We relaunched a cold medicine by inventing a new way to think about getting sick.
Zicam needed more than a comeback. After years of silence following a product recall, it had to reintroduce itself to the world with a tiny budget, a complicated message, and a category drowning in noise.
Our solve: shift the conversation from curing colds to catching them before they catch you. We trademarked a new phase of illness, The Pre-Cold™, and created a disgusting-yet-delightful villain to chase it: The Cold Monster.
The campaign hit every touchpoint: TV, digital, print, social, packaging, and in-store. It gave the brand a new voice, a new role, and a new reason to exist.
In a category that shrank, Zicam surged:
Sales up 11.4% in the first month
While the category dropped 15%
+46% increase in daily website traffic
50M+ earned media impressions in the first month
The only cold medicine for the moment before you’re sick.