Toenail fungus treatment using Lamisil by Novartis – A branding case study
Background
Toenail fungus infection or onychomycosis is a condition with symptoms like white or yellow nail discoloration, thickening of the nail, and separation of the nail from the nail bed. It is not a condition one would actively seek out medical treatment for, at most the infection is considered a discomfort or inconvenience in everyday functioning. The commonly known treatments for this condition are surgery or topical ointments. Novartis launched Lamisil, an oral pill for treating toenail fungus, in 1997. The pharma giant is known to spend dollars in research and while much of the study went into product formulation, the product wasn’t getting picked up that much.
Insight
The main reason for this was a lack of awareness for onychomycosis. Not even physicians and healthcare professionals were too keen to prescribe any medicine as it was considered more of a cosmetic condition than a disease that needed medical attention. Hence the condition mostly was under-treated due to poor diagnosis.
Execution
In 2003, Novartis went all the way to make its presence felt in this space with a 360-degree designed marketing campaign for Lamisil. The campaign was kickstarted by introducing a cartoon character named ‘Digger the Dermatophyte’ – a yellow-colored creature with pointy ears, a tail, and brown spots. Through a series of advertisements, Digger is shown to explain the infection, raise awareness and encourage people to get in touch with their doctors for prescribing them Lamisil.
Through TV spots, print ads, digital communication on WebMD, NYTimes.com, Discover Health, and Yahoo! Health, Digger was seen shaking people out of the slumber of ignorance of toe fungus infection and to take action for it.
Digger also became one of the first characters in pharma marketing.
Impact
The animated character was cute, creepy, and left a mark on the viewers long after the campaign was over. Even though the campaign ran into its share of controversies due to over-promising the results in the ads and certain side-effects of the drug, Digger had already made its name in the market. Lamisil sales jumped 19% to $1.2 billion worldwide in 2004. Lamisil was bringing in $33 million in new prescriptions in April 2003 and after the campaign launch, the new prescriptions accounted for $44 million in July 2004. In fact, Lamisil became one of the biggest selling drugs in the Novartis portfolio.
Key takeaway
Don’t shy away from thinking out of the box (animated characters including) to create a market for something new or to sell a new drug.
