Plan B One-Step, the #1 OBGYN-recommended emergency contraception brand, which has long been considered consumers’ brand of choice after unprotected sex, was facing two unique challenges: (1) continued category and product misinformation and (2) the need to connect and engage with Gen Z, a growing demographic comprised of savvy consumers seeking out community, authenticity and brands that align with their values. To combat misinformation and connect with this audience, the brand set out to develop an influencer campaign that could:
Drive awareness and education around emergency contraception and combat misinformation. The overturn of Roe v. Wade, paired with a highly contentious political cycle, led to a swirl of misinformation around emergency contraception. Most prominently, consumers (and even some news outlets) did not understand how Plan B One-Step worked, which led to the product often being inaccurately conflated with the abortion pill. Additionally, with states overturning abortion laws, misinformation about how and where to access sexual health resources, like over-the-counter emergency contraception, was growing.
Drive brand choice, reinforcing that Plan B One-Step is a trusted, safe product that gives women control and aligns with their values. To better connect with Gen Z, Plan B needed an influencer strategy focused on connecting with them through social trends, while reminding them Plan B is there for them as a backup birth control option to help prevent pregnancy before it starts.
Strategy: Engage a creative voice who aligns with Plan B’s values and aim to authentically educate audiences about emergency contraception. Anchor the content in a multi-part social media content series designed to put culturally relevant storytelling at the center and bust through algorithms to keep the audience coming back for more, while organically weaving in brand messaging. Ensure content is authentic to the influencer and resonant with Gen-Z and young Millennials.
Messaging: Prioritize an influencer with high production quality, high engagement and a confident, approachable tone to imaginatively communicate core Plan B messaging, specifically homing in on (1) how the product works, (2) when to use it, and (3) how to access Plan B after unprotected sex.
Platforms: Disseminate content on platforms where our target is spending the most time. Because emergency contraception is a restricted industry on TikTok (and thus, influencers are barred from organically posting partnership content on the platform), focus influencer content on Instagram, using in-feed content and Instagram Stories to drive large-scale awareness of our educational messaging and, as a secondary priority, engagement.
Amplification: Further engage and maximize ROI by using paid media to amplify the influencer’s content to a targeted audience. Leverage influencer licensing (whitelisting) to create authentic ads served from the creator handle and dark ads served from the brand handle to reach the target audience in trusted ways.
Execution: We partnered with influencer Serena Kerrigan, the “Queen of Confidence,” to create a TV-inspired social content series. Set in NYC, this series dives into the life of a woman caught up in a 'situationship' with “Jimmy.” Each episode kicks off with her sharing juicy details with her “therapist” about her rollercoaster relationship with Jimmy - unsure where they stand, yet unable to let go or come to terms with his red flags. Execution included four components:
To kick off the series, we generated teaser content – including Instagram Stories and an Instagram Reel - to excite fans. Teaser content was unbranded to build suspense and chatter, including polls and quizzes on sex and dating to bolster engagement.
Before launch, Serena conducted an Instagram Live to encourage viewership, where she revealed the series was in partnership with Plan B, expressing her excitement. She also spoke to how this program aligns with her goal of becoming a screenwriter and her passion for women’s health, before urging fans to check in weekly for new episodes.
Episodes 1 & 2 are largely unbranded, with subtle nods to her past Plan B partnerships. But things get real in Episode 3 when Serena & Jimmy take the next step and Serena’s primary method of birth control falls through, leading her to take Plan B (highlighting its availability on Instacart nationwide). With her “therapist” cheering her on in Episode 4, she sees the light - realizing she deserves a ‘green flag’ guy. Relatable drama, hilarious mishaps, and a journey of self-discovery eventually lead Serena to finally show Jimmy the exit door.
Content was leveraged for paid social and optimized for engagement.
Video View Rate Exceeds Benchmarks
Serena’s content received an overwhelmingly positive reception. With algorithms prioritizing video content and views, Engagement Rate (ER) has seen a steady decline since 2019, no longer making it an accurate barometer of success for organic programming. As such, Plan B now prioritizes Video View Rate (VVR) – video views divided by followers - as its primary indicator of organic success, as the metric quantifies the performance consistency of an influencer, as well as the impact of an individual piece of video content. Serena’s video series garnered a 65% VVR – surpassing our 17.8% Plan B benchmark nearly four-fold.
Audience: Engaged
Audience sentiment was incredibly supportive, with all commentary being positive or neutral in tone. Many comments demonstrated brand or creator love and anticipation for upcoming content. We saw strong message pull-through in user comments as well, highlighting women’s empowerment and brand messaging related to accessibility – an important topic given the political climate and overturn of Roe v. Wade.
Power of Paid
Serena’s episodic content drove strong paid results, keeping users engaged at significant scale. Optimized for engagement, her videos cumulatively delivered an average ER of 2.5% (with some videos ranging up to 4%), surpassing our 1.67% benchmark. This was impressive considering each episode utilized nearly double the average budget of our standard evergreen creator content and, as a trend, we typically see higher spend and scale results in lower average results. However, this performance demonstrated the episodic approach was clearly effective in engaging users.
