Advertiser: Boots
Agency: EssenceMediacom
Highly Commended: Most effective campaign
Challenge
The UK faces a growing health crisis, with the NHS under immense strain. GP wait times have increased by up to two weeks and nearly 7.4 million patients in England are awaiting treatment.
Boots, as the UK’s leading heather retailer, saw an opportunity to step in and support the nation’s health by providing accessible healthcare through its in-store pharmacists, pharmacy services and health products delivered via Deliveroo.
The campaign faced three primary challenges: the health crisis itself, increased competition from grocers and other online retailers, and a perception challenge. Boots needed to ensure that consumers saw it as a trusted, credible and accessible healthcare provider, not just a retailer. This would be all about driving a reappraisal of Boots, while also increasing revenue for Boots Health and Pharmacy.
Approach
There was a clear role for news. Firstly, to help drive revenue with high attention media placements and content that seamlessly weaved in Boots health services and products with a clear call to action. Secondly, to enable Boots to speak to the nation, leveraging news brands’ mass reach across the UK and into ethnic communities, which are disproportionately impacted by health inequality in the UK.
Econometrics insight showed that adding print news brands to the media mix in retail improves overall campaign ROI by a factor of 2.8, rising to up to five times with the addition of digital.
In fact, Boots increased its investment across print and digital by over 80%, with more than 60% of print insertions committed to brands titles across several news brand titles. Boots used display ads to showcase products and drive sales, while advertorials delved deeper with real-life health case studies.
Boots also embarked on its first long-term health content partnership with Reach, featuring pharmacist Q&A social videos and digital advertorials that highlighted Boots’ expertise. Reach’s newsjacking functionality enabled Boots to appear next to contextually relevant health articles. Plus, an interactive map in the Mirror highlighted regional disparities in health attitudes and behaviours.
By combining impactful creative with targeted media placements, Boots ensured the campaign reached its intended audience effectively, driving both engagement and action.
Results
The campaign exceeded expectations, delivering a healthy return on investment, with print a shining star in terms of effectiveness.
Post-campaign research from Reach showed 52% of respondents recalled seeing the Boots health campaign across print and digital, demonstrating both attention and audience cut-through. What’s more, Boots saw uplifts across important brand health metrics, with awareness of Boots health services — including the ‘Health MOT’ service — up by 67%. Consideration was also up, with eight out of 10 recallers reporting to be more likely to shop at Boots for health or wellbeing while almost a third selected Boots as their first-choice provider.
By effectively leveraging the creative and contextual power of news brands, Boots successfully positioned itself as the nation’s go-to health retailer, achieving both perception and revenue objectives.
