Take care of your cough with Robitussin
Robitussin rethinks how it shows up this cough season with “Robby Tussin,” the cough hitman.
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Robitussin is changing how it shows up. For a brand long associated with traditional TV advertising, its new brand platform, Take Care of Your Cough, is built to earn attention as well as pay for it, pushing against the tropes of the cough-and-cold category with social-first content, creator partnerships, and a character that entertains.
At the centre is Robby Tussin, a deadpan “cough hitman” who shows up wherever a cough has become “unacceptable” and takes it out – quick, clean, and quiet – with a bottle of Robitussin. The campaign is the first work for Robitussin from Publicis LeONE, a bespoke Publicis Groupe team, and the brand’s first since Haleon consolidated its global creative business in October 2025. Publicis Groupe now leads Haleon’s OTC portfolio, including Robitussin’s masterbrand business.
The platform succeeds the brand’s Find Your Voice campaign and is designed to carry Robitussin’s full product range. It’s grounded in a simple cultural tension: we live in a world built for instant resolution, same-day shipping, skip-intro buttons, PreCheck lines – yet a cough is the one thing we still tolerate lingering. Robitussin is positioning itself against “the unacceptable cough”: the one that shows up early, hangs on late, and refuses to get out of the way. Robby Tussin exists to end it, fast.
Karen Bouhadana, Senior Director, Respiratory at Haleon: “We’re moving Robitussin beyond the familiar tropes of the cough-and-cold category with a creative idea built to thrive wherever people encounter it. Robby Tussin can command attention in a TV spot, come to life through social-native storytelling, and take on fresh dimensions through the distinct voices of creators. That cross-channel flexibility allows us to show up in ways that feel natural to each platform while reinforcing one clear and consistent promise: Robitussin takes care of your cough, fast.”
Karen Bouhadana, Senior Director, Respiratory at Haleon: “We’re evolving how Robitussin shows up by moving into more modern, culturally relevant creative territories designed to earn attention—not just buy it. Robby Tussin brings humor and a distinctive point of view to the familiar frustration of a lingering cough, while keeping our product superiority at the center: fast, powerful relief people can count on.”
Pete Johnson, Executive Creative Director part of Publicis LeONE, a bespoke Publicis Groupe team dedicated to Haleon: "A lingering cough is annoying. Advertising about a lingering cough shouldn't be. So we created Robby Tussin, a wildly overqualified man with a pretty simple job: get rid of the cough so you can get on with your life. He's ridiculous, Robitussin is ridiculously effective, and somewhere in between, we found a character we think people will actually want to see again.”
