Real Chemistry planned to launch Galderma’s new hyaluronic acid (HA) lip filler Restylane® Kysse with a series of up close and personal activations that showcased why women loved it. Then COVID-19 hit. Cosmetic offices around the country were forced to close, challenging Galderma to quickly jump to action to ensure providers felt supported more than ever before and raise awareness for a new product amid a global pandemic.
This is a story about Real Chemistry's smart and agile pivot during COVID-19 for a launch that has become Galderma’s best in U.S. Aesthetics to-date.
Galderma had conducted a Phase IV study showing that not only were patients treated with Restylane Kysse satisfied with their lips (100%) and felt they were more kissable (98%), but a majority of their partners (90%) were too, with most partners (73%) reporting a more kissable and natural feel.
With the goal of making Restylane Kysse the #1 lip augmentation option within two years, Real Chemistry's original plan included live events that brought to life the “kissability” data and the technological advantages of Restylane Kysse over other fillers.
So how do you launch a product that’s best appreciated up close and personal during a time when that’s just not possible?
The new remit: stoke demand for Restylane Kysse during the pandemic so that when the lockdown lifted, aesthetic injectors would have it in their offices and consumers would be clamoring for it. Then, maintain awareness throughout the year to ensure ongoing patient visits.
Research & Insights
Launching Restylane Kysse was not without challenges – even before the pandemic. This was the fifth lip augmentation product to launch in the U.S., and the target consumer, women 30+, had no strong brand preference, believing all fillers are the same.
There’s a stigma about lip augmentation, so many women keep their lip treatments a secret. Women also fear an adverse “duck lip” outcome and worry whether their partners will like their enhanced lips. This insight inspired the Galderma Phase IV “Kissability” study, which provided a key product reason-to-believe and newsworthy media content.
Strategy
We quickly pivoted to virtual/digital communications and focused on winning over aesthetic injectors so they:
- Would promote Restylane Kysse in their market even during office closures and
- Would be stocked with product when they could open their offices
We needed to:
- Establish the superiority of Restylane Kysse by reinforcing product advantages and the differentiating “Kissability” and partner satisfaction data
- Provide resources to help aesthetic injector early adopters (both HCPs and online influencers) promote Restylane Kysse, targeting those with the highest likelihood to share content
- Drive a steady drumbeat of consumer coverage to generate patient demand
Execution
Start with aesthetic injector education
- Real Chemistry was chosen over other agencies working on the launch to create the presentation for the virtual Train the Trainers meeting
- Despite uncertainty about when their offices would re-open, aesthetic injectors started immediately ordering product
Evolve to advocacy
- Distributed digital marketing/PR toolkits to 600 aesthetic injector early adopters/ influencers to market Restylane Kysse in their practices and drive patient demand
- Partnered with six high-profile social media influencers to share their Restylane Kysse treatment journey on their Instagram channels
- Partnered with Modern Luxury for a 15-market local influencer takeover and digital surround sound via earned and paid media engagement
Pulse the news out to consumers, ensuring high awareness throughout the year
- When Real Chemistry announced FDA approval, media coverage was double to that of previous Galderma product launches – 1.6 BILLION impressions – demonstrating pent-up interest in aesthetics during lockdown.
- On “International Kissing Day” we announced the Restylane Kysse launch and the Phase IV “Kissability” study findings.
- Self-Care Saturday: In a partnership with Bustle Digital Group via The Zoe Report, Dr. Michael Somenek and beauty guru Felicia Walker took 250 virtual attendees with high interest in aesthetics through self-care routines that incorporated both beauty and medical advice.
Harness the power of influencers to reach consumers where they are – online. Our influencer strategy involved:
- Activating 21 national and local-market influencers to amplify “Your Kysse, Your Story” campaign and increase product awareness
- Driving increased demand to the Kysse promo on Galderma ASPIRE Rewards (custom bit.ly link drove to offer for up to $100 off Restylane Kysse treatment)
- Amplifying influencer posts with paid to ensure the right people saw it
Because the team acted tenaciously and nimbly during the COVID-19 pandemic, Restylane Kysse has been Galderma’s best U.S. Aesthetic launch to date, with sales 3.5 times the combined launch of two previous Restylane products.
- Reorder rates are 50% and 16% above previous launch metrics at a similar point in time.
- Earned media outreach from May to date yielded >1.6 billion impressions vs. the previous high-water mark of 1 billion impressions for the full year.
- Activated 21 national and local-market influencers to share their real-life experience using Restylane Kysse and reach over 2.5M people.
- Restylane Kysse has been recognized with a Shape Best of Beauty award in lips and the AskMen Grooming Award for “Best Cosmetic Treatment for Face.”
- The announcement of Restylane Kysse's FDA approval resulted in twice as much media coverage as any Galderma product in the past, evidence of "tremendous pent-up interest in aesthetics, especially in lips.”
- Initial influencer results:
- 1.42% CTR on average, based on the first 11 influencer launches
- +$85.6K in offers redeemed in the first 3 months of the campaign
- +42.5K people driven to Galderma ASPIRE Rewards in the first 3 months
Video for Launching Restylane Kysse During the COVID-19 Pandemic
