The fact that people aren’t speaking up about self-medication in no way means it’s not an issue worth addressing. Painkiller abuse has catastrophic consequences. Thousands of people die every year due to overmedication. The labs’ irresponsible communications bear much of the blame.

A Responsibility Dose is the first time a lab puts together a campaign that doesn’t push people to consume painkillers. Instead, it promotes alternative pain relief methods to mitigate discomfort before deciding medication is the best option.

We could have just done another advertising campaign, but we choose to develop a campaign that changes the pharma industry forever.

For years, and today more than ever, the pharmaceutic industry has been selling painkillers as if they were candy. They incentivized disproportionate levels of consumption and came up with all kinds of reasons to justify their need.

After doing a lot of media and social listening, we found that consumers respond to these messages by just accepting whatever they’re being told, without realizing the risks of self-medicating.

In Argentina alone, over 60 people die everyday, and more than 100,000 are hospitalized a year, for this reason.

With all this data, there was just one thing left to do: disseminate the right message.

The big challenge was to advertise for a painkiller without participating in the merciless schemes the industry resorts to that harms consumers instead of curing them.

We decided to put together an honest and responsible campaign, putting people’s health before sales, and it couldn’t have worked out better.

We did what no lab has done before, tell people not to use our product.

A Responsibility Dose is a multiplatform campaign that discourages using painkillers and self-medication altogether, offering natural solutions for symptoms people traditionally take painkillers to alleviate.

Every outlet had a strictly targeted message.

A hero video set off the conversation on self-medication, vindicating some discomfort and underlining on the body’s ability to heal itself.

The Anti Self-Medication Pack reminded people of healthier alternatives before relying on medication right before they took it.

A search algorithm allowed us to detect the most commonly Googled symptoms and respond to them with messages that strongly discouraged self-medication, even offering to set up an online appointment with a health professional.

We were able to reach consumers at every point of contact with a clear message – there are healthier ways to alleviate discomfort before deciding to take a painkiller.

People are harmfully self-medicating all over the world. The pharmaceutical industry’s communication has a huge responsibility. In Argentina alone, 50% of the population self-medicates, leading to over 60 deaths per day.

Fabogesic Ibuprofen’s strategy was powerful: to communicate responsibly and encourage people not to consume our product for minor discomforts.

The campaign’s objective was to raise awareness about self-medication and change people’s minds about pain; aching can be a healthy reminder of a job well done. That’s why we invited people to choose among several alternatives to painkillers (ice, resting, stretching, etc.) at every touchpoint.

A Responsibility Dose is a comprehensive campaign that aims at discouraging people from self-medicating at every contact point.

Hero content explains that pain is part of life and healthy bodies don’t need painkillers to overcome it.

A mixed-media approach amplified the message at the exact right time.

In Search, we focused on the most commonly looked up symptoms on Google and developed an algorithm capable of detecting them and replying with alternative solutions to avoid self-medication.

Social media and banners redirected people to a landing page where they could find tips and tutorials on how to alleviate the most common types of discomfort without having to resort to painkillers. You could even set up an online appointment with a health professional on the website.

We redesigned our packaging to create the Anti Self-medication Pack, supplying different healthy solutions to deal with pain, before resorting to taking a painkiller.

Although the campaign is in the initial stages, results look promising:

Landings on our tutorial website increased by 235%.

Google searches for “alternatives to painkillers” and related terms, increased by 36.8%.

Online checkups for the most common physical discomfort increased by 206% while the campaign was running.

With US$0 allocated to media support, the campaign had 94% positive comments on social media platforms.

The campaign’s success not only endorsed Fabogesic and their responsible message, sales also increased by 18.2% while the campaign was running. Although this would seem to contradict our goal, in fact it didn’t. Total painkiller purchases dropped by 2.9% during the same period indicating that consumers migrated from other brands to Fabogesic.

A Responsibility Dose was Fabogesic’s way to speak boldly and responsibly in the painkiller category – one that is known for the ruthless way it communicates for the sole purpose of increasing sales.