In 2017, TUMS launched Chewy Bites, an antacid that works just as fast as regular TUMS, but tastes delicious, thanks to its tasty outer-shell and soft, chewy center.
A group in which TUMS does not have historically high penetration, millennials, are becoming increasingly difficult to reach through traditional TV ads. To reach this new audience, the company developed a cohesive digital and social campaign to drive home its product’s key message of fast, tasty relief.
Objective and Context:
This campaign primarily targeted millennials who TUMS found were experiencing heartburn at higher rates than the rest of the population (59 percent versus 54 percent, respectively). However, social listening informed the company that they’re hesitant to treat, partly due to taste-related aversion. Of social conversations involving TUMS and taste nearly half were negative; consumers using descriptors like chalky and gross, while recognizing the brand as a dated or old-fashioned treatment.
Target Audience:
To reach the company’s all-important millennial audience, TUMS engaged them where it mattered most: their stomachs. By sending free pizza to consumers nationwide, the company gave millennials the chance to enjoy their heartburn-inducing favorite food, and provided fast relief that’s just as tasty.
Supported by a promoted trend and custom emoji, influencer partnership, humorous social creative, and the real-time Twitter giveaway, the campaign personified the fun, light-hearted spirit of TUMS Chewy Bites.
Creative Strategy:
The TUMS Chewy Bites campaign was the first digital and social launch for the brand. New technology leveraged for this campaign included the pizza giveaway and custom emoji on Twitter along with influencer promotion through Instagram stories as well as mobile-friendly GIFS featuring pizza that were created for the brand’s social channels.
Overall Campaign Execution:
To kick off the company’s campaign, TUMS’ launched with a one-day only Free Pizza Giveaway on Twitter, offering consumers nationwide the chance to win pizza in real-time. Winners received pizza delivered to their doorsteps in one hour or less, along with a coupon for TUMS Chewy Bites. Facebook and Instagram content, along with a YouTube masthead takeover, drove users to Twitter, where they could tweet with the hashtag #TUMSChewyBites, activating its custom emoji for a chance to win.
Partnering with popular millennial food and lifestyle influencers put fresh faces on the classic brand, and allowed the company to authentically insert TUMS into millennial conversations. Influencers drove entries to the brand’s Free Pizza Giveaway from Twitter and Instagram, posting a mixture of GIFs, photos and Instagram stories, and continued the conversation about TUMS Chewy Bites in the months following. Eye-catching, light-hearted creative posted to the TUMS Facebook and Twitter pages further amplified messaging throughout the campaign.
Mobile:
Knowing that millennials would primarily be interacting with the campaign on their phones, TUMS ensured that all assets were mobile-optimized and also explored mobile-only tactics. Mobile-only tactics included Twitter conversation cards, tap-able units on mobile that easily drove users to enter the pizza giveaway on Twitter, and Instagram stories in partnership with influencers. Supporting social content on Facebook was optimized for mobile with their GIF, square formats, and non-linear storylines that could easily be looped for multiple views.
While TUMS enjoys broad recognition as the immediate heartburn relief category leader, consumers don’t always love the classic product’s chalky taste. In fact, social listening uncovered that nearly half of conversations around TUMS and taste were negative, with consumers often describing the product as chalky. In addition, TUMS shares were down, partly due to competitors’ innovative (and better-tasting) offerings.
Overall, 52.8 million impressions and 1.1 million engagements were garnered, along with over 50,000 uses of #TUMSChewyBites and its custom emoji in 24 hours, beating Twitter’s paid promoted trend benchmark by twice over. The brand also saw a 12-point lift in ad recall, an eight-point lift in brand awareness, and a 14 percent increase in positive sentiment among conversations around TUMS Chewy Bites, as well as a five-point lift in purchase intent. Further, the brand saw a 25 percent increase of TUMS Chewy Bites-triers making a repeat purchase.
