Allergan and its flagship product, Botox, have reigned supreme in the medical aesthetics market since the injectable product was first approved for medical use in 2002. But as the aesthetic injectables market grew, Allergan developed its own Allergan Data Labs in 2018 to develop and drive Allergan’s technological and marketing projects. At the helm of Allergan Data Labs is Jasson Gilmore, co-founder of Allergan Data Labs and svp of global consumer and digital marketing.
Gilmore said social media has been a key player in driving awareness, acceptance and adoption of aesthetic injectable services. Roughly 65 million people in the U.S. engaged with Allergan brands on social media platforms in 2021, he added. But word of mouth continues to be the No.1 driver for Allergan brands like Botox, Kybella and Juvéderm. What this boils down to for Gilmore and his team of more than 200 people within Allergan Data Labs is a focus on providing the tools and marketing capabilities necessary to capture consumer demand and create a frictionless journey into the aesthetics market.
Gilmore executed this goal over the past 12 months by managing the marketing holiday “Botox Cosmetic Day,” which falls on Nov. 17. Data Labs leveraged Google search, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and display advertising to help understand the demographic of people engaging with Botox and reach them directly.
Additionally, Allergan Data Labs manages Allergan’s 9-year-old loyalty program Allē, which was formerly known as Brilliant Distinctions until Jan. 2020. Currently, the program has 3.6 million members and 17,000 providers using it. In March, Allē unveiled a new program called Allē Flash which delivers personalized rewards offers when someone walks into their dermatologist’s or aesthetician’s office. Offices make a QR code available in the waiting room and Allē members can scan it to see bonus points, first-time user coupons and other similar offerings based on their past service history. Though it may seem like a simple project, Gilmore said it requires a huge amount of personal data ingestion to tailor relevant offerings to Flash users.
“In every vertical and every industry, there is a convergence of technology and analytical skill, like data science and engineering,” Gilmore said. “What makes for a successful marketer these days is that they’re technically proficient. It looks less like the market research and fact-finding [of the past] and more like real-time data gathering.”
This approach has paid off with several successes over the last 12 months. Gilmore said Allē Flash has seen double the expected adoption rate as of March. And more people tried Botox in 2021 than in the history of the brand, with “millions” of people participating in National Botox Day. Gilmore declined to share a specific figure, but according to the 2020 Plastic Surgery Statistic Report from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 4.4 million people that year received a Botulinum Toxin Type A service, which includes brands Botox, Dysport and Xeomin. And according to 2021 year-end earnings from Allergan’s parent company AbbVie, the fourth-quarter global net revenue from the aesthetics portfolio was $1.4 billion, an increase of 23% year-over-year, with full-year global net revenues reaching over $5.2 billion.
“Consumers are taking ownership over their beauty journey. We’ve become more adept over the last few years at leveraging [social] platforms and providing the right kind of information to people,” Gilmore said. “People engage with our brands and wouldn’t continue to engage with our brands had they not found them relevant.”
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