Allergan is relaunching Complete all-in-one soft contact lens solution with an eye-catching consumer campaign designed to nudge it out of its No. 3 position.
The Gibson Group, of Richmond Hill, Ont., Complete’s agency, teamed up with Jeff Layton & Associates of Toronto for the national effort that uses superboards, radio, advertising in more than 120 Cineplex movie theatres, in-store displays and brochures.
The Canadian consumer campaign is being considered as a test market by Allergan internationally because in Canada and most other countries, the marketing focus for this type of product has been traditionally on the professional and retail trade sectors.
Complete entered the market in July 1993 with that strategy and since then, like its competitors in the category, Allergan has stuck with it.
Jim Tierney, director of sales and marketing for Allergan Consumer Products, says while Complete is the all-in-one brand recommended most by ophthalmologists, optometrists and opticians, it is in No. 3 position with a 10% market share.
Today, according to Nielsen Marketing Research, $82.1 million is spent on solutions for soft contact lenses in national Canadian drugstores and food stores with pharmacies.
The leader is Bausch & Lomb’s Sensitive Eyes Multipurpose Solution, which had a six-year headstart, followed by Opti-free from Alcon Canada, also on the market before Complete.
Last summer, when a fourth product, Ciba-Geigy’s Solo-care, entered the market, Tierney says the company realized by expanding its advertising efforts to the consumer it could break out of the pack.
Tierney says the campaign shows the benefits of Complete, a product he says cleans, rinses, disinfects all types of soft contact lenses, and, unlike its competitors, also lubricates so contacts feel more comfortable.
The campaign kicked off last month with the unveiling of a ground level superboard in Toronto that featured Jeff Layton, creative director and principal at Jeff Layton & Associates, dangling from the 48-foot billboard.
(Layton has since been replaced by a moulded figure.)
Two plastic contact lenses seven feet in diameter are mounted on the board while protruding nearly two feet.
A window washer suspended from the board is using a squeegee to clean them.
The headline is ‘Survive lens care in one easy step,’ with the tagline, ‘Complete. The one that does it all.’
Five 60-second English radio and two French-language spots use humor to communicate the benefits of Complete.
The simplicity of use is demonstrated in three spots that compare contact lens care to other multi-step ‘weird’ rituals such as blind dates, voice mail and climbing the corporate ladder.
Another commercial deals with the comfort provided by the lubricant, and the last explains that Complete can be used on all types of soft lenses, including daily, disposable and tinted.
In Cineplex theatres, displays have been set up in lobbies and 15-second tv commercials are being shown on monitors.
The campaign runs through to the fall of this year.
Media placement was handled by Harrison Young Pesonen & Newell.
