When Reese Consumer Health launched ColoTest in 2024, it had the challenges faced by every new product—including well-established, heavily marketed alternatives. How could we get people to consider a much more affordable, accessible newcomer?
Category
Health & Wellness
Services
Creative concepting Influencer strategy Media management Media strategy
The results
+176%
inbound calls
#1
selling colon health screening FIT test in retail pharmacies*
2x
GOLD WINNER Cancer Awareness Advertising Awards
*Locked down retail distribution at CVS and Rite-Aid
Evening the odds for a storied pharma company
Founded in 1907 as a family-owned and run pharma company, Reese Consumer Health developed health products for private labels and a few of their own OTC products, launching ColoTest as a fecal immunochemical test (FIT) that can detect early warning signs of colorectal cancer. Our task was to raise awareness and educate consumers on the growing threat of colorectal cancer, and to ultimately drive sales of ColoTest at Amazon and Walmart—all in a category dominated by well-established, high-spending brands such as Cologuard. While both can be alternatives to colonoscopies for some patients, ColoTest and Cologuard are really very different products. So we played up our differentiators and claimed space as an easily accessible (available OTC without a prescription), ultra-affordable (just $20) screening option that was still highly accurate.
Leaning into people really, really not wanting to get a colonoscopy
We knew we wouldn’t get anywhere by shaming people. Preventative health measures are most readily embraced when brands acknowledge patients’ anxiety, reduce fear, and make the desired action as easy as possible. So, we used humor to lean into people’s avoidance of colon cancer screening and presented ColoTest as a no-brainer option. Our digital campaign featuring ads in search, social, and CTV drove much-needed awareness of the new product and critically important traffic to retailers’ online and brick and mortar locations.
Keeping our pipeline full of top-performing creative with behind-the-scenes workflows
With regular team check-ins, we established a strong feedback loop that continuously improved creative assets and performance—helping us “feed the machine” and maintain momentum. We tested various ad formats, headlines, and copy to pinpoint what worked best, double down, and repeat. This formula produced compounding gains in effectiveness—and more growth for ColoTest.
Using influencers to amplify our storytelling and education
In a first-of-its-kind effort for Reese, we built buzz with consumer- and physician-generated content. Influencers with personal connections to colon cancer, including doctors and cancer survivors, helped lend the product instant credibility. We then amplified the content from these partnerships in paid social, giving us a wide range of messages in market. This spiked Amazon sales dramatically, and continued investment in this channel drove consistent purchase intent and sales growth.
Keeping our pipeline full of top-performing creative with behind-the-scenes workflows
With regular team check-ins, we established a strong feedback loop that continuously improved creative assets and performance—helping us “feed the machine” and maintain momentum. We tested various ad formats, headlines, and copy to pinpoint what worked best, double down, and repeat. This formula produced compounding gains in effectiveness—and more growth for ColoTest.
Rocketing from zero to the #1-selling FIT test on the market
Careful management and optimization drove sales and profitability up while breaking ground with new retailers, channels, and platforms—not just leading to ColoTest topping the FIT test sales rankings, but also thousands of people getting a vital health screening.
