Our communications objective was to drive quality (educated & compliant) trial of Differin Gel.
Social media isn't just another advertising platform. When users log in, they want their brain to log off. They want to be inspired, to be heard, to be seen. So when a brand launches an Instagram channel, they need to act like a consumer to seamlessly fit into a user's feed. That's where our strategy started. We started by listening. We looked at what the consumers were saying with acne, we listened to their frustrations when they had a breakout, their anger at being an adult with acne and their celebrations when they cleared up. Through this in-depth social listening, we found that Differin had a unique opportunity to participate in three ways.
First, education. We wanted to be the brand that owns adult acne. We wanted to educate why some adults have acne. We wanted to educate how our product worked, being that Differin was the first retinoid available over the counter. And our education came through in our community management, as we connected directly with consumers to encourage them to stick with the process that comes with a product like Differin Gel.
Secondly, connection. This content pillar was focused on identifying with our target's struggles and letting her know Differin is here to help. This pillar allowed us to be relatable to understand the "too real" moments.
And finally, empowerment. We got to show the real results of our product. An adult with acne, doesn't mean always being an adult with acne. We wanted to encourage her to share her journey by highlighting results with real people and influencers. In addition, we used this pillar to also create stories of what life is like, when you are living with a fresh face again.
The agency felt strongly that a mix of original imagery and videos were the best mediums to bring the new platform to life, as they capture the consumer's attention and visually showcase the functional and emotional aspects of the brand.
The Differin social assets were optimized for owned brand channels, including paid media, website, and retail product pages.
Lippe Taylor leveraged the original image and video creative assets on the @DifferinUS branded Instagram channel. To date, there has been a 226% increase in Differin.com website visits since launching on social.
