“The Most Meaningful Melody”
Bayer Aspirin focuses on the impact a heart event
can have on your loved ones.
The situation:
Every 40 seconds, an American has a heart attack or stroke and about 1 in 4 of these potentially fatal events happen to people who’ve already had one. Taking a daily aspirin plays an important role in preventing cardiovascular events, but many are either not taking one or have experienced pill fatigue, putting themselves at greater risk by stopping their routine. As the leading aspirin brand, Bayer’s mission is to inspire more people to make their cardiovascular health a priority and to increase aspirin adherence for those on doctor-directed regimens.
The idea:
We know scare tactics and fear just paralyze people from taking action when it comes to their health, so we needed a different approach. We learned that a heartbeat can change after a cardiac event, and while that can be scary, it is also a sign of hope and optimism for a Second Chance. So we made it the centerpiece of our storytelling. Our idea was to create a song set to the beat of a heart attack survivor as an emotional and approachable way to have a difficult discussion.
The execution:
We knew that while the song would be impactful, this could not work without the right partner who truly understands what it means to get a Second Chance with a loved one. Enter Leslie Odom Jr and wife Nicolette Robinson, whose father had suffered a heart attack at the beginning of their relationship and was taking a doctor-prescribed daily aspirin. Their wedding, the rise of their careers, the birth of their kids - these are all moments that could have been missed
Beyond his personal connection, Leslie was the ideal partner because he had broad appeal to multicultural audiences who are at higher risk of cardiovascular events. Without this selective and strategic approach, we knew we could not achieve the full breadth of this project.
“Second Chance,” became the duet Leslie and Nicolette performed, celebrating his father-in-law’s second chance,
and The Most Meaningful Melody Campaign was born. The song and subsequent video became an anthem for all survivors and their loved ones. The campaign spread this emotionally positive story through social content, digital programming, paid support, earned engagement, and influencers.
The results:
The results were deafening. Bayer Aspirin sales were up nearly double digits the week the campaign launched and up nearly 4% vs. a year ago after four weeks. A Facebook brand lift study showed the campaign drove directional consideration lift by 1.5 points above average while Pinterest showed a +4 brand awareness among core health interest audiences.
The content generated more than 45 million total paid views
with an average 79% completion rate. Organically, 1.8M+ views Across Bayer, Odom’s, and Nicolette's social with more than 30k engagements. Earned media outreach resulted in 400M+ impressions with 97% of coverage including at least one message.
Bayer Aspirin’s following on Instagram and Twitter increased by 12% and engagement on Instagram grew by 300%. Unique page views on the campaign website increased by about 50% one month following the launch.
Beyond impressions and likes, the best result one can hope for in healthcare is to save a life. This was fortunately the case for this campaign. A consumer shared that her father was having similar symptoms to Stuart so she encouraged him to go to the doctor, where he found out that he had multiple blockages in his heart that needed urgent attention. We learned that our campaign got him to the doctor just in time.
