Mucinex

The objective

Evaluate the effectiveness of Mucinex's ads during the key cold and flu season

Mucinex is one of the world's best-selling OTC medications for cold and flu symptoms. Over last year's flu season, Mucinex sought to build further awareness and drive sales for its key products on TikTok, running subsequent campaigns during late 2022 and early 2023.

To measure the outcome of these campaigns, Mucinex executed two sales effectiveness studies with NCSolutions (NCS), a badged TikTok Measurement Partner. NCSolutions measures the incremental sales lift of in-store and online purchases after seeing an ad on TikTok.

The solution

Conducting sales effectiveness studies to learn what resonates with audiences

Both Mucinex campaigns leveraged TikTok's unique traits and those campaign elements were measured within the NCS study. The first campaign leveraged Auction In-Feed Ads, high impact units and Interactive Add-Ons. Using a Top Feed ad placement allowed Mucinex to stand out, capturing users' attention on their For Your Feed during the key cold and flu season. Leveraging high impact units and Interactive Add-Ons can boost engagement and empower brands to reach the right audience at the right time, maximizing memorability.

Through the sales effectiveness study, Mucinex was able to learn which ad format resonated with the TikTok audience and what was most efficient. Mucinex ran a subsequent campaign in the first quarter of 2023, utilizing different campaign tactics to continue to test and learn.

The results

Driving incremental sales among users

Mucinex's Q1 and Q4 campaigns proved successful, with both ROAS and incremental sales exceeding NCS TikTok Health and Beauty benchmarks by 4x-6x. Both campaigns also saw significant contributions from new brand buyers, proving that TikTok is the platform for incremental audience reach, while converting new buyers to the brand. Looking at the campaign tactically, the NCS study was able to granularly provide proof points of the unique Mucinex campaign elements that drove success.

In the Q4 2022 campaign, both Interactive Add-Ons (SuperLike and Display Card) showed success and contributed significant incremental sales, along with the Top Feed ad placement. The Q1 2023 campaign measured and generated learnings on what drove campaign success via objective type and frequency. In executing and measuring both of Mucinex's TikTok campaigns, the brand discovered clear optimizations to drive continued future success. Seeing consistently strong results, quarter-over-quarter, has proven that investing in TikTok has reached the right audience, new and previous Mucinex purchasers.

What's next?

Leverage measurement data to inform strategy and future campaigns

Analyzing quarter-over-quarter results allowed Mucinex to tap into TikTok's unique capabilities to understand what tactics are most efficient for the brand and what elements are driving incremental sales. Diving deeper has allowed the brand to optimize toward top performers, reach incremental users and become more efficient over time.

Leaning into TikTok's third-party measurement solutions like NCS allows CPG brands to test and learn, and to pinpoint what drives sales for their respective brands. CPG advertisers are urged to lean into the opportunity to strategically test and learn with TikTok. Building a learning agenda and testing with measurement-backed approaches, from an always-on or quarter-over-quarter standpoint, allows brands to continuously optimize, keep a pulse check on platform performance and drive business outcomes.

Note: OTC Category is a restricted category (per TikTok Ad Policy) and requires 18+ age targeting.