Organon/Merck has launched a DTC campaign for its NuvaRing female contraceptive, and it does a good job announcing the brand despite several challenges. First, this is a device that also delivers contraceptive hormonal medication… which leads to the second challenge—voluminous Fair Balance. Finally, the category itself (Birth Control) can be difficult in terms of media placements.
In spite of the challenges, NuvaRing comes across as an innovative product for young, active—and definitely single—women. The campaign uses the expression “OH” to represent the excited response women have to learning about the brand and to reinforce the shape of the product. The brand benefit that elicits the excited response is ease-of-use because “you don’t have to take it every day” (like pesky, old-fashioned pills). In both the print and TV ads, we see a woman holding the device. This visual is important to convey the product’s sleekness and convenience. It also contributes a new/modern tonality to the brand itself.
Unfortunately, the Fair Balance overwhelms the single-page print ad to the degree that we really have to work to find out what the brand is/does. The benefit copy seems inconsequential in print. On TV, we can look at those beautiful young women having fun while the FB drones on—but we can see that they are interested in NuvaRing because they keep saying “OH.” In this case, let’s hope that’s enough to do the trick in terms of recall and memorability for this new brand.
Deborah Dick-Rath is SVP, healthcare, at Symphony Advanced Media, [email protected]
From the November 01, 2011 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
