The Nicholas Hall Awards 2009

Awarded for the most innovative marketing campaign for a new or existing OTC product, the category was increasingly competitive this year. With outstanding entries for Tylenol's 'Feel Better' campaign in the US, the launch of OTC Zyrtec, and Nicorette Inhalator in the UK, it was unanimously agreed to honour J&J / McNeil for marketing excellence throughout the year. The launch campaign for Zyrtec emphasised the benefis over other allergy products, such as Claritin, using a mix of humour facts and advice. Tylenol's 'Feel Better' campaign included a sleep room, showing how to get the best night's sleep you can and an inflight tray information sheet instructing airline passengers on how to stretch so that they have minimum discomfort whilst flying. Nicorette Inhalator's switch to GSL was marketed through multiple media, providing a newfound approach to NRT. The award was presented by Nicholas Hall and Executive VP Nina Stimson to Birgit Schuhbauer, J&J's Strategic Marketing Director for OTC EAME. For further information please visit http://www.nicorette.co.uk/stop-smoking/products/inhalator.aspx. http://www.zyrtec.com/econsumer/zyrtec/index.view. http://www.tylenol.com. The runner up was Sopharma for Tabex in Bulgaria, and you can find out more about Tabex by following this link: http://www.tabex.bg.

Awarded for the most innovative and successful new product launch or Rx-to-OTC Switch, Clamelle from Actavis was a clear winner as the first OTC oral antibiotic (azithromycin 500mg), as well as being supplied as part of a professional service and a diagnostic test. The Clamelle Chlamydia Service is comprised of the Clamelle Chlamydia Test Kit, and Clamelle Azithromycin 500mg tablets for those who need treatment following on from their test results. Actavis is truly deserving of this and in doing so creating a new category of OTC. The award was presented by Nicholas Hall and Insight Western Europe editor David Redford to Richard Hollies, OTC Director for Actavis in the UK. For further information please visit http://www.clamelle.co.uk. Actavis has also now begun an emotive consumer print campaign, which highlights the fact that Chlamydia, if untreated, can cause infertility. The runners up were J&J / McNeil for Nicorette Inhalator, Avantgarde for Yovis and Ceuta Healthcare for Oralmedic.

Voted for by delegates at Nicholas Hall's Insight 20th Annual European OTC Conference, held in Venice 22nd-24th April 2009, this award really represents the people's choice, honouring the most popular campaigns from a specially selected shortlist. Winning first place by an extremely large margin was J&J / McNeil's UK campaign for the Nicorette Inhalator, a campaign which emphasises the need for people giving up smoking to keep their hands busy. The award was presented to Birgit Schuhbauer, by Insight's Chris Allan and Nicholas Hall. For further information on the product, please visit http://www.nicorette.co.uk/stop-smoking/products/inhalator.aspx. Second was Niconovum's campaign for Zonnic Mouthspray. Third place was Bayer's UK campaign for Berocca. You can view the winning Nicorette ad below.