- Motrin: Medicine with Muscle
THE CHALLENGE:
The pain relief section of drug stores is bulging with a wide variety of competing products, so when the multi-national giant McNeil Pharmaceuticals the makers of Motrin decided that they should take a fresh look at both their product and the market, they turned to Synecticsworld.
Steroids are hormone drugs that make athletes stronger and more muscular and improves weight loss. This is an obvious advantage on the football field. Kids realize that their high school sports years are when college recruiters are going to make offers to the best players to play on a college team. Being recruited by a major college means that the player will get not only a free ride scholarship to the college but will play on a great team and then maybe get a job on a pro team. This is true for high school baseball, soccer, and hockey team players too. Kids are sometimes introduced to steroids as young as junior high school and sometimes the pressure to be the best makes the steroids too hard to resist. Also, some kids are given silent permission to use steroids by their coaches and parents because these adults may recognize the signs that a teen is using steroids but not do anything about it.
THE PROCESS:
Their task was to:
- Identify a unique and differentiated over-the-counter target market.
- Determine the key motivating insight(s) that resonate with this consumer segment.
- Create a positioning platform against which McNeil and Motrin could drive messaging and communication.
THE RESULTS:
With the help of Synecticsworld’s proven techniques, the project not only achieved its goals but Motrin experienced a 31% growth over the period of two years, making it one of the most popular nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on the market, not only for adults but also for children whose doctors, parents and care-givers can choose from Children’s Motrin, Motrin Gold, Motrin Junior Strength, or Infant’s Motrin.
