You don't have to be a TV addict to have been implored time and again to "ask your doctor" about that new wonder drug that is sure to cure your insomnia, your sexual inadequacies, your brittle bones or your too-frequent trips to the bathroom. But are the $5 billion-a-year, direct-to-consumer ads effective, resulting in tens of millions of dollars of new sales for drugmakers?
That would be a very dubious proposition, says Verilogue, a Horsham, Pa., medical-marketing research firm that recorded 12,500 patient-doctor conversations in 2008 and found that 23 patients -- less than .2 of 1% -- actually asked their doctors about a drug by name. Moreover, Verilogue found that patients are asking about the side effects of the drugs touted on television, perhaps diarrhea or blurred vision or muscle numbness. Verilogue's findings cast doubt on critics of pharmaceutical advertising, who say television spots fuel demand for unnecessary treatments and create a preference for brand-name drugs over more affordable generics.
Verilogue also said its study showed that spending on pitches aimed directly at consumers has dropped only 7% in 2009 in the face of the recession. By contrast, auto ads are down 31%, and retailers have cut their advertising by 18%. The medical researcher found that among the relative handful of patients that did mention a drug, it was not because a pharmaceutical company spent a lot on an ad campaign. Verilogue said that Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY) of Indianapolis spent the biggest amount on an ad campaign last year, $179 million on ads touting the antidepressant Cymbalta. But the drug most frequently mentioned by patients was Boniva, a drug to combat osteoporosis that is marketed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK) and Swiss pharmaceutical Roche Laboratories Inc. Its ad campaign was half the size for Cymbalta.
The key difference in the two ad campaigns? Actress Sally Field appeared in the Boniva ads, perhaps giving them more of a sense of believability. - Kenneth Bredemeier
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Believability of advertising information is indeed critical. One can like the ad, understand the ad, even remember the ad. But if the information isn't believable, consumers are unlikely to act on it.