BBDO | CVS Pharmacy
Integrated Campaign
Integrated Marketing | Experiential
CVS Pharmacy made a bold decision – after research revealed that suncare products under SPF 15 were ineffective, the retail pharmacy decided to remove the products from their shelves. To address the resulting revenue shortfall, CVS tasked BBDO with creating a campaign to drive sales of the remaining, higher SPF products.
My Role
Defining the Strategy
Working closely with CVS’s media agency, I helped define a strategy that would help CVS break through with a limited budget: we would position the campaign as a beauty platform, with experiential and social media activations encouraging people to incorporate sunscreen as part of a daily regimen, not just when going to the beach.
Experiential Activation
To illustrate that people didn’t have to be on a beach to be in danger of the sun’s rays, we built an entire beach in the middle of a downtown area. We staffed the “beach” with beach-bums who doubled as a company representatives, and passers-by were encouraged to visit a skincare booth to sample products from partner brands.
Social Extension
To extend the reach of the campaign on social media, we hired a sketch artist to create short-form videos using sunscreen instead of paint. Each video showed different use cases for sunscreen products.
The Impact
Generated a 3.3% lift in category sales.
The campaign was a success, driving more engagement on CVS Pharmacy’s social handles on the launch day alone than they’d experienced in the entire previous year. More important, the campaign helped generate a 3.3% lift in category sales YoY, despite a forecasted loss due to the removal of the <15 SPF products.
