• by Les Luchter , December 30, 2022

Need a New Year’s resolution? How about “I will take my vitamins every morning”?

To drive home the point, Pharmavite’s Nature Made will launch one of its largest campaigns ever on New Year’s Eve – with a :30 spot airing during the festivities on ABC’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” CBS’ “Nashville’s Big Bash” and NBC’s “Miley’s New Year’s Eve Special.”

And yes, these shows undoubtedly skew younger than what Pharmavite chief marketing officer Rhonda Hoffman tells Marketing Daily is Nature Made’s core audience: the 50+ crowd.

That’s no mistake, as the new campaign will also target 18- to 34-year-olds, including Nature Made’s first-everuse of branded content and influencer marketing on TikTok, Instagram Reels and Pinterest.

Hoffman cites IRI data showing household penetration for vitamins and supplements increasing 3% among the 18-34 demographic during the pandemic, more than for any other group. And Mintel found that 47% of millennials had increased their vitamin/supplement use since the pandemic began, she says.

One more statistic: Nature Made says its sales have grown 36% over the past three years, outpacing category growth.

Besides its expanded target audience, Nature Made is also switching to an emotional, lifestyle-based ad approach instead of the pharmacist testimonials about product quality and benefits, which had previously been featured in its commercials over the past decade.

The campaign creative grew out of a partnership with Nielsen IQ, whose research showed that “consumers do not connect to ‘scare-based’ advertising and are instead looking for more positive messaging around health,” the brand said

Using behavioral science techniques, NielsenIQ measured Nature Made’s spots as they were being developed, Hoffman explains, first with EEG [electroencephalogram] to measure emotional motivation, memory activation, attention processing and brand/message resonance, and second with eye tracking “to understand what attracts visual attention during the processing journey.”

The new “proactive approach to wellness—versus disease control” allows Nature Made “to lean into care-free optimism rather than add to consumers’ growing stress and anxieties,” the brand said.

So the kickoff spot, from Leo Burnett Chicago, features a busy woman taking her Nature Made Multi and saying goodbye to her family as she heads off to work.

The campaign -- which includes another :30 and two :15s -- will continue running in the new year on both traditional TV and streaming, with an emphasis on morning and prime-time dayparts. One key morning placement will be sponsorship of the “Morning Menu” on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Other campaign content includes digital display and paid social media.

Mediacom handles Nature Made’s media buying.