DTC Future

Earlier this week we talked to experts about whether direct to consumer drug ads are good or not for the public.

Regardless they’re here to stay; but they’re going to start to look very different, and you’ll start to see them in some unusual places.

At a major pharmaceutical advertising meeting this past week, brand managers and those in the media agree that these drug ads are only going to be more prevalent.

The message will be altered quite a bit, and miniaturized: there’s a good chance TV pharmaceutical ads will appear on i-pods and on your cell phone.

Fay Morin of AstraZeneca says, “I think that we need to start referring to DTC beyond TV. Everything that we’ve talked about here is about TV. That media channel will be minimized in the future. There are many other media channels that we need to explore and how we can get our educational messages through to consumers, I-pods for example.”

Ah, but the media universe itself is the wild, wild west once again, and the drug ads are going along for the ride.

But should they be, and can they be reigned in?

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader says, “I think there is nothing to stop it from growing because ah it’s constitutionally protected, they’ve got tons of money, one study showed that for every $1 they put towards ads, they get $4 in sales revenue, what’s to stop it?! So it’s has to be properly regulated.”

Any in the industry believe that direct to consumer advertising isn’t going away...ever! In fact they see a huge growth potential.

But with all the new media out there--the websites, the podcasts, the cell phones, where are you the consumer going to be seeing drug ads in the near future?

No one truly knows for sure what’s going to work content and ad-wise, and what won’t.

Jim Davidson, President of Davidson and Company, a public policy advocacy firm, says, “I don’t see it migrating to one particular medium. You may get someone’s attention in a 30 second ad, but if you get to their attention and they don’t follow up and go to the internet, and get some more information you haven’t really fully reached them and got their attention.”

Don Apruzzese, Senior Director of Consumer Marketing at AstraZeneca, says, “The most effective to communicate is to use an intergraded campaign, you can’t rely on one element to communicate everything we need to communicate consumers don’t rely on one channel to get all their information.”

That’s already happening.

While the number of pharmaceutical ads has risen every year, for the first time, between 2004 and 2005, the number of broadcast pharmaceutical ads fell--indicating perhaps a shift towards different media.

And ironically, many here at the DTC National pharmaceutical marketing conference believe non-branded ads, simply urging patients to get to the doctor, and putting them in position to be a pharmaceutical purchaser, is where the industry is headed.

Tommy Thompson, former Director of the Department of Health and Human Services, says, “Instead of being so specific and spending so much money on a particular medicine, what they need to do is spend more money educating you, your viewers, me and all of America, about our bodies about physical symptoms and about medicines and about how to improve our quality of health. That’s where the money should be spent. “