Smit Shah's Blog

Smit N Shah

Article # 9
Head-On commercials

HeadOn is a topical product intended for headache relief, produced by Miralus Healthcare, which claims it is a homeopathic remedy. HeadOn's notoriety came in part due to its advertisements on cable and daytime programming on broadcast television which consisted of using only the tagline "HeadOn. Apply directly to the forehead" repeated very quickly three times, accompanied by a video of a model using the product. Inn September 2006 a new advertisement debuted on US channels; the opening is the same as the original HeadOn, with the words "HeadOn, apply directly" occurring before the sound fizzles out while a person walks on and mocks the tagline, stating "I can't stand your commercial, but your product is amazing!", "Hate your commercial, but love your product", or "HeadOn, your commercial is so annoying, but you got a great product!". The previous advertising campaign which was used to promote HeadOn included the phrase "Should I know about HeadOn?", but was changed in late June 2006.

The company used focus groups to try a number of potential commercials; with one focused solely on repetition; its results were incredible. The focus groups recalled the ads much more than with any other method. A number of people have considered the ads annoying. Dan Charron, vice president of sales and marketing, told the Los Angeles Times that nobody in the focus groups had told him that the ads were annoying.

Annoying or not, the fact is that almost everyone who has watched the commercial a couple of times remembers it. As the saying goes, "Even bad publicity is good publicity", they definately got viewers attention. They however have had problems with the Better Business Bureau. BBB has asked Miralus Healthcare, not to market their product as a cure for headaches. Irrespective of BBB's stand, their commerical did get people to notice them. I would say that their marketing campaign was a success.

// posted by WizKid @ 1:20 PM