which meant working with partners to place materials virtually overnight. The materials showcased the core ‘Dieting? alli can boost your weight loss’ claim and incorporated:

• Window displays in nearly every independent pharmacy window in the UK.
• In-store posters, floor media, display units, counter display units, counselling room kits, free-standing display units.
• Impressive secondary displays with all multiple customers including Boots, Tesco and Lloyds Pharmacy.
• Brand ambassadors in Boots stores throughout the month of launch.
• Online retail support materials.

The campaign in store was recognized as a gold standard OTC launch by many of the company’s partners.

Hitting all the right targets

The launch of alli required significant input from all areas of the business, which worked as one team to engage with customers, develop marketing plans and to ensure that everything was the best it could be. Since launch in the UK the company has established a successful weight loss brand, with high levels of consumer awareness and significant sales results. It is already the number one weight loss capsule in share and value terms and has given a boost to category growth overall.

Over one billion impressions were generated through just under 400 articles ranging from press and radio to TV reports. PR was the main driver of sales at the early stages of launch. Digital activity saw a million visits to alli.co.uk, with thousands of registrations and active participation on the discussion forum. There was a high conversion to online sales through the website and commercial and media partners.

There was also an overwhelming endorsement of the pharmacy campaign, with 93% of UK pharmacies engaging in some form of training. Of those attending workshops, the overwhelming majority felt confident recommending alli. There
were over thousands of registrations to the expert website, while the company was consistently voted the Best Pharmacy Support package in the OTC bulletin Pharmacy magazine and won numerous industry awards.

The consumer communications achieved high levels of awareness of the brand within the target group in just a few months, which was higher than any other OTC launch that the company monitored at the same period, including brand extensions. The diet plan book sold in excess of 20,000 copies. A satisfying number of users asked in a GSK/Millward Brown usage and awareness survey claimed to be ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’. The company won supplier awards following its in-store activity from both Boots and Tesco for ‘best product launch’. Finally, alli reached 98% weighted distribution after just three weeks of launch.

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