Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1121

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

Pfizer Narrows Field on Big Assignments
The New York Times 2003 May 12
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/12/business/media/12ADDE.html?pagewanted=all&position=

Full text:

Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, has made decisions on large advertising assignments.

Pfizer, in New York, narrowed a review to create direct-to-consumer campaigns for three prescription drugs – Bextra, Zoloft and Zyrtec – to seven finalists. Spending was estimated at more than $125 million.

Deutsch in New York, part of the Partnership division of the Interpublic Group of Companies, handled the assignment until February. Pfizer and Deutsch parted ways after they failed to renegotiate the compensation terms of a contract.

For Bextra, an arthritis drug, Pfizer is considering: Arnold Worldwide in Boston, part of the Arnold Worldwide Partners division of Havas; Berlin Cameron/Red Cell in New York, part of the Red Cell unit of the WPP Group; McCann-Erickson Worldwide Advertising in New York, part of the McCann-Erickson World Group division of Interpublic; Publicis Worldwide in New York, part of the Publicis Groupe; and TBWA/Chiat/Day in New York, part of the TBWA Worldwide unit of the Omnicom group.

For Zoloft, an antidepressant drug, the contenders are: Arnold; the Kaplan Thaler Group in New York, owned by Publicis; MNH Healthworks in New York, part of the Merkley Newman Harty & Partners division of Omnicom; and Publicis.

For Zyrtec, an allergy medicine, the agencies in consideration are: Berlin Cameron, Kaplan Thaler, MNH Healthworks and TBWA/Chiat/Day.

A decision is expected next month. Of the agencies, four already work for Pfizer: MNH Healthworks, McCann-Erickson, Publicis and TBWA/Chiat/Day.

Also, Pfizer expanded its relationship with Carat North America in New York, part of the Carat division of the Aegis Group, by awarding Carat the media planning and buying duties for products sold by Pharmacia, which Pfizer acquired last month. Spending last year on those brands was estimated at $147 million by the TNS Media Intelligence/CMR division of TNS.

Carat already handles media services for Pfizer products. When Pharmacia was independent, its media services agency was MediaCom in New York, part of the Grey Global Group.

Crispin, Porter Wins
Honors in 2 Shows

Crispin, Porter & Bogusky in Miami has won the most honors in two big awards competitions.

At the 32nd annual One Show, sponsored by the One Club for Art and Copy in New York, Crispin, Porter won 23 awards, called Pencils, for work for clients including the Mini Cooper subcompact car. The Mini campaign also won the agency the Best of Show Award as well as a new award, for innovation in marketing, sponsored by Yahoo. Mini, sold by the BMW North America division of BMW A. G., received the first Advertiser of the Year Award.

Arnold Worldwide in Boston followed Crispin, Porter with nine Pencils. Three of each agency’s awards were shared with the other, for work on the Truth antismoking campaign they created jointly for the American Legacy Foundation.

Crispin, Porter also won the most awards, seven, at the 29th annual International Andy Awards competition, sponsored by the Advertising Club of New York. Those awards were presented for work for Mini and Ikea. Wieden & Kennedy in Portland, Ore., followed with five, all for work for Nike

A commercial for the Volkswagon New Beetle by Arnold, part of the Arnold Worldwide Partners division of Havas, won the grand Andy, known as the Grandy, which comes with a cash prize of $50,000. Arnold won three awards in addition to the Grandy, all for Volkswagen ads.

Ad Pages in April
Decline at Magazines

Magazine advertising pages fell in April after five consecutive months of growth, the Publishers Information Bureau reported. Ad pages last month declined 2.3 percent compared with a year earlier, according to bureau data. The report partly reflects the effect of the war in Iraq on advertiser plans. For the first four months of 2003, ad pages increased 3.1 percent compared with the same period of 2002.

Dunlap Is Retiring
At Campbell Mithun
William D. Dunlap, the chairman at Campbell Mithun in Minneapolis, will retire next month, the agency said, as part of a previously announced succession plan. The post of chairman will not be filled. Les Mouser, 50, will continue as the president and chief executive; Mr. Mouser assumed Mr. Dunlap’s duties as chief executive in January 2001.

Mr. Dunlap, 65, who will serve as a consultant to Campbell Mithun after retiring, joined the agency in 1981 as president. Campbell Mithun is part of the McCann-Erickson World Group division of the Interpublic Group of Companies.

Accounts

• Gap Inc., San Francisco, to PHD USA and Corinthian Media, both in New York, to handle television-buying assignments for the Banana Republic, Gap and Old Navy retail chains, which had been handled internally or on a project basis. Though billings were not disclosed, Gap spent $242 million on television advertising in 2002, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR, part of TNS. PHD is part of the Omnicom Group.

People

• Howard Breen was named chairman and chief executive at MacLaren McCann Canada, Toronto, part of the McCann-Erickson World Group division of the Interpublic Group of Companies. He will assume duties that had been handled on an interim basis by Tony Miller, vice chairman at the McCann-Erickson World Group. Mr. Breen had been chairman and chief executive for North America at the Chicago office of Young & Rubicam Advertising, part of the Young & Rubicam division of the WPP Group. Y.& R. said it would not fill the post.
• Craig Brown, who has been helping the Publicis Groupe, Paris, reorganize in North America after its acquisition of the Bcom3 Group, where he had been president and chief operating officer, is retiring, the agency company said, effective next month.
• David Florence, president at the Draft International division of Draft, New York, was promoted to chief operating officer at Draft, filling a post that had been vacant since August, when Jordan H. Rednor was shifted to a post at Interpublic that he subsequently left. Draft is part of the Partnership unit of the Interpublic Group of Companies.
• Andrea Alstrup, corporate vice president for advertising at Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, N.J., was named chairwoman of the Advertising Council, New York, which coordinates public service campaigns for Madison Avenue. She succeeds David Bell, chairman and chief executive at the Interpublic Group of Companies, New York. Ms. Alstrup, who will serve as chairwoman for a year, had been the vice chairwoman since 2000.