The Challenge

Westport Pharmaceuticals, a tiny start-up company based in St. Louis Mo. is a company with a mission:  to reduce the impact of non-prescription drug abuse on local communities. Their first product, Zephrex-D is a pseudoephedrine based anti-sinus and allergy medication that is highly resistant to conversion into methamphetamine – a dangerous,  illegal and highly addictive drug that is devastating communities across America.  With a relatively small budget and within a category dominated by “Big Pharma” players, we were challenged with creating a targeted effective digital communication plan that would generate social engagement and help propel the product into national distribution.

The Solution

We recognized that to compete with Big Pharma we needed to put some real skin in the game. So we initiated a partnership with K9s4COPS, an organization that takes military ‘hero-dogs’ returning from active duties overseas and re-trains them to assist local law enforcement departments here in the States.  Zephrex-D sponsored the training of 5 dogs and we filmed their progress as they learned how to search for illegal meth-labs became acquainted with their new officer partners.  We promoted the program through search, social channels and local press.  At the end of the training program, we were able to follow one of the dogs and his officer back to a local community, where we created a short film showing the new partners at work.

The Results

Associated Press responded—sent a crew to film officers in their local communities, and wrote a feature story with companion video and stills. The story was picked up by national & local news outlets, many of whom ran the video alongside the copy.

Social media ignited—the Facebook reached 57,632 people and garnered 4,674 likes comments and shares. 775 people clicked on the post. Website sessions, new users, and page views all almost doubled and business results were just as impressive. Total US sales increased 40% versus YAG,  & the northeast region was +70%