Verilogue has some suggestions about how pharmaceutical companies can make their marketing to consumers more effective. There's product placement in TV shows and movies, for
one; educating doctors on side effects for another. The market researcher also says pharma firms have to do a better job of connecting with patients.
But Arlene Weintraub also talks
with Milward Brown, whose own surveys find 50% of respondents reporting that they have requested drugs they've seen on TV or read about in a magazine. "More often than not, after someone sees an ad,
they go on the Internet to get more information, so they can have an intelligent conversation about it with their doctor," Patrick Ryan, vp of Milward Brown's health care practice, tells her.
advertisement
advertisement
Richard Meyer, who writes the "World of DTC Marketing" blog, comments that the Verilogue study is "flawed in so many ways that its amazing that a publication like Business Week could buy into it." His conclusion: "We need DTC marketing, we just need it to be more relevant and transparent."