Thanks to a unique banner ad campaign, Tylenol's GetWell.com has seen a steady increase in traffic.
The niche site's unusual model allows consumers not only to receive information about a loved one's illness, but also to find the appropriate gift based on this knowledge.
The site's key feature is its GetWell Profiler. It asks the user to choose a condition, choose a relationship and enter the person's age. If the subject has allergies, for example, the profiler will explain the disorder and its symptoms. It then will present pertinent gift ideas, such as a featherless pillow.
To promote the profiler function, the site is running 5 million to 6 million banner ad impressions through the end of October. Many of the ads include an HTML pull-down menu that allows the consumer to specify a person's condition, relationship and age. Once the information is selected, the consumer is taken directly to a customized profile on the site.
The campaign has seen click throughs as high as 3 percent. The industry norm is 0.5 percent. The ads are running on sites such as iVillage.com and Oxygen.com. The banner buy was made through Digitas, Boston.
“The banner ads have been huge,” said Stephen Chiles, strategy consultant at Medical Broadcasting Company, Philadelphia, the firm that created the site for Tylenol. “Traffic is steadily increasing.”
Chiles would not specify the number of unique visitors.
The GetWell Profiler can provide up to 3,500 profiles based on the entered criteria. Companies such as Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and 1800Flowers.com provide the merchandise on an affiliate basis, meaning Tylenol earns a commission for each product purchased at GetWell.com.
The site's model “takes advantage of what the Web has to offer,” Chiles said. “When it comes to providing that level of customized content, what better place is there than the Web?
“[Tylenol initially] wanted to fulfill the need to provide focused, concise content to [help consumers] understand how to give the proper care to their loved ones,” he said. “The focus was initially on the content, but we [convinced them to offer] the [recommend-a-gift] action. We wouldn't be taking advantage of the Web if we didn't offer an action.”
Medical Broadcasting Company is an e-business solutions provider for the pharmaceutical/healthcare industry. Tylenol is part of the McNeil Consumer Healthcare division of Johnson & Johnson. The site has been up since March.
