Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1010

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Herper M.
Prescription Drug Ads Are No Blockbusters
Forbes 2003 Feb 5
http://www.forbes.com/2003/05/02/cx_mh_0502drugsads.html

Full text:

Television advertisements for prescription drugs are often credited with
accelerating ever-rising sales of blockbuster medicines. Some doctors
blame the ads for selling patients on medicines they don’t need or on
expensive pills that don’t work any better than cheaper versions. But,
surprisingly, prescription drug ads don’t work as well as those for
similar products.
Viewers seem less likely to remember prescription drugs ads on
television than ads for over-the-counter medicines or nutrional
supplements, according to research provided by Intermedia Advertising
Group (IAG), a research firm that uses surveys of tens of thousands of
people to determine what consumers remember about the advertising they
see. People are more likely to understand and recall ads for soda, food,
lingerie and beer than for prescription drugs.
————————————————-
Rank Brand Ad Description
1 Stacker 2 Lite—mob boss introduces Trish Stratus, pills in violin
case
2 Alka-Seltzer Plus—man turns to block of ice at surprise party, Nose &
Throat tag
3 Stacker 2 Ephedra Free—wrestler Big Show fishes, hangs out w/ race
car driver Scott Wimmer
4 Stacker 2 Ephedra Free—wrestler Big Show goes to the rodeo with Jeff
Hammond
5 Viagra Bob goes to a party and everyone asks what’s different about
him
6 Breathe Right Nasal Strips—boy on bed, head flattens
7 Halls Fruit Breezers—golfer hits people on head with golf balls (30
sec.)
8 Excedrin QuickTabs—man complains about traffic and headaches (15
sec.)
9 Halls Fruit Breezers—golfer hits people on head with golf balls (15
sec.)
10 Excedrin QuickTabs—man complains about traffic and headaches (30
sec.)
————————————————-
This is potentially a very bad thing. Like many doctors, Clifford Dacso,
a vice chair at Baylor College of Medicine, worries that
direct-to-consumer advertising will cause patients to ask for medicines
they don’t need. But he also thinks ads could play an important role.
“We have words of art in medicine that are innately deceptive,” Dacso
says. If our words can be translated into images that are understandable
and it creates a more open market for information, people can make
better decisions.”
Right now, that’s not happening. Prescription drug ads underperform
those for over-the-counter drugs, which are made and marketed by the
same firms. An ad for Celebrex, the painkiller sold by Pfizer (nyse: PFE – news – people ), was the top-ranked prescription drug ad by IAG’s
metrics in 2002. But it came in ninth place when prescription drugs,
over-the-counter drugs and herbal supplements were mixed together. Ads
for Immodium, the diarrhea treatment sold by Johnson & Johnson (nyse:
JNJ – news – people ), and Excedrin, a mixture of acetaminophen, aspirin
and caffeine sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb (nyse: BMY – news – people ),
were etched more deeply in consumers’ minds.
An obvious caveat springs up here. Celebrex had 2002 sales of nearly $3
billion, whereas Excedrin and Immodium didn’t even merit line items in
the earnings reports of Bristol and J&J. But that is because a
200-milligram capsule of Celebrex costs $2.50, while an extra-strength
Excedrin pill costs 90 cents. One patient on Celebrex is worth three on
Excedrin. Even so, there’s a lot more besides direct-to-consumer
advertising driving Celebrex sales.
————————————————-
Rank Brand Ad Description
1 Breathe Right Spray & Strips—couple makes fun of each other’s snoring
2 Imodium A-D—girls bury dad in sand (30 sec.)
3 Imodium A-D—man in hot tub w/ two women (15 sec.)
4 Stacker 2 Race car drivers workout w/ wrestlers
5 Excedrin QuickTabs—woman throws water in man’s face (15 sec.)
6 Excedrin QuickTabs—mom chases Robert, spits out goldfish (30 sec.)
7 Imodium A-D—man in hot tub w/ two women (30 sec.)
8 Imodium A-D—girls bury dad in sand (15 sec.)
9 Celebrex People w/ arthritis dance at parties (60 sec.)
10 Excedrin QuickTabs—woman throws water in man’s face (30 sec.)
————————————————-
Take these numbers, culled from a report by pharmaceutical consulting
firm Arxcel. In 2001, the drug industry spent $2.6 billion on
direct-to-consumer advertising (that includes magazine and other
advertisements as well as television), 8% more than in 2000. That might
seem like a lot, but drug firms spent nearly twice as much visiting
doctors, and nearly four times as much—a walloping $10.5 billion—on
free samples of medicines. Direct-to-consumer advertising was 14% of the
promotional pie—significant, but not overwhelming.
Some doctors defend the $10.5 billion worth of freebees as a good thing,
because they allow patients to “test drive” new medicines before paying
for them. “The drug companies are doing it because the assumption is the
drug will work and I’ll write a big ole prescription for it,” says
Baylor’s Dacso. “They’re dead-on right.” Right or wrong, prescription
drug advertisements are not the most powerful driver of drug sales.
In fact, it is possible that some of the greatest success stories of
direct-to-consumer advertising are overblown. Claritin, the non-sedating
antihistamine from Schering-Plough (nyse: SGP – news – people ), is
often credited with starting off the direct-to-consumer marketing craze
in the pharmaceutical industry. But Claritin was filling a huge void in
the market. Other non-sedating antihistamines then being sold, such as
J&J’s Hismanal, had just been shown to cause potentially deadly heart
side effects. Even without a push to consumers, doctors might have
flocked to write prescriptions for Claritin.
It’s impossible to know. Likewise, it is not clear why prescription drug
ads perform so dismally. One obvious answer is regulation. All that fine
print included on TV ads for prescription products certainly makes it
more difficult for companies to be convincing. Stacker 2, the reputed
herbal “fat burner” sold by privately held NVE Pharmaceuticals, can tell
its story however it wants, big pharmaceutical companies face
restrictions. Another factor: Prescription drug ads are a relatively new
phenomenon, and drug firms still have a lot to learn about making them.
————————————————-
Rank Brand Ad Description
1 Celebrex People w/ arthritis dance at parties
2 Vioxx Dorothy Hamill skates at outdoor rink
3 Zocor Dan Reeves on sidelines, team douses in Gatorade
4 Detrol LA Courtroom scene, juror “has to go”
5 Lipitor Man dives into pool
6 Viagra Race car driver Mark Martin, “Six is my number”
7 Viagra People in office ask Joe what’s different
8 Ortho Evra Woman in blue talks about patch
9 Zyrtec Two women w/cat, birdhouses
10 Singulair Woman has asthma, coaches soccer team
————————————————-
There are glaring exceptions. For one, Viagra, Pfizer’s pill for
erectile dysfunction, has significant brand recognition, and viewers
tend to remember ads for it. So far this year, an advertisement for
Viagra being shown this year has been trumping most of the O-T-C ads. In
the ad, “Bob” goes to a party and is asked if he cut his hair or got a
new shirt. In reality, he finally asked his doctor about Viagra.
Even in that success story, there is a necessary caveat. Viagra’s $1.7
billion in annual sales are up only $300 million since 1999. The
impotence pill has proven very difficult to sell. Soon, Pfizer will have
to share the market with two competing pills. The ads may be helping,
but they’re certainly not driving Viagra to mega-blockbuster status.
The world might be a better place if drug companies could tell their
stories more clearly. The unfortunate side-effect of the FDA’s
regulation of drug ad claims is that companies wind up saying very
little at all. They should instead be encouraged to take swipes at each
other in an active debate. Baylor’s Dacso even thinks this might provide
part of the solution to skyrocketing drug costs.
“If we recognize that there are five drugs that treat the same illness
The same way,” Dacso says, “they’re commodities.” It is about time the
Advertising world treated them as such.