A pharmaceutical company in the States is getting its message across via the innovative use of YouTube videos.
Zyrtec, a Stateside allergy medication, used the video channel as a forum for launching a social media game in order to raise awareness of the brand.
It launched a YouTube game called Parks Unleashed on 5 September, the date acknowledged the US as the start of the autumn allergy season.
The premise of the game is that dogs have buried Samsung Galaxy Tabs all over the park and that the game player (the user) has to find them. The user is spoken to by various characters throughout their gaming experience and is allowed to make choices in their responses to the questions that the characters ask them. These choices determine the direction of travel for the game.
Whilst the game does not actually talk about pharmaceutical issues – largely because of strict guidelines governing what pharma companies can and can’t discuss with customers over the internet – its mere presence engages users more deeply with the brand.
The Zyrtec YouTube channel has collected 2.2million views so far, almost all of which happened as a result of the game – and in a short six-week period too.
Colleen Sellers, senior brand manager at Zyrtec, said: “YouTube is one of the most powerful channels online and using it for Zyrtec to reach such a massive audience, via Parks Unleashed, is a big win for us during the important fall allergy season.”
