GSK pools strengths for multi-brand blitz

By Sharon Desker Shaw, Media Asia 10-Feb-06, 04:26

GlaxoSmithKline has grouped together its smaller-budgeted brands in order to generate sufficient funding for a prime-time campaign fronted by Hong Kong’s newly-crowned Cantopop king, Eason Chan.

Styled as infomercials, the spots star Chan as a doctor spouting health tips for established but little-promoted GSK brands such as Dequadin throat lozenges, Scott's cod liver oil supplement and indigestion remedy Eno. The latter has not advertised on TV for 20 years.

"These brands have a small but loyal following. But because of limited sales, they don't have a big enough budget to support television advertising," said Daniel Kong, business director of new Hong Kong shop WE Marketing Group, which crafted the strategy.

Chan whose name in Cantonese sounds like 'god of doctors', was crucial to WE's strategy of unifying the disparate brands in one campaign. "Eason is popular; he's able to bring a professional yet fun feel to the campaign," Kong added.
Chan hit the headlines soon after the campaign launched, winning the most number of prizes at pop music awards shows organised by local broadcasters.
Five spots have aired on TVB Jade's primetime slots. Another nine spots are in production to air until July as part of a two- to three-year campaign, which will star Chan.
Slapstick in tone, the spots all carry little-known but vital health tips to underline the strengths of each brand. "We researched the medical archives to come up with surprising facts, as we wanted the target audience of 30 years and older to sit up and take notice," said Kong, who worked with GSK brands in his previous job as MediaCom Hong Kong general manager.
In addition to playing a doctor, Chan takes on a variety of personas to demonstrate the benefits of brands. In a spot for Scott's newly-launched Hi-Calcium variant, Chan transforms into a Bruce Lee-like character to remind viewers that one in four of them will suffer serious bone loss by age 60, while a Dequadin spot shows him as a mop-haired Beatles-like singer who tells the audience that eight out of 10 throat medication do not contain anti-inflammatory properties.
"In the past, these brands never advertised because the traditional view was -- if you don't have HK$4 million (US$515,000), don't even think of TV," Kong said.
"With this concept, the brands can benefit from the overall synergy and, since they have some brand awareness, they don't need too many GRPs."