Although many have seen cross-platform and audience-based advertising as television’s future for years, few have quickly embraced a multi-platform strategy, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, which is not necessarily known for early adoption in advertising. However, Butler/Till was tasked with developing an advanced audience, multi-platform strategy to clearly demonstrate the power of pivoting from buying on traditional linear guarantees to a much more valuable guaranteed metric–impression delivery to a strategic audience.
Challenge
The situation was clear, our client with a prescription medication for moderate to severe active ulcerative colitis (UC), needed to quickly grow brand awareness among likely UC sufferers. The media objective of the campaign was to maximize exposure to motivating short-form brand messaging among a qualified target audience to drive awareness and demand.
Strategy
Using new-to-market technology that enables network and programming selection based on strategic audience viewing preferences, we were able to offer innovative buying capabilities. To build an audience of likely UC sufferers, we first turned to first-party brand indicators and research, as well as third-party data sources–spanning data attributes such as qualified diagnosis, prescription history, insurance claims history, and demographics–to determine the best strategic audience definition. Data from Nielsen Clear Decisions informed the audience strategy–key indicators such as when, how, and where likely UC patients are tuning into TV content and where they get healthcare information were heavily referenced. Along with others, this media consumption and audience report helped Butler/Till underscore that an audience-based strategy across linear television and OTT platforms was the best way to drive awareness among likely UC sufferers.
To go even deeper, Butler/Till worked with our partners at OpenAP and leaned into data providers, IQVIA and Nielsen to build the final target audience segment. These partnerships and tools helped us gain insight into the projected campaign reach and frequency, including projected unique reach by publisher and platform. Armed with strong insight into the target audience’s viewership habits, audience insights, and forecasted campaign results, Butler/Till created a media plan that spanned multiple video environments.
By going with a multi-platform approach, the campaign would have the opportunity to benefit from the best of all platforms, such as:
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Linear’s unmatched reach and ideal frequency, resulting in broad awareness that motivates further brand research and moves patients through the funnel.
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OTT and digital’s hyper targetability and the opportunity to reach audiences unexposed on linear.
Results
Prior to the launch of the holistic video campaign across Data Driven Linear (DDL), OTT, and OLV, reach tactics were focused on digital display and social. The addition of video channels has and continues to increase total campaign reach and frequency and is anticipated to drive incremental scripts for the brand. Campaign reach among the target audience has increased significantly with the addition of multiple publishers and platforms. This approach resulted in the highest level of reach, and positive business outcomes, while maintaining a strong return for the brand. Results are split between quantifiable KPIs and qualitative impact.
Quantifiable KPIs:
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Butler/Till leveraged OpenAP’s XPm reporting, which provided deep cross-network and cross-platform insights on viewership. Starting in late 2021 and running throughout 2022, this cross-platform, cross-publisher campaign, reached an impressive 67.3% of deduplicated audiences in Q2 of 2022. This was more than triple the deduplicated audience reach of the first quarter of the campaign’s run in Q4 2021. After we added several publishers and OTT platforms to the media mix, we successfully extended the audience reach by 16%, with only 1% overlap between the platforms.
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This campaign’s positive results extend far beyond the KPIs, as the brand’s paid search impressions were also up by 50% in correlation with the run of the advanced video campaign.
Qualitative Impact:
Perhaps the campaign’s biggest win has been the monumental increases in brand awareness among likely UC sufferers. The halo effect of the campaign extended to broader awareness and brand recall–survey data shows 33% more patients recall the UC prescription campaign and 32% more patients attribute the campaign specifically to the brand after exposure to the TV ad, resulting in increased interest and scripts.
Both the quantifiable KPIs and qualitative impact prove the approach of advanced audience and multi-platform strategy is effective at reaching the right people at the right time.
Less than a year after receiving FDA approval, we are already seeing large gains in our client’s brand awareness among likely UC sufferers as a result of the advanced video campaign. This campaign has set the new standard for the pharma industry for TV advertising, and we cannot wait to see what’s next.
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