commercialsnmore

 VS.     I wanted to try something a little different today. I saw an Advil commercial the other night. Later, I was talking with my husband about grocery shopping and asked him what he needed. He said Aleve. I started talking about that Advil commercial I had seen and he looked confused. Then he told me that the commercial I was talking about was for Advil, but he wanted Aleve.

 

That made me think. The two products are so similar that even I get the commercials confused. I wondered what could they do to make their own brands stand out from the (very similar) competition.

 

Both of these commercials feature “real people” doing “real” things. They really are paid actors, though. Both commercials have the actors talking about their pain. Even after watching both of them, I have to think about which one was for which brand.

 

These commercials are a little older than their most current commercials. Now every pain relief brand has a tag line. For example, “This stuff really works” and “My every pain reliever.” This section is not in my Lesson of The Day section because these tag lines do not really work either. I cannot remember which tag line belongs to which brand!

 

Here is my suggestion: Each brand should focus on how and who their customers are. They can do this by taking a survey of their customers or doing some other kind of research. Maybe one, or both, could have a contest. They can ask their customers to write an essay on why and how they use the product and what makes them choose that brand instead of the other. For example, I usually (90%) buy Aleve. I use it because I tried all the others and nothing worked for me. I also use it because I believe it to be the least harmful to my body (I am not sure if that is true, though). And so on.

 

After gathering information, they may find out that most of their customers are people between 55 and 80 years old. They will then be able to redesign the package with a comfort top for arthritis or make the label bigger so it is easier to read. On the flip side, their customers might be from the west and east coasts of the US. The company can redesign the package so people can bring it to the beach and not get sand in it or something.

 

Lesson of The Day: Competition is great for consumers. It drives innovation and price competition. However, when two or more brands are so similar, they have to go out of their way to stand out. So far, the OTH pain reliever brands have failed to do this. They do try, but have not gotten it right yet.  

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