health care

Invisalign Fights Teen Braces Drama In Social Media Campaign

 

Seen the trailers for “Breaking the Band” and “Concession Stand Blues”?

Thought not, but then again, they’re targeted to teens.

They’re also not real movie trailers, but social media videos promoting the advantages of Invisalign clear dental aligners over metal braces.

Each fake film being previewed is tagged as “A Braces Drama,” part of Invisalign’s current “Stay Clear of Drama” campaign which evolved out of last year’s “Drama Free” campaign.”

“Will braces drama stand in the way of love?” asks Invisalign at the two trailers’ YouTube posts. “Pop out your Invisalign aligners and eat the foods you love.”

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“In “Concession Stand Blues,” a victorious high school football player gets handed a large heart-shaped candy concoction by a smitten girl. “Only one thing can stand in the way of love,” says the voiceover as the boy bites down, revealing his braces. “Eat the food you love with Invisalign.”

More “trailers” are on the way soon, Raj Pudipeddi, chief marketing officer of Invisalign parent Align, tells Marketing Daily.

He says the campaign is the latest phase of Invisalign’s marketing to teens, which began in 2020 with a spot exclaiming “Invis is not your parents’ braces” and showing two kids with metal braces using a dial-up modem, deemed an old technology just like braces.

The next campaign, Pudipeddi says, “humanized the insight…In a teen’s life, it’s all drama, so we came up with ‘Invis is Drama Free.’”

This year’s campaign, Pudipeddi continues, goes “one step further” by “actually showing how Invisalign is so much better than braces in a relatable and funny way.”

In addition to the pseudo movie trailers, Invisalign is leaning heavily into influencer marketing this time around, inviting six popular young Invisalign users to create their own TikTok and Instagram versions of the trailers as well as their own takes on using Invisalign.

Here's Symonne Harrison’s post on eating gummies: “I’m kind of craving something sweet. Can you eat gummies with braces?,” she asks. “Thanks to my Invisalign aligners, I can eat anything I want, including gummie

Invisalign will only work with influencers who actually use the aligners, who Pudipeddi says are found in two ways: “Some actually use Invisalign and really love it and reach out to us,” while others are identified by the brand as potential users “who we can reach out to and say, we’d love to have you for an influencer, would you agree to use Invisalign”?

Invisalign is working with three Publicis Group agencies on the campaign: Digitas for creative, Starcom for media, and MSL for public relations.

Seeking Alpha last year called Align a “profit machine” and the “undisputed category leader in clear aligners,” which as a category “are used in less than 20% of orthodontic cases.”

But clear aligners are clearly a growth industry.

“The orthodontic industry has become one of the most prominent sectors in healthcare, and Align Technology… is riding high on the wave of popularity with its cutting-edge braces technology,” Yasmim Mendonça wrote last week (May 30) inBest Stocks.

MarketResearch.biz says the global clear aligners market is expected to grow at 26.5% annually, from $4.8 billion in 2022 to over 47.7 billion in 2032.

The research firm also pegged the adult share of the global clear aligner market at 65.2% in 2022.

But Align, as evidenced by its current campaign, clearly sees teens as a prime target.

“Based on the most recent Gaidge practice analysis tool that collects and consolidates data from approximately 700 ortho practices in North America, overall, new patient flow and adult exams were lower this period, while teens outpaced adults,” Align President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph M. Hogan said during the firm’s first quarter 2023 earnings call in March.

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