How Simulmedia Helped a Leading OTC Brand Maximize the Cold Season

Challenge

For over-the-counter (OTC) brands, timing is critical. Cold and flu season can drive up to 40% of annual sales, making it the most important period for growth. But with more than 250 competing products in the pharmacy aisle, even established brands face intense pressure.

The challenge is compounded in Q4, which is not only flu season but also the holiday season. OTC brands compete not just with other health products, but also with retailers, tech companies, and consumer goods brands that dominate ad inventory during November and December.

The flu season itself adds further unpredictability. Its onset and severity shift year to year, making it difficult to align advertising with consumer demand. To win share, the brand needed scale, flexibility, and precision. Buying more inventory wasn’t enough — the campaign had to cut through the noise and deliver efficiently to the right audiences at the right time.

Solution

We built a strategy that combined the reach of linear TV with the precision of connected TV (CTV), ensuring broad exposure while minimizing waste. The campaign was anchored in three pillars:

1. Custom audience targeting. Using MRI attributes, our platform forecasted TV viewing habits ahead of the season. This allowed the brand to define and reach a highly relevant audience most likely to respond during the flu and holiday peaks.
2. Seamless cross-channel activation. Campaigns ran across 100+ linear TV networks and CTV publishers. By unifying execution, we maximized the halo effect between linear and CTV, extending unique reach without duplication.
3. Data-driven optimization. By matching viewing data with IRI purchase data, we measured both engagement and outcomes. These insights powered in-flight adjustments that maximized incremental reach week over week and ensured impressions consistently hit net-new audiences.

This combination of predictive modeling, cross-channel reach, and real-time optimization gave the brand the flexibility to react to flu season dynamics while maintaining efficiency in the most competitive quarter of the year.

Results

The Q4 2024 campaign delivered measurable outcomes:

• 90M unique individuals reached, representing 28% of the P2+ audience
• 274% incremental lift in web traffic, showing strong engagement from net-new consumers motivated to act
• Consistent incremental reach week over week, proving we avoided oversaturating the same audience

“Simulmedia’s patented TV+ technology powered an integrated Linear TV and CTV campaign, delivering the strongest TV performance ever recorded in Keen’s media mix modeling—boosting profit ROI by 13%.” — Keen Agency, a leader in marketing measurement.

By unifying linear and CTV, the campaign cut through the clutter of holiday advertising while aligning with consumer demand during flu season.

Key takeaways

• Early preparation matters. Brands that plan ahead for competitive periods like Q4 can secure efficient reach and optimize delivery throughout the season.
• Flexibility is essential. Real-time activation and optimization ensure alignment with unpredictable consumer behavior.
• Data makes the difference. Viewing and purchase data enable targeting and measurement that prove TV can deliver performance-level results.

Conclusion

For this OTC brand, we transformed TV into a growth engine. By reaching tens of millions of unique consumers with precision and efficiency, the campaign delivered more than impressions—it drove measurable outcomes in the most competitive sales quarter of the year.

With our TV+ platform, the brand proved that scale and accountability can coexist. The result was stronger reach, higher engagement, and improved ROI — evidence that TV remains one of the most powerful tools for growth when powered by data.