Haleon’s flagship allergy product Flonase has cemented a relationship with the Netflix hit Bridgerton.
Last week, the brand announced it was teaming up with the show on a cheeky social media campaign. The effort is scheduled to hit ahead of Bridgerton’s highly anticipated third season.
Playing off the name Polin, a portmanteau of the show’s main characters Miss Penelope Featherington and Mr. Colin Bridgerton, Flonase has unveiled a commercial set in the show’s universe. Popping in to save the day and relieve the common symptoms of allergy season is Flonase, which co-created the ad with Shondaland, the production company behind Bridgerton.
Tish Tillie, brand director for Flonase at Haleon, said that the idea for the campaign was birthed when fans started to refer to Colin and Penelope by the couple name Polin. (Polin, pollen — get it?)
Recognizing the play on words, Creative Artists Agency — Shondaland’s talent agency — reached out to Haleon chief marketing officer Katie Williams about a potential collaboration. While Shondaland and CAA drove the creative, the Flonase team and Haleon’s media agency Publicis Le One made sure the brand was featured authentically in the spots.
“The idea was for the creative to look and feel like a Bridgerton episode, with a funny twist to feature Flonase,” she said.
Since its debut in late 2020, Bridgerton has been one of the most successful shows in Netflix’s history. During the opening weekend of season two in early 2022, the show accrued 193 million viewing hours. By the end of the month, that number topped 627 million.
Over the course of those first three days on the air, Nielsen Media Research characterized the audience — while primarily female — as “diverse and broad.” One-third of viewers were either Hispanic or Black.
The diversity and the breadth of Bridgerton’s viewership thus make it a good fit for a mainstream brand such as Flonase.
The initial Polin ad will primarily run via paid posts on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. The effort is being led by Publicis Le One, with Edelman working on a PR strategy that includes customized merchandise and product giveaways.
While the campaign is in its nascent stage, Tillie said Haleon’s social listening tools indicate that consumers have been receptive to Flonase’s incorporation into the world of Bridgerton. She added that the feedback suggests the brand’s efforts to generate awareness during allergy season have proven effective and culturally relevant.
