Epaderm: campaign success that’s more than skin-deep

Epaderm’s clinically proven range of emollients has been treating dry skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis for more than 50 years. While renowned among doctors as a prescription brand, they were relatively unknown among consumers. So in 2023, we partnered with Epaderm to develop and launch a multichannel campaign. The aim was to reposition them as a brand who embraces what real skin looks like and supports people in finding the right skincare products for them. 

The concept: ‘Just in Case’ 

The multichannel campaign began with the creation of a new proposition highlighting how you can rely on Epaderm for every dry skin moment. Incorporating friendly rhymes for a caring tone, we developed the ‘Just in Case’ messaging – showing that whether it’s in the changing bag or by the sink, Epaderm is always there whenever dry skin needs a drink. And to add the all-important relatability, we devised a look and feel incorporating real people, in real settings, with real dry skin conditions. This idea became a reality on a 2-day location shoot, where we captured photos and video of people of all ethnicities, at every stage of life. 

The strategy: reaching segmented audiences 

We developed an omni-channel performance strategy designed to engage a range of audiences, with a core objective of raising awareness beyond people who had been prescribed Epaderm in the past. This aim would then evolve across various channels and implementation stages to reach segmented audiences, eventually converting awareness into web traffic and conversions.  

The delivery: paid, organic and influencer activity 

Our campaign ran across multiple platforms to target people at different stages of the customer journey.  

•    Google ads for paid search: targeting users searching for creams and ointments to treat eczema and psoriasis, as well as specifically for the brand. 
•    Performance Max: using audience targeting to re-engage previous website users and those with an interest in skincare products.  
•    Paid social: defining our audience to develop tailored messaging for audience groups including Millennials and Gen Z, broad skincare users and mothers. By delving into their interests and behaviours, we developed campaigns activity at prospecting, consideration and conversion stages of their specific customer journeys.  
•    Influencer campaign: featuring multiple creators living with dry skin conditions, with a collective reach of over 1 million social media users.  
•    Organic social and web content: including thought leadership blogs, case studies, competitions and UCG to increase reach and search rankings. 
•    Video content: bringing the whole campaign together with relatable dry skin stories and brand videos. 

Altogether, we created more than 1,000 assets – which started to go live in September 2023 to coincide with National Eczema Week. It continues to run with weekly optimisations and improvements and new target audiences – but the results are already exceeding expectations in every area: 

Paid Social and Google Ads:

•    6 million impressions 
•    120,000 clicks 
•    Over 30,000 new website users 
•    Almost 5,000 conversions  

Measurable growth: 

•    The online community has grown by over 969%. 
•    Double digit growth since 2022 
•    An uplift in sales of over 31% between October and December 2023, based on the same period in 2022.  
•    Now the #1 emollient range sold at Boots 

Prestigious award wins: 

•    Best Medicated Skincare 2023 in the Superdrug Star Awards. 

We’re also very proud to say that the campaign has been nominated for a 2024 Prolific North Award in the B2C Marketing Campaign of the year category, in recognition for these outstanding results. Now, Epaderm will work to make sustainable packaging developments while finding new ways to support the dry skin community – and we’ll continue to work together to help them achieve this.