no major legal restrictions applied to the execution of the campaign

ZzzQuil set off to enter and lead the sleep category by targeting the occasional sleeplessness sufferer and convincing them we could help them achieve the sleep they deserved. The category was filled with claim-heavy messaging, so we decided to focus on the positive insight that we all deserve a great night's sleep. Knowing consumers needed our help getting a good night of sleep, we set off to create 1-855-ZZZ-Quil, a toll free number that consumers could call to be lulled to sleep. Consumers were greeted by a soothing voice that provided a list of options that could bore them to sleep, so they could really get the night of sleep they deserved. We also launched three radio spots that introduced this concept and urged consumers to call the line. The tone of the campaign was successful, and after four month, ZzzQuil captured the #1 position in category sales over the next branded competitor, Advil PM. Not only that, but we changed the conversation about sleep and made the category more approachable. Consumers knew they could turn to us to talk about sleep.

ZzzQuil set its goal to not only enter the sleep category, but to lead it. To do so, ZzzQuil needed to target the occasional sleeplessness sufferer – the consumer who wasn’t taking anything for their symptoms, and despite their suffering, was likely cynical. Our integrated campaign would connect with these consumers via TV, print, iMedia, Social, in-store, a partnership with the National Sleep Foundation and WebMD, and a ZzzQuil Sleep line promotion. A holistic effort to convince these sufferers that we could help them achieve the sleep they deserved.

Knowing that our consumers needed our help getting a good night of sleep, we created 1-855-ZZZ-Quil, a toll free number consumers could call to be bored to sleep. Callers were greeted by a soothing voice that gave them a list of dull options that could bore them to sleep. The phone line was activated in April of 2013, and is still active to date. We have refreshed the options to give consumers even more ways to be bored to sleep. We even used our boring content and created radio spots that introduced the concept to consumers, and reminded them to call our line if they couldn’t sleep. Three radio spots aired during April 2013 in Albany, a market we knew was experiencing sleeplessness.

In it’s launch year, ZzzQuil:

• After four months, captured the #1 position in category sales ($31M) over the next branded competitor, Advil PM ($30M)1.

• Generated sales of $123 million and 18.5% dollar share, exceeding year-one sales goals2.

• Became the 2nd most engaged Facebook page and No.1 most active Twitter handle of all P&G tracked pages. We started and sustained the conversation about sleep in social media.

• Achieved a household penetration of 5.8%, nearly doubling competitor Advil PM at 2.9%3.

• Grew category dollar sales far exceeding our goal and adding nearly 3.6 million households. This means we were not only switching people who were already using OTC sleep aids, but also reaching people who had not used any OTC sleep aids before.

• ZzzQuil has changed the conversation about sleep - celebrating what people wanted all along yet weren’t getting from the competition - a great night’s sleep.

We believed that there was a problem in the sleep category.

Brands were promising things that people with occasional sleep problems don’t want: sleep with pain relief, sleep with cold relief, highly medicated sleep that leaves you feeling groggy the next day. Each brand’s product benefit was rooted in the consumer’s problems.

When we talked to consumers who suffered from sleep troubles from time to time, the vast majority did not want to think of themselves as having “a sleep problem”. Rather, they have occasional sleeplessness.

People were looking for a trusted sleep aid that was 'just for sleep'. It was critical that we did not come across as being medicinal or solving “serious sleep problems” but rather that we emphasize normal, everyday sleep. Instead of setting ourselves in the problem world like everyone else we decided to focus on positive - that we all deserve a great night’s sleep.

ZzzQuil was launching into a category that was not well liked, talked about and that had been mostly quiet for many years.

Healthcare and OTC advertising in the category is very focused on communicating a problem, and positioning the product as a solution to the problem. The category is filled with claim-heavy messaging, and creative that focuses on how sleeplessness looks, and how it can be solved. The tone of this messaging is not positive, or meant to draw audiences in by being relatable, but is a more problem – solution messaging approach. The advertising in the category does not strive to relate with consumers.