Mucinex

The Objective

Mucinex, an over-the-counter cold and flu medicine, wanted to raise awareness of its Nightshift product line amongst Gen Z. While drumming up excitement and enthusiasm in the over-the-counter (OTC) category might be difficult on other platforms, Mucinex, in collaboration with agency partners, identified TikTok as an ideal partner to not only authentically create awareness amongst their target audience, but start a dance craze while doing so. 

The Solution

The Mucinex team worked in close partnership with TikTok to craft a 360-degree campaign that built upon native user behaviors and tapped into TikTok's entire suite of branded solutions, inspiring a younger community to participate and #BeatTheZombieFunk with a Branded Hashtag Challenge. Fully embracing platform capabilities, Mucinex placed TikTok’s first-ever Branded Effect in the OTC category at the center of their campaign. The Branded Effect featured the brand's mascot, Mr. Mucus, engaging in one of the most popular pastimes of the TikTok community—dancing. 

With the Mr. Mucus Effect as a powerful creative tool, tens of thousands of TikTokers from all walks of life celebrated their own zombie moves with Mr. Mucus front and center to #BeatTheZombieFunk. Mucinex made participation irresistible by utilizing an original soundtrack, a Branded Hashtag Challenge, and a Branded Effect. The brand selected popular creators in categories such as comedy and lifestyle in addition to dance, kickstarting co-creation for all TikTok users who wanted to join the fun.

The Results

Not only did Mucinex and TikTok lean into platform best practices to create a Zombie dance sensation in only nine days, the campaign also drove considerable business impact. Over half-a-million creators joined in on the fun, resulting in almost six billion views. Additionally, significant lifts in ad recall, purchase intent, and brand favorability were all recorded.