Ricola Throat Balm
Ecommerce
Influencer Marketing
Product Launches
Project Overview
Ricola had established a new “Everyday Care” position outside the Cough & Cold season for daily throat and voice care in the US. In launching Ricola Throat Balm, we needed to give the new product and usage occasion a purpose. With “Coat Your Throat”, we made Ricola’s first ever 3D Animated spot to bring the category-defining ingredients to life and built the brand’s first fully integrated 3-tier influencer program, including YouTube celebs like Harry Mack and Good Mythical Morning. All leading to being the #2 new item in the category.
Details
With daily throat and voice care predominantly being treated by water and/or tea, Ricola needed to forgo their historical advertising conventions and develop a campaign that would be equally convincing as it was mouth-watering. To get the marketing trifecta of awareness, education, and shareability, we romanticized these new ingredients, tying them directly to coating and protecting your throat, a message no other lozenge, or water or tea, could claim.
The hero of the campaign was a 3D-animated, 0:30 sec TV/OLV spot – a first for Ricola. You could almost taste the soothing power of honey and caramel while the spot demonstrated its coating and protecting properties. Other mouth-watering assets included contextual DOOH, Social, Display, Advertorial, and Retail. Rounding out the contextual messaging was Programmatic and Search, intersecting people at moments when voice/throat care was top of mind. We also showed up along the customer journey with a full Amazon DSP integration (inclusive of a storefront overhaul), Send me Sample, Alexa Audio ads, and multiple live streams.
Lastly, to drive shareability, education, and build buzz, we built Ricola’s first 3-tier, full-funnel creator approach with shoppable links. It included retail/UGC influencers, micro creators that use their voices for a living (from podcasters to Broadway stars), and YouTube celebrities like Harry Mack and Good Mythical Morning. Not only did the influencer program drive viral views, but they directly added Ricola Throat Balm to carts. This combination of innovations led to one final first: Ricola US’s first earned campaign.
The hero of the campaign was a 3D-animated, 0:30 sec TV/OLV spot – a first for Ricola. You could almost taste the soothing power of honey and caramel while the spot demonstrated its coating and protecting properties. Other mouth-watering assets included contextual DOOH, Social, Display, Advertorial, and Retail. Rounding out the contextual messaging was Programmatic and Search, intersecting people at moments when voice/throat care was top of mind. We also showed up along the customer journey with a full Amazon DSP integration (inclusive of a storefront overhaul), Send me Sample, Alexa Audio ads, and multiple live streams.
Lastly, to drive shareability, education, and build buzz, we built Ricola’s first 3-tier, full-funnel creator approach with shoppable links. It included retail/UGC influencers, micro creators that use their voices for a living (from podcasters to Broadway stars), and YouTube celebrities like Harry Mack and Good Mythical Morning. Not only did the influencer program drive viral views, but they directly added Ricola Throat Balm to carts. This combination of innovations led to one final first: Ricola US’s first earned campaign.
