Undestanding Your Target Market - Halls: A Pep Talk in every Drop campaign

12/13/2010

There is nothing better than a pleasant marketing surprise! While nursing a cold, I purchased a bag of my usual Halls Cough Drops. I noticed that they had re-designed their packaging as I hurriedly popped one in my mouth. I was about to throw the wrapper away when I discovered a pleasant surprise: “A Pep Talk in Every Drop”.

Halls, in a brilliant marketing move, has placed little “Pep Talk” messages on the wrapper. Mine included: “Bet on yourself”, “High-five yourself”, “Put a little strut in it”, “March forward”, and “Turn can-do into can-did”. The cost of this campaign must have been miniscule to Halls, since they are currently printing their logo on the wrapper anyway. By the way, the Halls logo is printed over a dozen times on the little wrapper – surrounding the “Pep Talk” messages.

This little wrapper which normally is quickly disposed of remained on my desk, I didn’t throw it away. And I have to admit, I felt a little better after reading the wrapper. It had the same emotional appeal as a fortune cookie with one exception: everyone who is using this product is feeling ill. Duh! That is why we use Halls – because we are sick and not feeling our best. Isn’t that when we all need a pep talk? Sure, there are days when we feel sick; both emotionally and physically. It is at those times when we reach for a Halls Cough Drop. Halls get it and gets us. What a perfect example of product positioning and understanding the mindset of your target market.

I researched this campaign and found out that it had been running throughout 2010. Apparently, I don’t get sick often enough. Below are video links to the TV ads for the campaign.

Thank you Halls for the “Pep Talk”

13 Comments

kat

1/9/2011 06:28:45 am

this sums up my feelings on the new wrappers exactly.

1/22/2011 12:37:33 pm

I wonder if anyone has created a master list of the various "pep talks"?

After eating my way through about a dozen Halls Breezers drops (no thanks to a current battle with bronchitis) I've seen 36 unique messages.

Once I copy the "pep talks" into a simple notepad text file, the wrappers are added to the circular file.

Anna

7/7/2011 11:40:55 pm

I haven't had a cold in a while. Possibly because I take Halls Defense which also has the pep talks.

I have found a total of 42 so far.

I thought it was only on the Halls Defense and they had other pep talks on the other products. Like "feeling better now?", "Your on your way" or "Can you breath now?

Maybe they will take this idea.

allison

10/24/2011 07:05:10 am

honestly, i had the opposite reaction. i want someone to be sensitive and sympathetic to me when i'm sick -- not telling me to "power through" or what have you.

i actually got so angry with these that i collected them to show my friends, as an alternative to the preachy fortune-cookie fortunes i come upon that bum me out. somehow, these were even more infuriating!

that said, the idea of putting messages there is indeed smart. and the lozenges certainly helped, in their own medicinal way.

Tom

11/10/2011 08:27:02 am

I just bought my first Halls this month after getting sick and noticed this, too. I think it's brilliant marketing. It's similar to the sugary sentiments found inside Dove chocolate candies.

At the height of illness, I had a hard time even feeding myself, but once I was capable of going to work, I still had that awful nagging cough that won't go away. that stage of a sickness is the worst for me, when I could continue to pity myself for my ailments but in truth need to rise above and get back to work and get my projects back on track. To stop being sick an "be awesome instead".

Medicinally, I needed the soothing drop, but by even taking the lozenge, I was making a decision to *overcome*. The pep talk on the wrapper confirmed and bolstered my mental state. I love the Halls lozenges for their physical attributes, but I'll favor Halls brand all the more because of this little message.

jay mack

12/12/2011 03:38:36 am

I discovered these pep talks just the other day when I bought a bag of Halls for a sore throat. I didn't really care for the messages. I don't want a pep rally when I'm sick, I just want to rest and feel better. If a friend had told me to "flex my can do muscle" or to "dust off and get up" like the wrappers, I would have told him to F*** off.

CactusHeart

3/7/2012 11:17:07 pm

Hey, when you are sick & have no choice but to work (in some cases with me, work (TWO JOBS in one day back to back), that pep talk stuff you trivialize is the LEAST of what you ned just to get through! Sounds cheesy but it helped me! The wrapper is right, I HAVE survived tougher! If you can curl up into a fetal position in the comfort of your own bed & feel sorry for yourself when YOU'RE sick, well lucky you I guess...that's not a luxury we all have, k?

Published

11/16/2017 11:26:53 am

And when you go to work and spread your disease to everyone else, Cactusheart, it's not a "luxury" they will have either. The USA is weird. You have this insane idea that sick people should go to work anyway and infect everyone else and the customers, instead of campaigning for a law that demands paid sick leave.

Carol

3/1/2012 04:17:19 am

This is a strange campaign—sending a drill sergeant message to people who are sick and should probably be resting, not working hard. I think it definitely stems from the Protestant work ethic, which has become even more extreme in the midst of the Great Recession, with Americans working harder than ever, knowing that if they stop or slow down, they can be mercilessly replaced.

3/7/2012 11:12:31 pm

Call me shallow, but....I just wanna know who that hunky drill sergeant is (the center of the 3 commercials on your page). He can get in MY face anytime >;.) Hubba hubba!

5/7/2012 10:11:50 am

The part about everyone who uses Halls is feeling ill is not true. I eat cough drops like they are candy.

abdul.form@gmail.com

8/21/2012 01:17:43 am

Personally, I think there is a dirty joke in every single one of the Halls wrappers quotes. If you think about that for a second, it makes sense and then they are all hilarious.

"Turn a can-do into "can did"
"Inspire envy"
A pep talk in every drop"
"Flex your can-do muscle"

I mean really? Someone totally made those up on purpose!

comeau

12/31/2018 09:18:19 am

I hate them. I first saw them today and I thought the quotes seemed like sometime someone from H.R. would say to get you back to work. You're not really that sick. Power through it.

UGH. This was not genius.

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