As a challenger brand, Xyzal is far outspent by entrenched brands like Claritin, Zyrtec and Allegra. With limited awareness and a difficult-to-pronounce brand name, Xyzal needed to breakthrough and disrupt the category.
The campaign strategy and big idea focused on “a smarter way to treat”. Our goal was to change the treatment paradigm - take medication at night so you can relieve allergies at night that disrupt sleep and then wake refreshed for a productive day. No brand had ever talked about this benefit in the category.
Xyzal stood out by avoiding the allergy tropes of visualizing blue skies, green fields, and convertibles. Xyzal created Nigel, a unique animated character that was the first in the category. In this game-changing creative platform, he charms and educates with his “Allergy Wisdom.”
Business Goals:
Communication Goals:
Brand Health Tracking Goals:
Xyzal was the fourth to market Rx to OTC Allergy switch in the US. It needed to find relevant white space strategically and breakthrough the sea of category sameness creatively. Xyzal was significantly outspent so we had to strategically outsmart the competition and have our creative work even harder for Xyzal to succeed.
Our team uncovered a consumer segment no allergy brand had talked to before – sleep impacted allergy sufferers. For them allergies are more than sniffling and sneezing, they have a big impact on sleep, energy and productivity the next day.
For our target their days have been ruined by sleepless allergy nights. Because for too long, they’ve been treating at the wrong time with the wrong medicine.
Our goal was to change the treatment paradigm – get sleep impacted allergy sufferers to treat at night so they can wake refreshed to a more productive day by educating them on a smarter way to treat.
But could Xyzal, a brand that most consumers had never heard of, be the brand to change the treatment paradigm from morning to night?
Our team needed to translate the insight into an inspiring strategy that sparked behavior change. It was time to flip the allergy script. We believed the more allergy sufferers knew about the benefit of treating with Xyzal at night, the better off their nights and days will be. For allergy sufferers, a small change like treating your allergies at night with Xyzal can make a big difference.
Xyzal’s campaign is unlike anything ever in the category.
Nigel, the animated Owl, didn’t conform to allergy tropes of blue skies, green fields or convertibles. Being an owl, he symbolizes our brand message—nighttime and being smart. All of which was captured in the tagline, “Be wise all, take Xyzal at night”. This also made the difficult name and behavior change stick in the minds of consumers.
Nigel communicates seamlessly across channels, charming allergy sufferers with his “Allergy Wisdom”. He delivers persuasive, competitive claims. He drove trial with a try-it-free message. And most importantly, consumers loved him!
In 2022, the campaign evolved to strengthen performance. This included:
Xyzal results are even more noteworthy considering the following:
Xyzal met/exceeded all objectives identified for the campaign:
Business Goals
Communication Goals
Brand Health Tracking Goals
