Nuprin’s Introduction To Sports Marketing

Bristol-Myers Products (BMP) introduced its over-the-counter ibuprofen pain reliever, Nuprin, two years after the category's first entry, Advil, which captured blanket media coverage and quickly became a top seller in the analgesic market.

BMP identified a yet untapped market for Nuprin – the consumer who suffers pain related to sports activity and injury – and retained PCI to position the brand within the active consumer market.

To carve out a niche for its product, BMP entered into an agreement to sponsor the U.S. Men’s Pro Ski Tour for two years. To complement this relationship, PCI developed a series of “Nuprin Fireside Ski Clinics,” a “Nuprin Ski Tips Guide,” “infomercials” that ran during Pro Tour telecasts, and related press materials and by-line articles, all of which focused on practical skiing tips for the average skier.

Performance psychologist Robert Kriegel, Ph.D., who co-authored the book Inner Skiing, was selected as spokesman for the program. Kriegel was a “mental coach” for Olympic, world-class and professional athletes and prepared a program based on his philosophy that if you visualize success you will achieve it. Kriegel and his series of fireside chats at ski resorts became the focal point of the program.

Kriegel went on a media tour without boarding a plane. A non-traditional “press conference at your desk” was developed and packaged for media. An audiotaped Kriegel interview was provided to snow-belt media along with a copy of the Nuprin Ski Tips Guide. Personal telephone interviews were offered as well. The guide also was distributed directly to ski enthusiasts through national and regional ski associations and at resorts.

The ski clinics and collateral materials produced more than 11 million audience impressions in the first year of the program.  In the second year, the Desk-Top Skiing interview package was placed with national, consumer and ski media, including Mutual Radio Network and the Denver Post. The Ski Tips Guide also was successful. Within two weeks of making the Nuprin guides available, requests from ski clubs and resorts provided more than 100,000 consumer impressions.