Alcon is teaming up with Grey’s Anatomy actress Kate Walsh for its "Make Every Look Count" campaign.
This new campaign comes amid the launch of its dry eye drops, known as Systane, and sees Walsh talk up her personal experience with dry eye symptoms and how they have impacted “important moments”. There are no DTC ads as yet and the drive is predominately social media-based.
“For years, I blamed my tired eyes on the bright lights on set, too much screen time, the need for a new eye prescription and other things,” said Walsh in a statement.
“After I learned I had dry eye, I went on a journey to find the right solution, because the symptoms caused me to be distracted during important moments, on- and off-set. We hope this campaign will encourage others to find what works for their dry eye symptoms, so they can reconnect with loved ones and the experiences in life that matter most.”
The Systane Complete preservative-free lubricant eye drops is designed to give eight hours of dry eye symptom relief with just one drop. Many other eye drops are already on the market, but Alcon is positioning its Systane system as a longer-lasting alternative, with many others giving relief for around four to six hours.
Alcon said it is going all out, running a “multi-channel advertising campaign” that will run throughout 2022.
This will include “organic and paid social content; partnerships with social media influencers detailing their experiences with dry eye and a drive for consumers to learn more about and try Systane Complete preservative-free lubricant eye drops.”
AbbVie also recently went big on its eye drop campaign for Vuity, though this is focused on a different patient population: Vuity can help replace corrective lenses for those with blurry near-vision, with the drop improving eyesight. It ran its first major DTC for the drop last month.
And while the patient has been the center of more and more campaigns recently, celebrities are still making a consistent appearance in pharma’s marketing plans. Alcon and Walsh, who also recently starred in Emily in Paris, join a host of pharmas using well-known faces to help promote their products.
Just this year, this includes Idorsia which recently tapped Jennifer Aniston (who six years ago also helped market eye drops for Shire) for its insomnia drug campaign; Exact Sciences, which signed up U.S. TV host Katie Couric for its at-home screening test Cologuard; Fresenius, which netted NBA All-Star and transplant recipient Sean Elliott for a kidney disease campaign and AstraZeneca, which just this month teed off a new campaign with pro golfer Jason Day for its lung cancer test push.