Johnson & Johnson is mounting a back-to-school marketing push for its overnight contact lenses, calling on parents to add an eye test to the to-do lists they work through to prepare their kids for the upcoming academic year.
J&J won FDA approval for its overnight contact lenses, Acuvue Abiliti, late in 2021. Worn overnight, the device temporarily reshapes the cornea to correct nearsightedness and typically free children and young adults from the need to wear contact lenses or glasses during the day. The focus on the pediatric market led J&J to identify the weeks before the start of the school year as a key commercial window.
To seize the opportunity, J&J has teamed up with content creators, optometrists and patients to share stories and encourage parents to schedule yearly eye exams for their children. Acuvue Abiliti brand partner Jason Hanna is among the people J&J has enlisted for the campaign.
“As a parent of school-aged children, summer always seems to pass by in the blink of an eye and before you know it, we are running around town checking off every item on our back-to-school list,” Hanna said in a statement. “With myopia on the rise, we make it a point every year to schedule eye exams for both of our boys.”
Hanna, who has a parenting Instagram account, @2_dallas_dads, with 83,000 followers, has also run a paid promotion for J&J on social media. In an Instagram post, the account shared photos of the kids reading and looking at something in the distance, accompanied by text discussing myopia and encouraging other parents to add a comprehensive eye exam to their checklist for the back-to-school season.
The contact lenses form part of a portfolio of vision devices that grew 6.9% in the second quarter. J&J cited “price actions” as a driver of the uptick in sales, adding that “growth of contact lenses was partially offset by strategic portfolio choices and supply challenges.”