Hi, everyone. I'm Sonia Gabriel, Head of Investor Relations at Haleon, and I'm delighted today to be joined by Tamara Rogers, our Chief Marketing Officer, who's agreed to join us today for a fireside chat, really to introduce herself, but also to give us a bit more color on marketing and brand activation at Haleon. So, Tamara, welcome, and thank you today.
Thanks, Sonia.
I was gonna start by asking, we'd love to hear a bit more about your background.
Great. So, well, I can't believe that it's nearly 30 years ago that I entered the world of work, starting in an advertising agency. But I've had phenomenal experience over those last 30 years, working in advertising, marketing, sales, some of the general management roles, and luckily enough, been able to do local roles, regional roles, and global roles, like the one I'm in today. Worked across fantastic brands like the ones we have, Sensodyne, Panadol, Centrum. I did nearly 25 years at Unilever. The last role that I held there was the Executive Vice President of the Personal Care business in North America, which was great, and I left that role to join GSK back in 2018 prior to the demerger.
It's been an incredible privilege to be part of the team setting up and spinning off Haleon to be a standalone company 100% focused on consumer health.
Thanks. Starting with fantastic brands, and that's one of the things that certainly hit me when I was introduced to the company. And a huge amount of marketing and work behind that, which perhaps has been a bit behind the scenes before. I really just wondered if you could bring some color as to what Haleon brings in terms of brand capabilities.
I think you're absolutely right. I mean, as a division of GSK, the consumer health business was really not the focus, and it was a real hidden gem, I think, in our portfolio for many of our stakeholders, investors, and analysts, but not for consumers. They love and trust our brands and have been buying them for decades. I think we've developed actually a really strong skill set of knowing how to build brands in the consumer health arena, which is a little bit different, and this really starts with deeply understanding the consumer, and if you can understand what their conditions, their issues might be, the pain in their knee, but also what that means for their lives and then how they're having to cope and handle their lives, it really means that you get the insight that you need-
Mm.
To develop fantastic products and innovation, but you also know how to engage with them in motivating ways. So one of the things about great brand building is you're actually trying to build, in the mind of the consumer, a memory structure. It's a bit like building a relationship with someone. You've got to be known for something. And once you've built that memory structure, then you can actually tease it very quickly and simply with even shorter forms.
Mm.
Whenever you have something really cold, and then you get this short, sharp kind of sensation, that's sensitivity. It can get worse. The problem is not going to go away by itself. I always recommend Sensodyne. It's specially designed to care for their sensitivity, and I've had people coming back to me saying it's made a difference. It works.
It's great to see the experts brought to life in the campaign for Sensodyne.
Yeah, and it's such a key part of brand recognition for the brand. One of the things we talk about a lot externally is the journey, the next stage of the journey Haleon is on, becoming more agile, more consumer. So really, how does Haleon benchmark or compare in terms of approach to marketing versus some of those FMCG peers?
I think all brands, FMCG peers alike, all brands are on this journey of really trying to build these memory structures so that even the slightest trigger, you know, even a six-second piece on TikTok, can unlock that whole memory of: What is my brand? What does it stand for, and how does it differentiate versus the competition? The next thing you need to do is then cut through the clutter. So consumers are bombarded with thousands of messages every single day, so you need to be able to be memorable and to cut through. And we really try and build that on our brands, and one of the great ways of doing it is actually trying to insert yourself into culture. So one of the examples that I would like to share is on Flonase.
So we partnered with Netflix and the series of Bridgerton.
Esteemed members of the ton, spring is in bloom. What budding relationships might blossom? Goodness me! What is his condition? As luck would have it, there's a new apothecary in town. Patience is a virtue, and this remedy will be ready in about 200 years.
It was a really fun way to insert yourself into popular culture, but it's also a great way for us to show condition awareness in the allergy season, and that Flonase is the solution, and it drove so much talkability in social media. But this concept of condition awareness, this is something actually that is a bit different from other FMCG. In healthcare, the consumer first has to understand, well, what is the issue that I face? It's not as easy as just showing muddy laundry. It's this need to educate, but to do it in a really fun and engaging way. Now, Parodontax has been educating on gum health and gum issues, seeing spitting blood when you're cleaning your teeth into the basin. And that really is a sign that there's something wrong with your gum health.
But there are ways of doing that in more entertaining and humorous ways.
Sally! Great pair of lungs. Shame the same can't be said about your gums. You need Parodontax. It actively repairs gums from one week. High five.
... We're not there yet. Durex.
There's a lot of excitement about that brand, and it's great to see that activation.
Yeah, and the great thing about this idea is it's so easy it travels across multiple different markets. Actually, this is another difference for us versus FMCGs. Our marketing model and the consumer journey involves healthcare professionals. So as consumers go on their journey, and they're aware of what their condition is, and they're trying to figure out what the solution might be, they often consult with an expert, a healthcare professional, a dentist, a pharmacist. We spend a lot of time with these folks, too, because they really bring us deep and rich insight around the challenges that consumers face. And we share with them all of our amazing technology and science, and we bring that to life with them as well in engaging and interesting ways.
Because what's really important is that they remember what our products can do, so that they feel confident to recommend them in the moments that really matter. Now, we bring to life this trusted science, and we've done that over years, so that we build this relationship of trust with these healthcare professionals. A great example, actually, is a decade-long activity we've been doing in China around a brand called Caltrate, where even the Chinese government recognized some challenges around bone density, osteoporosis, and really wanted to help people to take better care of themselves. So in partnership with healthcare professionals with great diagnostics and testing, we have built up an initiative called Bone Up China.
Bone Up China is a healthcare ecosystem designed to accelerate category penetration by tackling low awareness and limited knowledge on bone and joint health among Chinese audience. Bone Up China has collaborated with four parties to improve scientific awareness, assessment, and solution, making bone health a key strategic part of the government's Health China 2030 plan. With key opinion leaders, Caltrate has standardized the treatment for professional osteoporosis. Caltrate has improved diagnosis and treatment expertise. With pharmacy and e-commerce partners, Caltrate has empowered channels for win-win partnerships. To build scientific assessment capabilities, Caltrate has been promoting free bone density tests in medical institutions, pharmacies, and low-tier cities and rural areas. Over the past 10 years, Bone Up China has reached 700 million people, engaged 50 million, and covered 4 million bone test users.
That really does bring to life the science, but then also that connection with experts and hospitals in terms of extending reach with consumers. I think one thing I was going to say is, you know, the categories we play in are pretty competitive, so how do we make sure that our brand campaigns stand out and are successful?
For us, brand differentiation is key. The product has to perform, but how you engage is absolutely critical, so this is that whole mixture of functional plus emotional and connecting those in really memorable ways, and it comes back to deeply understanding the lives and what people care about, so how can you grab attention, and how can you be meaningful? One of the ways that brands connect is really making sure that you share the values that your consumer has and really care about the issues that matter to them.
Believe me when I say-
I'm in pain.
Believe me when I say my pain is real.
So this campaign is called Believe My Pain, and it's really about trying to address a real gap that we've seen around health inclusivity, and trying to really make sure that we help more people to benefit from better everyday health. This has touched more than 6.1 million lives, with a 24% increase in brand affinity. We've also seen increases in brand trust and significant increases in purchase intent among Black consumers, as well as a 19% increase of awareness in the general population, and that general population are actually claiming around 84% of them are feeling more empowered as a result of seeing this campaign. So I think we find that we deeply connect with consumers when we activate with purpose.
Now, there are other ways that we can connect with and engage with consumers, and one of the other ways is using humor. Now, this story is about denture wearers, and denture wearers have their denture fitted, but they often ignore the signs that their mouths give them, and they have all sorts of coping strategies when they get discomfort. And discomfort is a real issue. Food can get under the denture, can be really uncomfortable, but it really doesn't need to be.
Drac, are you coming? We're gonna paint the town red! No, my denture is uncomfortable. Have fun without me.
Really, Drac? We're letting a little discomfort hold us back?
Who said that?
Let's bite back. Come on.
Hmm.
With new Poligrip power holding comfort, we'll forget we're wearing dentures, thanks to its comfy, pressure-absorbing layer.
Time for a bite.
If your mouth could talk, it would ask for-
Poligrip. Wait for me!
That's one of the IR team's favorite adverts.
We've had brilliant recognition for this campaign for the brand, and really, I think it just is testament to how by being really relevant to consumers, you can also be really memorable and drive sales.
In terms of relevance, what are the big trends that you're seeing in terms of consumer behavior, and how is that impacting our marketing approach?
You know, we've seen a big trend of consumers wanting to be more proactive around their health, and of course, then there's lots of demands for information and knowledge on how to do that. A particular trend we're seeing is continuing aging population, and people are now wanting to make sure that they're aging in a healthy way. It's a need, and it's a real motivator, and it's a great opportunity for a brand like Centrum, and what we're projecting is that as the population is aging, one in six people will be sixty plus by 2030, and so they are seeking vitamins, minerals, and supplement solutions that support healthy aging, both including physical aging, but also mental aging.
We've participated in part of a study around clinical data that came out of a landmark study called COSMOS, which was carried out by organizations including Harvard University, and it shows clear evidence that taking Centrum multivitamins benefits brain and memory health in adults. Now, we've turned this into communication, and we've seen a really increased interest and demand in markets like the U.S. and in China. Another trend actually is this desire for experiences, so whether it's in social media or gaming. We're also seeing a shift in the willingness of consumers to engage with brands. Instead of the traditional, you know, blast something at them, a one-way communication, this willingness to have shared experiences with brands is getting stronger and stronger, and we saw an opportunity in China around e-gaming.
Now, when you're gaming, and I see this a lot, unfortunately, with my son, but you're sitting quite, you know, in a quite awkward way, which is creating all sorts of kind of pain and aches. So we created this idea of No Pain in Games.
One of the world's top e-sports tournaments, Dota 2 MDL Major, has officially begun. A new player entered the game, arthritis pain relief brand, Voltaren. Using battle fury to connect the dimensions of the medical field and the e-sports crowd, it became the first OTC brand cooperated with e-sports to bring pain-free moments to e-sports players. In China, the e-sports population has reached over 440 million. However, the pain caused by longtime E-gaming has become a new medical concern. Voltaren saw the great opportunity to join the emerging e-sports industry as MDL's sponsor brand. Voltaren's brand image as an arthritis pain relief expert has deeply rooted in target audiences' minds. In addition, Voltaren and online retailer JD.com jointly created JD Esports Day, successfully converted traffic to actual sales performance. During the event, the gross merchandise value of Voltaren on JD increased by 135%.
It's amazing. Culture, behavior, trends continually evolving, so we always have to find new ways to make sure that we're driving growth.
Coming onto growth, obviously, the big driver we've talked about externally is driving penetration. How are we doing that across the brand portfolio?
Yeah. Penetration is the strongest driver of growth for us, and even with our most mature brand, Sensodyne, we still see significant headroom for growth. There's still a large number of folks who are suffering from sensitivity, but are not treating. And innovation is a brilliant way, actually, of addressing a new audience with new information, new benefit spaces. Sensodyne Clinical White, we have just launched in the U.S., and we're rolling it out across multiple markets, and this is a new subsegment for us, all around whitening with care. It's talking to a younger audience. These folks might not consider that they have an issue of sensitivity, and their media consumption is quite different.
They're on TikTok, they're on Meta, and really what we're seeing is a demand for more short-form content for that to be authentic, to be real, to not feel like the advertiser is talking to them. This is all about making content that genuinely feels more relatable. We've increased our spend on Meta and on TikTok. You've got targeted videos from dentists who are again delivering it in a much more authentic way, in the way that they want to land messages on product benefits, but we're also using sponsored influencer content. This is where we get to drive awareness in a way that is really authentic and resonates with the target audience.
Here's the top three reasons to switch toothpaste to Sensodyne Clinical White. Number one, two shades whiter teeth. Number two, twenty-four seven sensitivity protection. Three, it's safe for the enamel. As a dentist, I think it's an amazing choice. Start whitening your teeth with Sensodyne Clinical White.
Want to brighten your smile but have sensitive teeth? Try this. Sensodyne Clinical White toothpaste has been my go-to for brightening my smile. With twice daily brushing, I've seen brighter results in just eight weeks. It has clinically proven whitening technology and helps to protect my sensitive teeth. With my newfound confidence, I have never felt better.
Really great to see serving that consumer health need in terms of sensitive teeth, but also the request for whitening at the same time.
Yeah, and there are other ways for us to drive penetration, so we can take our brands to new markets, and I'm really proud, actually, of how we launched Centrum in India as a digital-first brand. So we launched during Amazon's Great Indian Festival sale, which is a key digital shopping period. And by launching at the right time, we've really enabled the brand to quickly gain share, and we're now the number one multivitamin on the platform. And obviously, A&P investment is really critical for us because that's what drives the awareness that then drives the penetration of our brands.
One of the things we're often asked by investors and analysts is, how do we know that our A&P spend is effective?
That is a great question, and it isn't just about the spend, actually. The role of creative is really significant as well, so quality creative along with quality media. There's been studies over decades around creativity, but most recently, Kantar and WARC did put together a whole load of data and really demonstrated that creative and effective ads can generate four times as much profit as ones that are less effective when creative, and so we take this very seriously, and it does start back again with deep consumer understanding, to understand what's relevant to them, and then we really make sure that we validate with pre-testing, so we do these tests, we see what's working, we get feedback on what to change, and then we change, so we work with MetrixLab.
MetrixLab tests our creative against a huge database of all other brands, and that really helps us learn around what's working, what's not working. We also use a tool called CreativeX, and what it does is it scans our creative to make sure that it's properly optimized for the various digital platforms. Sometimes it's just the most simple changes that can be incredibly effective. We looked at the execution on one of our Poligrip pieces of communication for Japan, and actually just made some very small changes. We saw an increase in sales of 37% and a lovely bump to our ROI of 5%. It isn't just about the creative; it is also about the spend.
You can buy great media, or you can buy very poor media, and what we're trying to do is make sure we're reaching our target audience in the places that they are. So we want to make sure we're buying really good quality placement, we're getting the right frequency, and we're also in the media channels that they're consuming. We talked earlier about TikTok and Meta versus just maybe TV. What we've seen is this increase in buying quality media is really driving better business outcomes. A great example, we saw a step change in the UK with Sensodyne, and with better quality media, we actually saw our sales increase by 38% and our ROI increase by a really significant 21%. Another brilliant example, I think, is on Voltaren.
Again, we increased the quality of our TV buy and saw a significant increase, so 63% improvement in sales effectiveness and a 6% increase in our ROI. But we are never satisfied. We're always continually learning and making sure that we're driving for the right improvements.
These are some great sales outcomes. How else do the marketing team know that they're on track?
Actually, marketing and the art of measurement is becoming really critical. It's becoming very detailed, lots of data-driven, opportunities. So we make sure that we benchmark against competition. We're checking that we have sufficiency to make sure that we are properly supporting each of our campaigns or innovations, and we get quite good, quick feedback so that we can course correct. So if we find that one channel is performing better than another, we can switch our media spend to that channel, so we're quite dynamic. We have, an approach called market mix modeling. That covers nearly 70% of our spend, which is a significant amount, and from that, we get all of these learnings.
We also don't just track the short term, we're tracking the long-term brand health, so there's a measure called the Demand Power, and if you have a strong brand, you have strong demand power. And what that means is you are much more likely in the future to be able to grow both your volume, but also you have pricing power, so you can grow through value as well. So we have this continuous feedback loop of both short and longer term measures, and I think we're doing a good job with understanding where our spend is and how best to deploy it, but it is a continuous improvement journey always, particularly when you think about how much the ever-changing landscape is out there and how media is changing and evolving. So we always have to kind of keep on our toes.
Thanks very much, Tamara.