An inside look at Allergan's billion-dollar aesthetics marketing engine

Allergan and its flagship product Botox have reigned supreme in the medical aesthetic market since it was first approved for medical use.

What happened

Allergan and its flagship product Botox have reigned supreme in the medical aesthetic market since the injectable product was first approved for medical use in 2002. But as the aesthetics market has grown, Allergan has had to find more innovative ways to stay top-of-mind for current and potential customers.

Why it matters

To wit, Allergan developed the internal Allergan Data Labs, a team of over 100 people across the U.S. and Europe who develop and drive Allergan’s technological and marketing projects. Allergan Data Labs, which previously operated in stealth mode, was built out in 2018 to modernize and relaunch Allergan’s consumer loyalty program, called Brilliant Distinctions. The 9-year-old loyalty program became Allē, which arrived in Jan. 2020. It currently has 3 million active members and 17,000 providers using it, according to data shared by Allergan. Allergan Data Labs is also responsible for social media marketing, the creation of gift cards options for Botox and Juvéderm, and the marketing holiday “Botox Cosmetic Day,” which falls on Nov. 17.

“Our brands are pharmaceutical and medical devices, but our consumer market opportunity is not limited by diagnosis codes like other pharmaceutical products,” said Carrie Strom, AbbVie svp and Global Allergan Aesthetics president. “To grow the market and educate consumers about our brands, we needed to expand from traditional pharma marketing into the modern tactics employed by beauty and consumer companies.”

Allergan consistently launches new tactics and digital products to stay ahead of the competition. In June 2021, the brand shifted its marketing and advertising to use “real” Botox users, as opposed to celebrities and spokespeople, in TV ad spots for a campaign called “See Yourself.” Before this, in 2019, Allergan focused on reaching consumers under the age of 40 in a campaign called “Own Your Look.” The developments follow Allergan’s integration in biopharmaceutical company AbbVie, which announced the acquisition of the company for $63 billion in June 2019.

This news brief is based on reporting published by Glossy on 2021-10-18. The original report is linked below.