Nyquil Has Teamed up with Drew Brees, Quarterback for the New Orleans Saints.

Over the past few weeks, I have notice more and more television commercials, staring professional sports figures. This marketing tactic is nothing new but with time, innovation, and, more creative influence, companies are able to afford better opportunities to connect with their audiences.

For instance, Nyquil has teamed up with Drew Brees, Quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. The Nyquil brand has been around since the fall of 1968, with its well-known product description as: "The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, best-sleep-you-ever-got-with-a-cold medicine.” The Saints won the 2009 Super Bowl against the Indianapolis Colts.  This victory came shortly after the devastating natural disaster; Hurricane Katrina struck the state of Louisiana and left the city of New Orleans in routines. 

As far as endorsements are concerned, marketers increasingly turn to athletes to promote their products. After leading his team to the 2009 Super Bowl victory, Drew Brees became an admirable role model to fans of all walks.  Now that traditional marketing tactics have taken a backseat to the new, innovative, highly popular digital marketing tactics; marketers believe that it is getting more difficult to reach a wide group of consumers and gain credibility by using television commercial campaigns.

Spectators may wonder what Nyquil’s marketing objective is and why they chose to endorse an NFL star instead of a star from any other professional league. Well, flu season starts during the fall months and so does the NFL. The concept of the advertisement is that NFL Quarterback Drew Brees has too many fans depending on him to let cold and flu symptoms keep him under the weather. Guess what he consumes as a preventative?  The campaign message really connects with fans and these fans are attached to this athlete. It also helps to add a sense of humor, and relatable sports content within the advertisement. As an official sponsor of NFL, Nyquil also hosts the "Most Dedicated Fan" campaign, which requires the most dedicated fan to follow a three step protocol. Step 1: Show and Yell; Step 2: Rise to the Challenge(s); Win, Brag, Etc. This competition requires a lot of fan engagement, which results in Nyquil raising a great deal of awareness for their brand. I find it to be a valuable campaign, do you?

Take a look!

References:

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5607.html