• by Les Luchter , 6 hours ago

Johnson & Johnson’s Acuvue contact lens brand has turned to influencer marketing to launch two new products for people who have two common eye conditions: astigmatism and presbyopia.

The campaign, which began in late September, has so far garnered over 2 million impressions and views across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, the brand tells Marketing Daily.

One element of the campaign leans on nostalgia by bringing back the “Acuvue Twins,” Sabrina and Kelly, who in a commercial 20 years ago asked viewers, “Which one has the astigmatism?”

This time around, they’re hanging out on social media with the Merrell Twins, another duo where only one twin has astigmatism, and with Kate Steinberg. Sabrina and Kelley suggest that Kate trade in her glasses for contacts.

Those two posts have garnered nearly 800,000 views, with additional posts coming. The Merrell Twins post has generated over 8,300 total engagements and the Steinberg post has delivered an 18.48% engagement rate from over 37,000 engagements, with over 681,000 impressions.

Meanwhile, an Acuvue TikTok video reintroducing the twins has gone viral, generating over 20,000 likes and more than 600 comments.

Turns out that, while one twin still has astigmatism, the other now has presbyopia.

In this video, Sabrina and Kelly explain the two conditions in easy-to-understand fashion. “What’s astigmatism?” asks one. “It’s just a big word for ‘you don’t see as sharply as you could,'” the other responds. 

“What’s presbyopia?” the Q&A continues. “Just a big word for ‘you have a hard time seeing up close’ starting around age 40.”

One thing the twins couldn't shorten: the big names of the two new products being advertised.  For the record, they are Acuvue Oasys MAX 1-Day for Astigmatism and Acuvue Oasys MAX 1-Day Multifocal for Astigmatism, with the latter also marketed for those with presbyopia. Both went on the market this summer.

Astigmatism affects nearly half the world’s population, Acuvue notes, and presbyopia the majority of Americans over age 45.

So, in another element of the campaign, Acuvue sought to reach an older audience by teaming with the Holderness Family, popular with middle-aged viewers, for a video challenge that asked the question, “How are you going to rhyme presbyopia?”

The Holderness Family’s own rap solution to the challenge:  “You have trouble reading things close to ya, on account of you now having presbyopia.”

The Holderness campaign achieved more than 1.05 million views and over 8,300 impressions, “fueling upper-funnel awareness,” Acuvue reports. The brand’s website visits rose 150% more during a typical 7-day period, with Google search trends showing a strong uptick for several relevant queries.

In a third campaign element, former professional golfer Michelle Wie West posted for Acuvue with a series of still photos and short text featuring the message, “From the golf course to mom life and date night, @acuvue has my vision covered. Click the link in my bio to try Acuvue for yourself for free!” 

Acuvue also used West to generate press coverage in Newsweek, the New York Post, Golf Digest and other publications.

“While common conditions, many don’t realize they have astigmatism or presbyopia,” says an Acuvue spokesperson. “Through our campaign, we highlighted solutions and made blurry vision feel a lot less scary.”

Acuvue’s agency for the campaign is DJE Kinisi, part of Daniel J. Edelman Holdings.