Migraine is more than a headache--it’s a painful, debilitating neurological condition affecting 40M patients in the U.S. for days, even weeks every month. In May 2021, NurtecODT became the first and only FDA-approved medication to treat and prevent migraine with a single dose dissolvable pill. Weather, stress, menstruation, and travel are common triggers for migraine. Weather, being a top migraine trigger, offered an enormous opportunity to educate the patient. Our objectives were to make the connection between weather and migraine top of mind and inspire patients to act by informing them of impending drops in barometric pressure and presenting NurtecODT as an option to treat their migraines.

NurtecODT aspired to go beyond brand advertising to brand empowerment, by creating ads to inform and prepare migraine sufferers in real-time. Since weather is a top trigger, NurtecODT turned their ads into a Migraine Weather Alert System, updating users across the U.S. of imminent barometric pressure drops. Each weather alert was triggered by refreshed data, delivering a localized message in a moment when it's critical to act before bad weather. The tone is alertist, not alarmist, and is intended as a helpful tool that reminds migraine sufferers of common triggers. The creative features a “news update” model that’s helpful, intentionally simple, and warm, for quick engagement. The creative is also personalized with custom VO greetings for each of the 93 DMA/cities. With its repeatable mechanism, the campaign essentially functions as a message system, so NurtecODT can really be there to help.

To get real-time data across the U.S., Google Engineers coded a Google Ads script to make 800+ automated daily calls to weather stations to learn the forecast for the next 72 hours. Our target is women 25-54 who have migraines and seek new treatment. We used YouTube for its reach and Video Action Campaign format; powered by Machine Learning to efficiently drive site traffic at scale while optimizing each of the 93 campaigns based on real-time weather changes. If the reported data showed a minimum drop of 6 millibars in one or more of the 93 DMA/cities, those campaigns went live for a total of 72 hours, or until there was no predicted drop in barometric pressure in that area. This precision allowed the CTA of “Take Care” and “Find out More” at a dedicated page on Nurtec.com to be most relevant in a time-bound moment.

The campaign implementation required unique capabilities across measurement, media, tech and creative. Initially, we developed a rigorous geo-testing methodology that paired 93 DMA/Cities based on 2 years of NurtecODT sales and barometric pressure behavior. Once the target areas were identified, we developed 93 personalized creatives, one for each of the treatment cell locations via Ads Creative Studio--a technology solution that allows users to create and traffic videos at scale on Google Ads. We then implemented a custom script in Google Ads to trigger video campaigns when a change in barometric pressure was expected, within 72 hours. Video Action Campaigns on YouTube enabled the use of AI to find and drive the most relevant audience to the website, where we provided users critical information about the impact of weather on migraine. The campaign was live for a 12-week period between September and December 2022, with a 4-week cooling down period.

This campaign was tremendously successful in demonstrating that the combination of media, creative and technology can work effectively to drive patient action at a key moment in patients' lives. Using a GeoX Trimmed match methodology for causal impact, we were able to determine that the campaign boosted patient action in two ways. First, 62,000 people in the 93 DMA/treatment cities visited Nurtec.com to learn more about the relationship between weather and migraines. Second, a total of 5,500 patients, averaging 345 per week, took action by requesting a NurtecODT prescription. This campaign resulted in a 2:1 ROI for the brand, empowering them with rigorous data to roll out this effort nationwide in 2023 so that all migraine sufferers across the country will benefit from the “NurtecODT Weather Alert.”