Alka-Seltzer drops new hangover-relief product with help from T-Pain

• Alka-Seltzer is introducing Alka-Seltzer Hangover Relief with an assist from musician T-Pain, according to a news release.  
• To promote the new product designed to alleviate hangovers, the artist remixed the Bayer brand’s classic jingle in his distinctive Auto-Tune croon. The hip-hop-influenced take on the “plop, plop, fizz, fizz” earworm is available to stream on Alka-Seltzer’s website and is attached to a TikTok dance challenge.  
• Alka-Seltzer Hangover Relief is available now at national retailers including Target, CVS, Rite Aid and represents a bid to attract more young consumers to the 91-year-old antacid.

Alka-Seltzer is making a more forward play for the party-going crowd with its new hangover product and partnership with T-Pain, a singer whose biggest radio hits include songs like “Buy U a Drank” and “Bartender.” The modernized take on the brand’s signature tune is intended to be an “anthem for the morning after,” T-Pain said in a statement, though groggy consumers might not be looking to blast music under such circumstances. 

People have long turned to over-the-counter pain relievers after a night of heavy drinking, a fact pharmaceutical marketers may have been hesitant to address in the past for fear of associating with vices that could alienate other pockets of their audience. But catering to digitally savvy Gen Zers — a clear target of the latest Alka-Seltzer campaign — requires a different playbook than companies like Bayer have traditionally employed. 

The progressive-leaning cohort prefers brands that read as authentic and fun. Alka-Seltzer owning an association with hangovers therefore might resonate more than dancing around the issue. The media playbook supporting Alka-Seltzer Hangover Relief also factors in the channels where Gen Zers and young millennials are spending more of their time. 

Alka-Seltzer is tying the T-Pain remix into a TikTok dance challenge in an attempt to capture the overnight virality that has made the Bytedance-owned app a sensation in the U.S. and put brands at the top of the social conversation. Beyond the user-generated content angle, Alka-Seltzer could leverage the T-Pain relationship for influencer-marketing purposes. The singer has over 2.9 million followers on the platform.  

Alka-Seltzer first released its jingle, with the tagline of “plop, plop, fizz, fizz — oh, what a relief it is,” in 1951, as TV advertising was on the rise. Jingles have fallen out of fashion in the digital age, with a handful of notable exceptions. More brands now position their musical identifiers as “sonic logos,” with some stretching the concept into full-fledged music albums. 

Reworking old chestnuts is also popular among brands at the moment. Meow Mix has frequently toyed with its jingle, including by dropping a collectible vinyl record of takes in pop, jazz, heavy metal and Latin dance styles last year. Slinky, the 76-year-old walking spring toy marketed by Just Play, joined social media for the first time in 2021 by asking consumers to put their own spin on its iconic TV jingle. The #SlinkyRemix push centered on TikTok and Instagram.