A new article on
Martech.org reports that, when cough drop sales tumbled, the brand leveraged social media to convince audiences that lozenges aren't just for sick people.
Measures against COVID-19 haven't worked out great for makers of treatments for colds and flu. Cases have plummeted during the pandemic, which is a great thing for us, but it hasn't been so great for the iconic cough drop maker Ricola. The company has seen sales decline 40%. Now, the company is leaning heavily on influencer marketing to find new audiences beyond customers with the sniffles. Alok Ummat is Director of Marketing for Ricola Canada:
|
"One thing about social media is that it is nimble and you can test things very quickly. In the COVID environment, every brand is experiencing this, where sales are so up and down. This impacts your marketing budget."
|
Social media can be used to target specific audiences, but it can also be used to break new ground at scale. In addition to traditional tentpole media buys (Ricola sprang for a Super Bowl ad at the beginning of the year), Ummat looked closely at TikTok:
|
"When I look at the metrics and impressions I'm getting, and who I'm getting, a dollar can go farther. Average users are four times higher on TikTok than last year. They've almost caught up with Instagram."
|
"When I look at the metrics and impressions I'm getting, and who I'm getting, a dollar can go farther. Average users are four times higher on TikTok than last year. They've almost caught up with Instagram."
|
"One of the things we always toyed with was how do we become an all-year health and wellness brand. We decided to talk about how people use their throats and get a tired throat from being on Zoom calls all day, using their voice and getting tired for other reasons historically they didn't think about when thinking about Ricola."
|
