ZYRTEC “SAY NO TO SPRING”
The Zyrtec Muddle No More campaign pokes fun at the silly things people do when they don't get allergy relief. The ultimate compensating behavior for poor relief is to get rid of spring altogether. Say No to Spring was a 360 activation starting with local newspaper and wild postings, then expanding through partnerships, online video and social posts. It's the the story of a grass roots movement called Muddlers of America who tried to end the season of misery. Did it work out for them? Not in the way they expected. Spring arrived like it does every year. But along the way, they learned about a more effective way to get rid of allergies: Zyrtec.
Say No to Spring launched with an open letter to Punxsutawney Phil, that famous groundhog who predicts when spring will arrive. The letter ran in local newspapers across the country, imploring Phil to see his shadow and bring on six more weeks of winter. Wild posters in Atlanta, Austin, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco helped the Muddlers spread the word.
The Muddlers of America turned to digital channels and social media to build their movement. YouTube and Facebook helped them target allergy sufferers and recruit more like-minded visionaries. Tumblr and Giphy became hubs where people could grab content and share it on their own channels. BuzzFeed picked up our Giphy posts organically for their own spring content, and hundreds of people shared our posts.
The Muddlers of America canvassed parks to sabotage spring activities on their misguided mission. Shot on iPhone, the videos were used on Facebook as promoted posts and on YouTube as TrueView pre-roll. The scrappy look complimented other self-made content that helped expand the grass-roots campaign.
The Say No to Spring Tumblr hub was a place to aggregate a lot of the digital and social content. The Muddlers of America could direct people to the Tumblr page, in addition to their own website. It made the campaign feel expansive, in addition to giving "new recruits" a chance to catch up on the posts, grab, share and join the movement.
Wherever the Muddlers of America showed up, Zyrtec was lurking just behind the curtain. We gave up the jig and offered a better way to put an end to allergies. The brand message was one click away on the Say No to Spring website, on posts adjacent to YouTube videos, and on partner pages, including on The Onion and Pandora.
