Healthy Skepticism Library item: 865
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
Vranica S.
Drug Maker, Talent Agency Team Up to Place Product In Entertainment Venues
The Wall Street Journal 2004 Sep 2
Full text:
WHAT IF RAY ROMANO cracked a few jokes while asking his doctor for a Viagra prescription? What if in his next movie middle-age master spy James Bond needed a dose of Lipitor to reduce cholesterol? Those fairytale plotlines just might come to fruition one day, now that Pfizer is teaming up with a Hollywood heavyweight to seek out new sorts of advertising opportunities. The world’s largest drug maker has retained talent firm William Morris Agency to come up with entertainment-marketing ideas that could include embedding Pfizer goods in movies and television programs, developing movie tie-ins or setting up TV-show sponsorships. “We are engaging William Morris on an explorative project for six months, and can’t talk about the nature of that assignment,” says Michal Fishman, a spokeswoman for Pfizer.
New York-based Pfizer seems to be one of the first pharmaceutical giants to seek Hollywood’s help, and its push toward Tinseltown is likely to raise eyebrows. Many pharmaceutical-ad experts say drug makers should tread lightly when dabbling in this sector so as not to anger the Food and Drug Administration, which strictly regulates pharmaceutical advertising.
“It becomes a dicey situation for drug companies that get into this entertainment arena,” says Mel Sokotch, director of the consumer health-care practice at Interpublic Group’s FCB. “They run the risk of upsetting watchdog groups and regulatory officials.”
Experts note that if a drug company actively seeks product plugs within entertainment venues, it runs the risk of violating FDA ad guidelines. Any paid media that mentions a drug by name and by what it does is required by U.S. law to disclose potential side effects as well, says Stu Klein, president of WPP Group’s Quantum Group.
Pfizer which in addition to Viagra and Lipitor makes depression medication Zoloft, and Celebrex for arthritis pain — join s a growing list of blue-chip marketers seeking access to writers, producers and directors to help them weave their brands into entertainment content as a way to combat the waning power of the traditional 30-second TV commercial.
Like many other marketers, Pfizer has been looking to be more creative with its advertising and become less reliant on advertising on network TV.
“There are still millions of people who aren’t treating their diseases because of emotional or societal barriers, so we need to find creative ways to make it OK for them to talk to their doctor,” says Ms. Fishman.
While many big-name drugs have been mentioned in movies and TV shows over the years, those plugs seem to have sprung from the minds of writers, not as part of marketing maneuvers by pharmaceutical firms. Last year, for example, Viagra received some funny plugs in “Something’s Gotta Give,” Sony Corp.‘s film comedy starring Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson. A Sony spokesman says the Viagra mentions weren’t the result of a product placement.
Over the past few years, other corporations, such as Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch, have turned to such Hollywood firms as William Morris and Creative Artists Agency, seeking ideas to help offset ad clutter and audience fragmentation. CAA, for example, helped create Coca-Cola’s extensive deal with “American Idol,” while William Morris helped General Motors’ Pontiac GTO get a starring role in “The Last Ride,” a made-for-TV movie.
This isn’t William Morris’s first foray into health care. In 2002, the American Association of Health Plans, a Washington health-plan lobbying group, hired the firm to help improve its image. William Morris has also worked on behalf of the National Football League, BT Group and Saks. A spokesman for William Morris, based in Beverly Hills, Calif., referred calls to Pfizer.
Talent firms are salivating at the opportunity to work with the heavy ad-spending pharmaceutical industry. Ad spending on prescription drugs soared 24% last year to $3.2 billion, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR. There is no sign of a letup. Media spending on drug ads for the first half this year rose 30% to $2.1 billion, compared with the same period last year.
