• by David Kaplan , April 11, 2005

As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a sweeping set of warnings to consumers about popular painkillers, health care industry analysts offered their own admonitions to drug makers who advertise on television.

A report from Manhattan Research, a health care market researcher, suggested that pharmaceutical companies have been relying too heavily on television for direct-to-consumer advertising, and advised shifting more ad dollars to online. The report reasons that such a shift, as part of an integrated DTC advertising strategy, would be well-positioned to increase overall product awareness--and would be "more likely to engage empowered health consumers who take action."

"If you consider the reach and relevance of current DTC ad recall, it can be argued that the current approach to pharmaceutical advertising, focused mainly on television, is a lopsided one," said Mark Bard, Manhattan Research's president.

Titled "Truly Integrated DTC: The Role of 'E' in Pharmaceutical Consumer Marketing," Manhattan Research's study was based on interviews with over 7,500 U.S. individuals.

Television advertising by pharmaceuticals on all national television grew 29 percent in 2004, noted Bob Coen, Universal McCann's senior vice president and director of forecasting, in his most recent look at ad spending. Overall, drug makers spent over $3.5 billion last year on media, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

"In general, [pharmaceutical companies spend] about 80 percent on TV and about 5 percent online--other spending includes radio and billboards, while some brands, however, are more aggressive and may allocate up to 15 percent online," Bard noted.

As for the reason he feels the industry's spending is lopsided, Bard said that despite increased overall spending on DTC advertisements, the population who recall pharmaceutical ads--about 150 million adults--has been stagnant for the past several years. "Meanwhile, eHealth Consumers--those who research health and drug information online--are more likely than all adults to recall DTC ads, with a 10 percent greater recall rate than the average consumer."

Among those who do not recall DTC ads--32 percent of adults, the study says--more than half are actively online.

"While understanding the population with general recall of DTC advertising by channel can help pharma companies weigh each channel's relative value, the most beneficial analysis is understanding how consumers are using these channels to learn more--and ultimately, request a product of choice from their physician," Bard said. "After consumers are exposed to a product through any medium, the Internet is increasingly becoming a critical response channel, particularly for young females who seek to 'pull' information before talking with a physician."

Still, other analysts say that it's not the medium that makes the difference--it's the message. According to Peter J. Pitts, senior vice president for health affairs at Manning, Selvage & Lee and a senior fellow for health care studies at the Pacific Research Institute, it's the creative factor that has to change.

Pitts said he believes, in light of the FDA warnings about painkillers like Merck's Vioxx and Pfizer's Bextra--which was pulled by the company last week--that the creative work coming out will seek to reposition the pharmaceutical industry from being seen as "salesmen" to being viewed as scientists working to improve people's health.

"It would be a huge mistake if health care marketers pulled back on advertising," Pitts said. "Direct-to-consumer TV advertising has been shown to have a significant number of public health benefits. So it's not that DTC TV advertising is bad. The issue is how they can provide a better service to the public. The future is not less advertising, but a different creative mix of advertising. And the type of mix we'll see is more advertising that creates consumer-awareness about a particular condition, rather than talking about the product specifically. TV's an extraordinarily potent medium. I think we'll begin to see a more creative execution that will emphasize education before marketing."