• by Les Luchter , Yesterday

To help launch its Pro Heal 5 Day Protect bandage, Kenvue’s Band-Aid became the official first aid sponsor of Monday’s Boston Marathon, where it provided samples to 30,000 participants as they approached the infamous “Heartbreak Hill” toward the end of the race.

The new product, an extension of Band-Aid’s two-year-old Pro Heal Adhesive bandages, uses hydrocolloid technology and is said to stay on for five days, resulting in “less scarring” and “60% better healing.”

That would make Pro Heal 5 Day Protect particularly pertinent to marathoners’ post-run healing needs.

As part of the Marathon sponsorship, the brand had hosted a social media contest, in which aspiring marathoners entered by posting a video. Four winners (two of whose postings can be seen here and here) received entry into the marathon.

Band-Aid’s launch of Pro Heal 5 Day Protect has also included a partnership with four-time Olympic Gold Medal-winning runner Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, which included this “Heal Like a Pro” hero video on social media. Appealing to all runners, pro or not, McLaughlin-Levrone says in the spot that “Little cuts and scrapes happen to everyone. What matters is knowing how to take care of them….And remember, healing isn't a step back. It's how you stay in the game.”

The “Heal Like a Pro” tagline itself is not new, having been launched by Band-Aid for its first Pro Heal product a year ago as part of a baseball sponsorship with the Philadelphia Phillies.

For an upcoming influencer campaign, Band-Aid will likewise go beyond runners to other categories by including such “pro” brand ambassadors as college baseball star Justin Lebron, chef Keegan McManus, dancer Matthew Deloch, parents, and “everyday creators,” the brand tells Marketing Daily, with an aim of “broadening the platform beyond professional athletes to active consumers and people navigating everyday life.”

Pro Heal 5 Day Protect is also being pushed via a paid and owned digital campaign, featuring “before and after” visuals comparing a wound covered with the product for five days versus one left uncovered. Here’s a sample ad.

Band-Aid worked with Omnicom’s BBDO NY for creative development and with Publicis for the paid media.