Nurofen

The objective

Driving product sales and measuring creative impact

Nurofen, a leading brand under Reckitt Benckiser, specializes in over-the-counter pain relief solutions, with its Migraine 400mg product designed to address the acute symptoms of migraines.

The brand and Dentsu France, their Media Agency, sought to validate whether TikTok could drive measurable in-store sales in the Netherlands while identifying which creative approach - Brand Asset (polished, branded content) or Creator Asset (authentic, user-generated-style content) - delivered the highest impact.

The solution

Validating TikTok’s impact with Circana’s Media Lift methodology

To measure TikTok’s incremental sales impact for Nurofen, Circana deployed its Media Lift Study, a geographically split A/B test designed to isolate the campaign’s true effect on in-store purchases.

The study used a multicell approach to compare the performance of two distinct creative strategies: Brand Asset and Creator Asset. In this setup, the Netherlands was divided into three distinct groups of regions:

1. One group was exposed only to the Brand Asset (polished, branded content).

2. A second group was exposed only to the Creator Asset (authentic, creator-led content).

3. A third group, serving as the dark (control) region, received no exposure to either asset.

This multicell design enabled a three-way comparison:

1. Brand vs. Creator: Directly assess which creative approach drove higher sales uplift.

2. Test vs. Control: Compare each exposed group (Brand and Creator) against the shared control region to measure incremental impact - ensuring that any sales changes were attributable to the campaign, not external factors.

3. Halo Effect Analysis: Evaluate whether the campaign lifted sales not just for the featured product but for the entire Nurofen brand, as well as its impact on competitors.

By using this structure, Circana ensured that the results were unbiased and actionable, providing clear insights into which creative strategy performed best while accounting for regional variations. The shared control region (dark) was critical in validating the incremental value of both assets, as it served as a baseline for natural sales trends without campaign influence. This approach allowed Nurofen to confidently attribute sales uplifts to TikTok’s advertising, rather than other market variables.

The results

The Nurofen TikTok campaign delivered 5x higher sales uplift and 50% higher iROAS, with Creator Asset slightly outperforming Brand Asset.

The Nurofen TikTok campaign delivered measurable, incremental sales growth in the Netherlands, validating the platform’s ability to drive in-store purchases.

Both Brand Asset and Creator Asset strategies performed strongly, but with distinct differences in performance:

• Sales Uplift:

  • Featured Products: Brand Asset drove +8.0%, while Creator Asset achieved +9.5%.

  • Total Nurofen Brand: Brand Asset lifted sales by +7.8%, while Creator Asset outperformed with +8.6%. Around 5 times above Circana Bencmark (+1.6% lift)

• Incremental Value & ROI:

  • Brand Asset: Generated an iROAS of €2.40 per €1 spent and Creator Asset: Delivered a slightly higher iROAS of €2.41 per €1 spent. Around 50% above Circana Benchmark (iROAS 1.59)

• Weekly Performance Trends:

  • Creator Asset: Drove immediate sales uplift from Week 1, maintaining strong performance even as impressions declined in the final week and post-campaign period.

  • Brand Asset: Showed a delayed but sustained impact, with a peak in sales uplift at the end of the post-campaign period, suggesting repurchase behavior.

• Media Performance:

  • +37.2M impressions delivered, while reaching +2.2M users in the Netherlands.

  • Clickthrough rate significantly above industry benchmarks.

The campaign proved that TikTok can directly drive offline sales for Nurofen, with Creator Asset slightly outperforming Brand Asset in both uplift and ROI. The results highlight the importance of authenticity and relatability in creative content, while also demonstrating the value of polished, branded messaging for long-term impact.

As TikTok recommends, advertisers should avoid relying solely on 100% branded or 100% creator-led content. Instead, the optimal approach is to test a mix of both to maximize impact. For Nurofen, the next step would be to determine the ideal split between Brand and Creator Assets - whether that’s a 50/50 balance, a 70/30 ratio, or another combination - based on the incremental sales uplift, ROI, and halo effects observed in this study.

Sabine Quérel Toutin, Associate Director at iProspect said the following: “The findings are clear: creator content doesn't replace brand assets—it amplifies them. Together, they unlock stronger engagement, higher sales uplift and greater marketing effectiveness.”