Excedrin: Game over for headaches

Source: SABRE Awards, Gold, North America, 2022

Downloaded from WARC

Excedrin, the medicine brand, identified an opportunity to increase household penetration in the US.

More than 70% of gamers say getting head pain while gaming adversely affects focus and
performance, and Excedrin saw this as an opportunity to target a new, younger demographic.
It took research further by conducting a brand-owned study to validate the relationship of gaming
and headaches.
Excedrin created owned assets for online video, display and social, and launched the world's
largest video game streaming platform in partnership with Twitch.
The campaign achieved over half a billion earned media impressions across 190 placements, and
over 47 million paid media impressions on Twitch.

Campaign Objective
As the head pain expert for more than 60 years, Excedrin is always listening to consumers to understand where
and when they need relief. In doing so, we learned that sometimes the things they love, like gaming, are the root
of their head pain. More than 70% of gamers say getting head pain while gaming adversely affects focus and
performance, yet the majority (80%) of them play through the pain.

Excedrin identified an opportunity to increase household penetration with a new, younger demographic by
targeting an explosive-growth audience: gamers. This audience was suffering from headaches that were
ultimately preventing them from doing what they love most - gaming - and presented an unmet need.

Target Audience
In 2019, we discovered that 7.3 million 18-24-year-olds—or 26% of the entire age group in America- game for
more than 5 hours a week. Since then, gaming activity has jumped to all-new highs during the pandemic.
Through social listening, we uncovered insights around how gaming has an immense impact on both the body
and the mind, creating the ultimate gamers' paradox. Headaches have the power to take gamers out of the game
—but everything about gaming can actually cause headaches: hours in front of a screen; adrenaline-inducing
environments; sacrificing sleep and regular meals; and more. And less than half of gamers actually treat their
symptoms, which means headaches that have the power to take gamers away from what they love; or worse,
gamers playing through the pain at the risk of their health. But we also know they are open to treating their
headaches; according to Simmons, gamers are 16% more likely to use head pain meds as sleep aids.

With the "Game Over for Headaches" campaign, Excedrin set out to be an ally for gamers—to help them keep
their heads in the game so they can battle more important foes.

Research and insights (including how the research was implemented in

the campaign)
We understood that Excedrin had a role to play in raising awareness of gaming-related headaches and that
Excedrin can be an ally to help players stay in the game.

In 2020, we took our research further by conducting a brand-owned study to validate the relationship of gaming
and headaches and to prove methods designed to help reduce the risk of headaches, improve focus, and
optimize performance. We collaborated with experts in the space—Ph.D.s in neuroscience, professional esports
coaches, clinical psychologists, and professional and amateur gamers—to design and test a mindful gaming
routine consisting of 6 steps in a live environment through exposed/control groups comprised of real gamers.

We discovered that 70% of participants said experiencing head pain while gaming adversely affected their focus
and performance, and 79% felt they could play better if they were able to manage their headaches more
effectively.

Creative Strategy
We brought this integrated campaign to life through several key pillars. First, we built brand credibility in the
gaming space through the Excedrin-owned study that enabled the development of the 6-step mindful gaming
routine. Designed to help combat screen-related headache triggers, the routine features simple tips and tricks
for gamers to integrate into gameplay. These tips include hand massages to avoid cramps, eye exercises to
improve focus, listening to music, and practicing deep-breathing exercises to relax the mind. By leveraging this
science-backed routine in campaign communications, Excedrin not only built credibility but also provided real
value to gamers suffering from gaming-related head pain.

Additionally, we partnered with Matthew Haag, AKA "Nadeshot"—an influential streamer, as well as CEO and
Founder of the esports collective and lifestyle brand 100 Thieves. He helped humanize the study by sharing his
personal experiences with gaming-related headaches with the media, as well as his millions of fans on social
media and Twitch. By socializing and employing the mindful gaming routine, he helped others become more
mindful of gaming-related headaches and to reduce their own risk of headaches. As an actual Excedrin user,
Nadeshot also helped provide credibility and resonance for Excedrin among this new audience for the brand.

We created owned assets for online video, display, and social, all grounded in gaming culture. By adopting the
Healer, an underrepresented character class in gaming that enables team members to stay in the game, the
brand was able to tell its story in a way that inherently resonated with gamers. The Excedrin Healing Academy -
six diverse healers each tied to a specific headache trigger - helped tell the brand story through engaging video
content. Excedrin also launched the first OTC partnership with Twitch, the world's largest video game streaming
platform, where the original content was further distributed via an influencer program consisting of 12 influential
streamers.

Execution and tactics (including relevant social media and digital

elements)
We harnessed the media cache and resonance of Nadeshot to attract earned attention for the brand's story.
This included a dynamic media strategy spanning endemic gaming verticals as well as consumer, health,
lifestyle and business media. While Nadeshot shared his personal experience with headaches and gaming, we
also had clinical psychologist and Excedrin Head Pain expert, Dr. Elizabeth Seng on hand to illustrate both the
physical and the emotional impacts of headaches.

To effectively reach gamers where they are already engaged across their devices, the brand focused its
social/digital efforts on a creatively-robust high-impact partnership with Twitch.

Excedrin sponsored twelve livestreams with diverse, influential streamers and included a custom Twitch
integration that could be triggered through the chat box. Participation rewarded participants with "subbombs," or
subscription credits. The barrier to entry was low: all that was required was to type "#Excedrin" in the chat once,
regardless of device, when prompted by the influencer. The branded integration consisted of an animation that
visually mimicked a health meter and healing sounds similar to those found in real games and was creatively
concepted to minimize disruption of game play.

By leveraging Twitch and its native platform capabilities, Excedrin was able to better establish itself in the
gaming space and break through to a target audience already familiar with the nuances of the platform.

Finally, in consideration of the gaming audience and other social platforms where they are already engaged, the
brand also focused its social efforts at launch on Twitter. In 2022, tweets about gaming reached more than 2
billion, up 75% from 2019. Campaign activity included brand tweets distributing creative optimized for the
channel, as well as a Twitter sponsorship of E3, a well-established gaming industry event that was broadcast
across digital platforms for the first time this year. The expo was previously held in 2019 and drew 66,000
attendees.

Effectiveness and results

"Game Over for Headaches" was a successful campaign, effectively breaking through to a new audience by
leveraging influential streamers in the gaming space; partnering with the world's most popular gaming streaming
service, Twitch; and creating original content to speak authentically to gamers. This led to heightened earned
coverage and positive consumer attention, and ultimately drove meaningful business results.

Reach:
 Over half a billion earned media impressions across 190 placements
Over 47 million paid media impressions on Twitch
Over 52 million paid impressions across paid social and programmatic media

Engagement:

26,211,877 total online video views

1,121,746 total social engagements, including 271,672 on Twitter for E3
Display CTR 140% above benchmark
3x increase in site traffic to Excedrin.com
3% lift in CTR among gaming-related search terms vs. non-gaming campaigns
Mentions of Excedrin among gamers increased by 50% month-over-month

Business Results:

Over 500K 18-34-year-old households started buying Excedrin

Twitch:

Brand lift amongst Twitch users outperformed platform benchmarks, including:

19% lift in unaided awareness across all ages
24% lift in message association for users 18-24
All 12 Twitch influencer streams also surpassed platform benchmarks:
Minutes watched: 1-2M+ per stream | benchmark = 600K-700K
Views: 400K-700K+ | benchmark = 300K-400K

AdAge also acknowledged the campaign as their "Creativity Pick of the Week."

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