EFFIE Bronze for Lek's campaign "Angal, double relief for sore throat"

Angal is a medicine which patients can purchase over the counter at pharmacies and is intended for pain relief in cases of sore throat. It is available in two forms, as a spray since 1998 and as pastilles since 2002.

Lek’s Angal campaign is a successful example of the new approach to communicating with the lay public and represents the expansion of an existing brand to a highly regulated and competitive pharmaceuticals market. Through the new approach to advertising in the pharmaceuticals industry the brand has substantially exceeded both marketing and communications goals. The effects of advertising have made a major contribution to increasing the success of the Angal brand.

Communications and marketing goals of the campaign

High-quality research (the data-chaining method was used) performed in 2001 indicated that Angal is recognized by the public as a drug which is used for severe sore throats (for angina) and not a medicine which could be used at the first signs of infection.

With the introduction of Angal pastilles, Lek’s communications goals were to achieve their recognition as a sore throat medicine which could be used at the first signs of sore throat and to achieve a 40-percent market share of pastilles users. The most important marketing goals were to increase the financial market share of the Angal brand from 23.5% to 25%, to increase the financial market share of Angal pastilles by 50% and to maintain the 12-percent market share of Angal spray.

The results of the communications and marketing goals for the Angal brand

OTC drugs are mainly advertised using classical methods; the communications strategy for the Angal brand was based on education.

The campaign started with a 150 second television info spot and continued in the print media, where we used classical half-page ads and promotional/informative one-page ads. Activities were also carried out at sales desks in pharmacies. With the completely new marketing communications approach and integrated marketing communications, all of our goals were exceeded.

The market share of the Angal brand was 12 percent in the first quarter of 2002, and in the first quarter of 2004 it was 30.4 percent. Thus we exceeded the goal (to achieve a 25-percent market share) by 5.4 percent.

The financial market share of Angal pastilles increased by 62.6% (the goal was a 50% increase), while Angal S spray maintained its 12-percent market share. Thus we exceeded the our target by 12.6 percent.

The communications goal of having clients recognize Angal pastilles as a medicine for relieving sore throat pain was achieved. Research by PGM plus (managing product groups, performed by Cati d.o.o.) performed in July 2004 indicated that Angal pastilles were used exclusively for sore and inflamed throats – 100%.

In addition to achieving the above-mentioned marketing and communications goals, the campaign had other positive effects:

- a positive response from pharmacists in pharmacies to the new communications and creative strategy (educational and informative approach) which helps them in their work (source: information from professional associates in the field) – response from competitors – new creative solutions which imitated the content of the Angal campaign – from February 24 to March 29, 2004 Angal ranked among the 5 most popular brands and in first place in the ‘Medicines’ category (source: Finance April 21, 2004, research: Cati d.o.o.).

Lek, a new Sandoz company, was participating in the EFFIE Festival for the second time. At the first Festival of Effective Communication in 2003 Lek received an Effie Silver for the advertising campaign for Lekadol plus C.

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Lek, a new Sandoz company, is an international pharmaceutical company which operates as a business center on the markets of Central and Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe and the CIS region, and also markets its products successfully on the US market, in the EU and elsewhere around the world. Lek creates value through the development, manufacturing and sales of pharmaceutical products, active pharmaceutical ingredients and biopharmaceutical products. Lek employs about 4,186 people in various regions and achieved total sales of USD 746.5 million in 2004. For further information please consult http://www.lek.si

Sandoz, a Novartis company, is a leading global supplier of high-quality generic pharmaceuticals. Headquartered in Vienna, Austria, Sandoz is a Retail Generics company operating also two Business Units with specific strategic focus – Industrial Products and Biopharmaceuticals. In 2004, Sandoz achieved sales of USD 3.045 billion, employs about 13,400 people and operate in over 120 countries around the world.

Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) is a world leader in pharmaceuticals and consumer health. In 2004, the Group’s business achieved sales of USD 28.2 billion and a net income of USD 5.8 billion. The Group invested approximately USD 4.2 billion in R&D. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis Group companies employ about 81,400 people and operate in over 140 countries around the world. For further information, please consult http://www.novartis.com