OTC products: now with more style

What would happen if a headache medicine looked more like an energy drink? Or heartburn remedies came in funky fruit flavours?

That’s exactly what is occuring in the staid over-the-counter medicine category, says Euromonitor analyst Stephanie Prymas.

OTC medicines have historically come in medical-looking packaging and in pill form almost exclusively.

But Prymas points out that the traditional model for OTC is starting to see some interesting innovation. Medicines now are available not just in pills but as beverages and in powder form. And packaging is taking a page from food and beverage brands.

Take First Aid Shot Therapy, a new line of analgesics and digestive remedies in sleek silver 40 ml cans that look like the contain energy drinks, not OTC medicines.

Another example is Reckitt Benckiser’s Gaviscon Instants in the U.K. The heartburn remedy is sold as single-dose sachets of quick-dissolving powder in a tropical fruit flavour.

“OTC items have been slower to follow the branding lead of other consumer packaged goods, instead focusing formulation and delivery innovation efforts on efficacy, safety, and speed of relief,” Prymas writes. “A new slate of OTC products, however, reaches beyond these considerations to offer people a more unique and targeted self-treatment experience.”

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