Belgians normalize tiredness. It’s seen as a side effect of life. Our society glorifies fatigue because being tired equals being productive. Being tired means being a good parent, a good employee, a good student, or, in short, a responsible adult. Belgians are exhausted, but they wear it like a medal. According to research, for 70% of them, it’s actually a health issue: a magnesium deficiency.
For now, the demand for magnesium supplements is mainly concentrated among the most health-conscious Belgians. This is only a very small part of the people who actually suffer from a magnesium deficiency, revealing a clear blind spot within the real target audience.
To tackle this cultural blind spot, we faced a significant challenge:
How could we raise awareness about magnesium deficiency and connect it to EG Magnesium OPTI for all Belgians who might need magnesium to improve their health?
To answer this, we built a media strategy that was later awarded a Silver Effie, Silver AMMA and Bronze IAB MIXX medal.
Different scenarios to cover personal experiences
We quickly realized that we needed more nuance than standard TV could deliver. Even though this is what’s the norm in the big pharma industry to have a broad reach and achieve credibility among pharmacists. We wanted to challenge this norm by going digital. Going digital means we could:
- Show up in personal routines
- Tell personalized stories of hidden fatigue
- Invite them to action by linking to our magnesium test on our website
70% of Belgians means approximately 8 million people, which means we have a very broad target audience. Staying relevant here is one of the main challenges, as we want to really grasp the attention of people experiencing fatigue due to magnesium deficiency. If we want them to shift their perspective of "being tired is a normal part of my life" into "maybe I'm magnesium deficient", they need to recognize their struggles in the videos. We needed to be relatable.
Together with Berlin Creative Studio, we outlined the most frequent moments of tiredness due to magnesium deficiency. On top, we went over all targeting possibilities on various media channels to see what’s possible and how we can reach the biggest part of our huge target audience. These two extensive lists became the foundation for identifying the most effective combinations.
This resulted in the creation of 11 scenarios, which were turned into entertaining video ads, linked to specific everyday situations where a magnesium deficiency might manifest. Think of waking up tired, playing padel, commuting to work, or walking your dog.
To build brand recognition across the different commercials, Opti, the optimist, our green mascot, was featured as the main protagonist, and the memorable slogan, "voelt… ook zo zwaaaaar??” was introduced in all the videos.
Impact requires frequency. And the right touchpoints.
The personalized video storytelling sparked the initial awareness of both potential magnesium deficiency as our green EG mascot “OPTI”. However, to shift the mindset of the often stubborn Belgian, we require more than visibility and recognition. We need repetition across multiple touchpoints with the right timing.
Because of the strong focus on TV channels, there was an extra opportunity for us to fill the gap online. Competitors spoke to pharmacists via TV to build credibility. But no one was actually speaking to consumers — or helping them realize their fatigue wasn’t just life, but a health issue. Therefore, we chose a wide variety of media channels for our videos.
- BVOD and Connected TV (VRTMax, GoPlay, VTMGo & RTLPlay) seemed like an obvious choice because of the great match with our target audience and the stronger attention these placements provide.
- YouTube, Meta & TikTok provided the wide reach and the enablement of our highly specific targeting strategy. Here we could link each ad to a very relevant interest audience and link to the right timing. (e.g., commuters see the commuting ad during commute, and parents see an ad about the morning rush in the morning on schooldays).
- To add authenticity and deepen engagement, we collaborated with carefully selected influencers on TikTok and Instagram. Their personal stories helped humanize the message and drive credibility through real-life testimonials.
- DOOH ads were shown on both commute-heavy places like train stations and on the street around pharmacies. With timings linked to the commute hours and opening this way, we ensure reaching the audience with the recognizable mascot at moments when tiredness tends to hit, and when they are close to the POS.
This approach of having multiple touchpoints while maximizing relevancy laid a strong foundation. But as mentioned, with this campaign, we did not just want to raise awareness, but challenge a cultural blind spot. Challenging a national mindset: being tired isn’t normal. It is a reason to act.
From relatable stories to real pharmacy visits.
Making people proactively self-reflect on their health needs a trigger. This is where our magnesium test came in. We weren’t just talking to people. We built a system to help them self-identify, self-test, and self-correct.
Each video is linked directly to the test with a clear CTA to do the test, but we wanted to strengthen the actionability further. Having people fill in a 5-minute test can be challenging. We had 4 native advertorials running on the biggest news websites (De Morgen, Het Nieuwsblad, De Standaard,..). Each advertorial carefully explained symptoms and provided insight into understanding the magnesium deficiency test. Resulting in very qualitative website traffic, averaging around 2 minutes average session time , which is similar to what we reached with our traffic campaigns via Meta & Google (SEA + Performance Max).
To finalize the full-funnel approach, we can’t forget the pharmacists. Studies in other countries have already proved that pharmacists significantly impact the choice of customers to pick a brand for supplements. Our competitors focus a lot on using the traditional approach, building credibility with big TV campaigns. We wanted to rewrite this approach.
Together with Hunch, we launched a DCO campaign with over 1,200 pharmacists, targeting their pharmacists with a specific image and video ad made for them. This way, not only could our customers see their most nearby pharmacy to buy Magnesium EG OPTI, but the pharmacists also saw their own shop, strengthening the bond between EG and pharmacists. The feedback of pharmacists seeing their own ad was overwhelmingly positive, giving us the confirmation that our personalized approach worked.
So, can we prove this with numbers?
Results
Thanks to the green mascot popping up at the ideal moments, connecting to the relevant people, the results after 1 month were stunning!
- We gathered a grand total of 11,637,905 video views, therefore reaching the majority of our target audience.
- Even more impressive is that these tired people took the time to fill in our 3-minute magnesium test on our website 29,744 times (+3,445% YoY).
- And due to more customer demand in pharmacies, we saw the sales in pharmacies pop up 37% YoY in a declining market!
That impact was recognized with a Silver Effie, Silver AMMA and Bronze IAB MIXX, rewarding not just creativity, but effectiveness, media strategy and innovation.
Jonas Geiregat
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