Allegra made news earlier in the year for receiving FDA approval to be sold over-the-counter, enabling us to compare the best-selling allergy medication with a long-standing OTC competitor, Claritin. Aside from the respective sales performance of each drug, we’re going to take a look at which has the more effective label.
1. Does the label announce what’s inside the package?
We’re going to skip the assumption that you’re likely already familiar with both brand names and focus purely on the label design and wording. “Allegra” is the brand name of the product, but marketers chose to include the word “Allergy” in the same size font on the label to more clearly communicate the health complication it is intended to treat. The Claritin label goes a step further by stating that it treats both “Indoor & Outdoor Allergies,” and though it isn’t emphasized as much as Allegra’s “Allergy,” designers chose to make it red to really stand out. However, Claritin also tells you exactly what the product really is, aside from its given name for marketing purposes – loratadine. It also tells you that it is non-drowsy, and generally offers much more information than the Allegra label. It’s a close call, but Claritin wins this one.
2. Does the label attract attention?
As we’ve seen in the past, both of these labels attract attention for opposite reasons. Allegra’s label is attractive, but simple. But in its minimalistic approach, it focuses on including only the information that consumers likely care about the most – what the product is intended to treat, which symptoms it relieves, how much you’re getting and how long it will last. Claritin clearly has a more appealing and implicit label design. You get all of the information, on the front of the box, and it has a lovely scene of a blue sky with just a couple fluffy white clouds and lush green grass, implying that if you use Claritin, you can enjoy the great outdoors free and clear of nagging allergy symptoms. Although we appreciate Allegra’s straight-to-the-point approach, Claritin is the victor for making it easy to learn about the product, and providing a pleasant visual appeal to boot.
3. Does the label instill confidence?
While Allegra has top-seller status on its side, and the fact that it just recently became available without a prescription, we always have to remind our readers that we judge on labels alone. This is where Allegra’s bare-bones approach really hurts them. When it comes to choosing a medication, prescription or not, consumers want to know as much about the product as possible. We’re sure Allegra lists details on the back of the box, but if you’re shopping and judging a product based on the label alone, Claritin will likely be favored because of the aforementioned level of detail offered upfront. In addition to the other information, listing the scientific name of the allergy medication automatically lends credibility to Claritin’s product.
Allegra may be the number-one selling allergy medication available, but with a superior professionally designed label, Claritin is the clear victor. Allegra relies on other forms of marketing to sell its product, but when it comes to pharmaceutical labels, the more information, the better.
I invite you to participate in the “Good Label, Bad Label” forum. We’ve all seen a bad label or twelve, so please feel free to send us some awesomely bad examples and your submission could be included in our series!
Blue Ribbon Tag & Label offers a wide range of services and products, including food labels, cosmetic labels, veterinary labels and expanded text labels. If you need a professionally designed label, call us at 1-800-433-4974. We’ll get the job done.
