Zicam: the launch that reinvented the cold remedy

When it launched, Zicam Cold Remedy was a game-changer in OTC remedies. It shortens the duration of a cold, rather than just masking symptoms. We thought an untraditional remedy called for untraditional cold remedy advertising; in other words, no spots featuring sick couples in bed late at night... He turns on the light, "I can't sleep..." blah blah blah..
   The creative brief highlighted the fact that colds are transmitted in enclosed spaces (people get sick in winter because they're all huddled together inside, not because it's cold outside). So we thought setting the launch spot in a spaceship compartment would be a cool way to feature sick co-workers...I was the copywriter and my art director partner was Len Zimmelman.

In the year after launch, we also thought about ways to make "short" memorable, perhaps by using celebrities. The singer Bobby Short was not famous enough, Martin Short was very famous and therefore too expensive. Herve Villechaize ("The plane! The plane!"), though diminutive, was also unfortunately dead. So instead we played around with metaphors in short, back-to-back :15s.

Our campaigns helped make Zicam a leading consumer OTC brand.