• NY Times, Monday, November 28, 2005 12:45 PM

All marketers expect their sales representatives to be cheerleaders for their brands, but pharmaceutical companies are taking that concept quite literally. It seems a growing number of drug companies are recruiting their sales forces directly from the ranks of college cheerleading squads. The feeling is that a squad of good-looking, energetic, healthy young people with contagious smiles and charisma will translate into big sales among the physicians they call on. And drug companies are looking for any edge they can get in a crowded, ultra-competitive marketplace. Cynics say the cheerleading tactic is just a variation on traditional inducements like dinners, golf outings and speaking fees that pharmaceutical companies have dangled to sway doctors to their brands. But since federal crackdowns and the industry's self-policing have curtailed those gifts, one-on-one human rapport has become more important.

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