Case study: Listerine's Customized Video Approach

Listerine is a brand of antiseptic mouthwash owned by Johnson & Johnson. In launching their new product, Listerine Green Tea, the team at J&J and J3 wanted to increase engagement by maximizing the relevance of campaign messaging around the specific cavity protection benefits of the range. With digital video viewing booming in MENA, they wanted to explore innovative ways of standing out to the target audience from the usual video ad content. This led them to customized video advertising on YouTube using Google and DoubleClick tools.

First, J&J and J3 identified four core audiences they wanted to engage with based on the brand strategy and core target. Using an existing video asset, they then created four customized videos, tailoring each one according to the audience. These four videos had their teaser frame customized based on the profile of the audience itself, with a separate call to action inspired by the audience segmentation.

The team then served the video ads across YouTube using the TrueView format. Thanks to DoubleClick Bid Manager, they were able to target each of these four audiences to ensure each message reached the right user. In this way, they believed the campaign could deliver new levels of relevance to their target, and reinforce the awareness on their new launch.

Using A/B testing, the team was able to prove that hypothesis. J&J and J3 ran the generic TVC alongside the four customized versions of the video. The customized versions produced a 38% higher view-through rate than the generic video. The approach also demonstrated solid cost efficiency, with the customized versions delivering 4% lower cost per view than the generic video.

Moving forward, J&J and J3 would like to further explore the ability to customize video messaging to their core targets, first by building even more solid audience profiles based on data, and second by pushing customization beyond the teaser frame, considering video length, content and more.