My Favorite Drug Ad Celebrities

Drug Advertising Celebrities

Gallery of Drug Advertising Mascots

These are my all-time favorite drug “mascots” (I call them critters) seen in direct-to consumer ads. Along with the gallery of images, I offer links to more information and the ads themselves (at least in a few cases).

If you know of any that I have missed, please tell me about it in comments to this post or contact me via Twitter: @pharmaguy.

Pharmaguy's Gallery of Drug Advertising Mascots from PharmaGuy.com

Increased DTC Advertising and Rising Drug Prices - Is There a Causal Link?

There's no denying two facts:

FACT #1: Spending on prescription drugs is increasing dramatically. The Chicago Tribune, quoting data from IMS health, reported (here) that "Spending [in 2014] rose 13 percent [vs. 2013], the biggest jump since 2001, to a total of $374 billion" and

FACT #2: Spending on Direct-to-Consumer Advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs is also increasing - more so, in fact. Kanter Media reported that the drug industry increased measured media ad spending by 19% in 2014 vs 2013 to $4.5 Bn (see chart below).

Click on chart for an enlarged view.

Is there a causal link between these two facts? Does DTC advertising raise the cost of drugs?

Read more »

Social Media Lacks the "Ask Your Doctor" ROI Common for Print & TV DTC Advertising

Practically every print and TV direct-to-consumer (DTC) ad  prominently includes the statement "Ask Your Doctor if [BRAND X] is Right for You!"

Advertisers call this the "Call to Action," which is the linchpin of all advertising; i.e., get your target audience off its butt to take the next step toward the purchase of your brand!

Several studies have shown that this call to action of old-fashioned print and broadcast Rx DTC advertising works.

In 2003, for example, the FDA released preliminary results from a physician survey it conducted (see "Results from FDA Physician Survey on DTC Advertising"). The survey profiled 250 GP's and 250 specialists (dermatology, allergy/pulmonology, endocrinology, and psychiatry) from a random sample of the AMA Physician Masterfile, which includes a list of all U.S. medical school graduates.

One question the FDA survey asked was: "Think about the most recent interaction you've had with a patient ... Can you think of a patient who initiated a discussion about a prescription drug they saw advertised?" Ninety-two percent (92%) of the physicians surveyed said "Yes".

This is important because doctors gave prescriptions 75% of the time to patients who asked for one.

Meanwhile, only 37% of physicians have fielded patient requests for specific meds fueled by information a patient saw in social media marketing, including disease awareness campaigns, according to a custom survey of 1,417 physicians by Sermo for FiercePharmaMarketing (here).

Why the difference? Does it mean that social media is irrelevant for pharma marketing as I suggested a few days ago ("The Irrelevance of Social Media for Pharma Marketing")?

Read more »

Male Lifestyle Drug Marketers Think FDA's Proposed Study on Spousal DTC Influence is Bogus!

Back in December, 2014, I reported in Pharma Marketing News that the FDA was planning to study "Spousal Influence On Consumer Understanding Of And Response To Direct-To-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertisements" (see "Does Your Spouse Influence Your DTC Viewing Experience?").

At about the same time, the new ad for Viagra, which featured a sexy woman (no man), aired on TV (read "Oh Yeah, Baby! Show Me More!... Viagra TV Ads Like This. But Don't Let My FDA See It!").

Of course, I thought the FDA should study how wives (or significant other spousal equivalents) might influence their spouses' (i.e., husbands') response to THAT ad.

But, no, the FDA will be using asthma drug ads in their study. Huh?!

It appears that the FDA is using a benign drug category to get results that it may use against Viagra and other male/female enhancement drug ads. AbbVie and Eli Lilly -- two marketers of lifestyle-enhancing drugs for men -- recognize this ploy and have submitted comments to the FDA in an attempt to shoot down the study.

What's their beef?

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Determining How Much Pharma Spends on Internet vs. TV DTC Advertising is a Daunting Task!

I prepared the chart on the left for the Pharma Marketing News article "DTC Ad Spending Rises from the Grave," which was published this Monday. You should compare this version of the chart to the one I published here on Pharma Marketing Blog last week (here).

This chart says 5% of pharma's 2014 DTC ad budget went to the Internet (excluding search), whereas the previous version says only 3%.

This chart says 63% of the budget went to TV, whereas the previous version says 70%.

I'll ignore print for now.

Determining the exact amount that the pharmaceutical industry spends on advertising via different media (TV, print, Internet, etc.) is a daunting task. Numbers regarding pharma DTC spending come from two sources: Nielsen and Kantar Media. Both report "measured media" spending, which includes TV, magazines, news-papers, radio, outdoor, and Internet (display ads only, not including search). Kantar tracks over 3,000 media sources throughout the US and Canada, which is a different methodology than that used by Nielsen. As a result, the numbers from these sources often do not match (for more on that, read "Making Sense of Pharma DTC Spending Trends").

Why the Differences?

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Pharma Ups Its Investment in TV DTC Advertising

Ever since the U.S. allowed direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising, a majority of the ad dollars were spent on TV, which made sense in past years because that's where the "target" audience spent most of its media consumption hours.

I guess 2014 is no exception: 70% of the DTC spending last year went to TV!

But wait! 2014 appears to be exceptional in that it saw the highest percentage spent on TV since at least 2001.

I plotted the data to illustrate the trend.


Read more »

How to Gloss Over Warnings in TV DTC Ads

Julieta Smith, group strategy director, McCann Humancare -- part of the same healthcare agency that won a Lions Health 2014 GOLD award for Fictional Patient Story (not that that's a good thing compared to a REAL patient story that only won a BRONZE award) -- thinks that the same “generic” warning repeated in all direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug ads would be more effective than SPECIFIC warnings now required by the FDA.

In an article/blog post written for MM&M (here), Smith suggests ALL drug DTC ads on TV just end with this warning message:

“All drugs carry certain risks and should not be used by everyone. These risks can range from inconveniences to the risk of death. You should talk to your doctor to determine your specific risks, reasons you might not be a candidate to use this drug, and any side effects and warnings that may pertain to you personally before you take it. To learn more visit brandx.com.”

Pardon the phrase, but this is an example of “putting lipstick on a pig.” Maybe it's not PC, but I think that's an appropriate analogy.

Smith believes this is a solution to a major problem with TV DTC advertising.

Read more »

Off-Label Uses Promoted in DTC Ads for Diabetes Drugs

Print and TV DTC ad for Farxiga
(click on image for an enlarged view)

Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group with more than 350,000 members and supporters nationwide, sent FDA’s OPDP Director Tom Abrams a letter on March 31, 2015, urging him “to stop the apparently violative off-label promotional statements in the direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements of five prescription drugs approved for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. The drugs are Farxiga (dapagliflozin), Jardiance (empagliflozin), Invokana (canagliflozin), Victoza (liraglutide) and Bydureon (extended-release eventide).”

Usually, pharmaceutical companies are accused of promoting drugs “off-label” to physicians, which is understandable because it is perfectly legal for physicians to prescribe drugs for so-called off-label use.

The FDA rarely cites off-label or “unapproved use” claims made in DTC ads. None of the letters issued by FDA in 2014 mentioned that violation. Historically (between 2004 and 2013), only 4% of violations cited in FDA letters were concerned with off-label/unapproved use promotion and no TV ad received such a letter (see here).

Public Citizen includes a Farxiga ad that “touts” weight loss and blood pressure reduction as potential benefits although the drug has not been approved for those indications (see the ad in the above figure; also included is a screen from the TV ad).

“These five drugs have been approved solely to lower hemoglobin A1C levels in patients with Type 2 diabetes,” says Public Citizen, “but the advertisements presented in this letter clearly convey the false perception to patients and doctors that the drugs have been deemed safe and effective for weight loss and/or reducing blood pressure.”

Public Citizen wonders if the FDA approved the ads and asks a couple of interesting questions in light of the recent paucity of warning letters issued by the FDA (read “Banging Year for Drug Approvals, Wimpy Year for Enforcement Actions”).

Read more »

Pfizer Continues to Dominate DTC Ad Spending

If Pfizer chose not to do direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising, we'd have less bad ads to criticize (as, for example, this ad for Viagra) and the total spending on DTC advertising would be 30% less than it is today. In 2014, Nielsen estimates that the U.S. drug industry spent $4.53 Bn on DTC advertising. Pfizer spent $1.4 Bn.

That's right... Pfizer spends nearly one-third (30%) of all the DTC ad dollars!

The last (red) bar of the following chart shows what the 2014 ad spend -- excluding Internet search ads -- would look like without Pfizer. We're talking 20th century numbers!

Pfizer simply is too big to fail as far as the DTC advertising world is concerned!

According to Bloomberg (here), Pfizer spent "$751.9 million on television ads, more than double second-biggest spender AbbVie Inc." This domination of the drug ad airways goes back to at least 2011 as shown in the charts prepared by Bloomberg.

Read more »

DTC Ad Spend is Back Stronger Than Ever, Baby!

OK, maybe that's an exaggeration, but according to Wonkblog, a blog published by the Washington Post, and based on data from Kantar Health, "drug companies are bombarding your TV with more ads than ever."

"Maybe you've noticed that prescription drug ads are everywhere these days — more so than usual," quips the blog. "It was just a few years ago that TV advertisements of prescription drugs had dropped off by 20 percent, as drugmakers were also cutting back on other types of direct-to-consumer advertising" (read, for example, "Pharma DTC Ad Spending Took a Nosedive in 2012!").

According to Kantar Media data, the pharmaceutical industry spent $4.5 billion marketing prescription drugs directly to consumers in 2014, up from $3.5 billion in 2012. That's up from the $2.5 billion drugmakers spent in 2000, or $3.39 billion in 2015 dollars when adjusted for inflation, according to Wonkblog. Most of that spending -- about 65% -- is on TV ads.

Here's my chart showing DTC spending on "measured media," which includes print ads and Internet display ads, from 1998 through 2014.

Read more »

Does Your Wife Prevent You From Watching the New Viagra TV Ad? FDA Wants to Know.

FDA Wants to Peek Into Your Bedroom to Learn If Your Spouse Affects Your Perception of Risks in Those New Viagra TV Ads!