Motrin provides relief for me-too brands

This event report shows how "me too" brands can stand out, based on the example of Motrin, Johnson & Johnson's pain-relief product.

Motrin provides relief for me-too brands

Geoffrey PrecourtWarc

Brands such as Johnson & Johnson's Motrin – the over-the-counter ibuprofen pain reliever – have become global franchises.

But staying top of mind presents a special kind of marketing challenge for such legacy products: namely, finding points of differentiation in a category that has seen almost no breakthrough innovation in 30 years.

Motrin experienced the pain early on, according to Ryan Helzerman, associate director/global strategic insights at McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a Johnson & Johnson company making offerings like Pepcid, Visine and Tylenol. "All of a sudden, we went from being the...

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