Hansaplast - Marching Blisters

Special plasters for blisters are a niche product. Hansaplast had been mainly targeted at women to help them adapt their new shoes but the product was also suitable for other groups.

The Beiersdorf brand needed to ensure potential customers didn’t use less specialised products when they needed protection from blisters.

It identified new army recruits as a rich potential market – around 60,000 young men join the German army every year and undergo a gruelling fitness programme for nine months.

Their best friends will not only be their fellow recruits but also the boots that will carry them through the miles of route marches and exercises. They need blister plasters just as much as they need the rest of their uniform.

And with extreme experience of the pain of blisters they would become advocates for the benefits of Hansaplast both in through the army as well as to their civilian friends

The brand decided that each new recruit should receive not just a sample pack but also information on how to treat blisters. Each quarter 35,000 sample boxes, including a camouflage sample were handed out.

Questionnaires revealed 40% satisfaction rates with the blister plasters and there was also a significant boost in sales at barrack shops, which rose permanently by 15%.