They’ve come a long way from spit parties.
23andme announced it’s taking its home DNA testing to the masses. Education-and-empowerment heavy spots will run on cable stations including A&E, Bravo and HGTV, said Cat Afarian, public relations manager for 23andme. The company will spend $5 million in ads this year, with a fresh investment in 2014.
The reason for the 23andme commercials is primarily financial. The company closed a $50 million round of investing, which allowed it to cut the price of its genetic testing kits from $299 to $99 – the more consumer-friendly price. 23andme expects the campaign to help it add at least 650,000 customers (they’re currently at 350,000 customers, which they define as anyone who buys the product during the life of the company).
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Does this mean the time is right for home DNA testing and that a successful direct-to-consumer campaign will woo consumers? There are plenty of home DNA tests, particularly around paternity, you’ll hear on the radio. But 23andme is promising something much more robust.
When you watch the ad, it’s largely explains the 200+ details 23andme delivers from its tests. But there’s also a hint of an appeal to the empowered patients. Because of 23andme, actors say, they know more about themselves and can “ask more questions.”
That’s “very important,” Afarian said. “Our mission as a company from the very beginning has been to empower individuals to more actively manage their health by providing access to their own DNA. In addition, current trends in consumer behavior have people more involved in managing their health and the health of their family. As a result, they are looking for information that can help them make more informed decisions, a trend exemplified by the growing popularity of health-specific devices and digital health tools.”
Afarian acknowledged their approach has been more grassroots. The spit parties more than five years ago gathered groups together at events as exclusive as New York’s Fashion Week to spit in to tubes and send off for their results (this was back when 23andme was “slashing” its price to $399). In following years, the company directly tested doctors at Cleveland Clinic, which has since led to Cleveland Clinic-23andme partnerships to build genetic databases. You’ll also hear their ads on Pandora and other media.
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“The company has relied on word-of-mouth and smaller scale efforts to drive growth to date,” Afarian said. “In the past year, we’ve built out the marketing function of the company to support our strategic focus on growth. The TV campaign reflects our strategic effort to scale the business.
“Our mission as a company is to make personalized medicine a reality, consumers will always be a primary focus but physicians, researchers and a variety of other audiences will also be important to the company if we are to serve as a catalyst for a widespread shift to personalized and preventative care in the U.S.”
