Allegan-based Perrigo has begun what it claims is the first broad marketing and communications campaign to raise consumer awareness of, and confidence in, generic over-the-counter medications sold by major retailers under their own store brands. 

Perrigo (Nasdaq: PRGO) is now the world's largest manufacturer of OTC pharmaceutical products for the store-brand market, with markets in North America, Israel, Mexico, the United Kingdom, India, China and Australia.

Like other well-known industry branding campaigns such as "Got Milk?,” Perrigo's primary objective for the "Store Brand Meds" campaign is to educate consumers on the quality, value and effectiveness of store-brand medications.

All store-brand medications sold in the U.S. must adhere to the same high-quality FDA regulations and guidelines as the national brands, according to Perrigo.

The FDA generally mandates store brands contain the same active ingredients in the same strength and offer the same symptom relief as their national brand counterparts.

Store brand medications are available at most retailers in their own labels or as private brands.

Store brands account for 35 percent of the revenue of all OTCs sold at retail today, but misperceptions about their quality and effectiveness still exist among some consumers, according to Perrigo.

The Store Brand Meds campaign will address those misperceptions and relies heavily on social media, with Perrigo setting up a Store Brand Meds Facebook page, putting videos on YouTube and creating a Store Brand Meds website.

Since January, the campaign's videos on YouTube have had more than 3.2 million views, according to Perrigo.

Although it varies by category, Perrigo estimates that a customer will save an average of 36 percent by purchasing the store brand instead of the name brand. Perrigo said the company's store-brand OTCs save consumers around $5 billion annually.

"Although we continue to see growing acceptance among consumers for store brand medications, questions and misinformation are still out there," said Jeff Needham, Perrigo's executive vice president and general manager for U.S. consumer healthcare. "We know there is a real benefit to helping educate consumers on how store brands are regulated, made and sold.

"It helps us, it helps the industry, it helps our retailers, and, most important, it empowers consumers by giving them the facts and information they need to make purchase decisions," he said.