Dive Brief:
- Allergan's Eyepowerment campaign, launched on Monday during the Oscars, aims to raise awareness and encourage people with dry eye symptoms, including redness, itching and watering, to seek help from their doctors.
- The campaign will cross digital, social, television and print. It kicked off with celebrity and fan "eye selfies" on Twitter, with the hashtags #Eyepowerment and #Donate. For every #Eyepowerment hashtag with an "eye selfie", Allergan has pledged to donate $10 to Dress for Success, up to a maximum of $25,000.
- The website is live, with broadcast spots beginning in early March and print towards the middle of the year.
Dive Insight:
Dry eye, the result of inflammation affecting tear production, has a variety of different causes and affects millions of people in the U.S. Mild conditions are treated with over-the-counter eyedrops, but almost five million Americans over 50 progress to chronic dry eye, which can impair vision and increase the risk of eye infection.
Allergan's dry eye portfolio includes Refresh and Optive over-the-counter artificial tears, ointments and eye drops, and Restasis (cyclosporine) prescription eye drops. The company is developing tavilermide, licensed from Mimetogen and OD-01 following its acquisition of Oculeve, along with a number of other R&D programs.
"As a global leader in eye care, we are always working toward raising awareness for and renewing the conversation around the issue of chronic dry eye since it affects millions of people," said Herm Cukier, SVP of eye care at Allergan. "The campaign taps into consumers' emotions, hopefully inspiring more people to find Eyepowerment."
Allergan worked with actor Marisa Tomei mid-2016, who uses Restasis drops for her chronic dry eye condition. Allergan's new eyepowerment campaign is going to have to go for it to match up with Shire's dry eye patient campaign, 'eyelove'. This supported the U.S. approval of Xiidra (lifitegrast), Shire's first step into the ophthalmology field, last fall and was launched with a huge media push fronted by television and movie actress Jennifer Aniston. It included print ads in lifestyle magazines, television spots with celebrities and videos on social media.