• by John Gaffney , April 3, 2003

If you're looking for an upfront superstar category you may find it in pharmaceuticals. It has been among the leading percentage gainers for TV over the past year and although it has seen its share of unwanted government regulatory attention, direct to consumer ads for this category will drive its share of upfront business.

"It will not slow down," said Steven Chavez, VP business development of pharmaceutical consultant FWI. "You may see the nature of the advertising change. The ads will show a more solemn approach."

Which Chavez claims is what the drug companies want. After congressional committees started actions to get drug companies to cut ads in hopes that it would lead them to cut product prices, the companies themselves took stock of their ad plans. They knew their ads were working. And in a business where one of every 10,000 drugs makes it out of the lab that's important. So a more conservative approach was needed to keep the watchdogs at bay and to more clearly communicate the message each drugmaker wants to send.

That message has found its target, which is another reason why the pharmaceutical category figures to be a player in the upfront. AC Nielsen recently released new research findings today showing that direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising is effective not only in generating initial sales of advertised prescription (Rx) medicine brands, but also in boosting patient "compliance" -- that is, the degree to which chronic-condition sufferers refill their prescriptions in a timely manner.

Since 1997, when the Food & Drug Administration relaxed advertising guidelines, pharmaceutical manufacturers have spent billions of dollars encouraging people to ask their doctors about specific Rx brands. According to an ACNielsen Homescan Rx/OTC Consumer Panel sales analysis of 12 major DTC-advertised Rx brands from July through December 2002, more than 17% of new prescriptions filled came as a direct result of patients requesting the brand.

"What you will start to see in the next wave of advertising, after this upfront is completed," said Chavez, "is the agencies and the pharmaceutical companies working well together. I don't know if they really knew how to do so before this."

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