Intelligent Pharmaceutical Advertising?
A few nights ago I was treated to an interesting experience: a good pharmaceutical advertisement. This one, on TV.
It was for a smoking cessation product. I don't smoke, never have, so I can't relate with the target, so I may be a bit off base here.
What I found to be most interesting was that they did no actually tout the product...the touted a "stop smoking guide" - essentially, a free report.
It was a well done spot, professionally shot, and looked fancy and highfalutin. But rather than say the name of the drug (I have no idea what it was) and then spend the last 20 seconds of the commercial giving technical disclaimers such as side effects and drug interaction warnings, and the reminder to tell your doctor if you have a history of high blood pressure, or whatever -- they didn't tout any claims about the drug -- simply about the report. Apparently the FDA doesn't have much of a say over how you advertise special reports (thank goodness).
Essentially, this was a basic, 2-step ad, just like we teach, done at a very high level. The benefit for the advertiser would be that instead of just getting their name out there (spreading the word about the drug) they are compiling a database of smokers who have a desire to quit. I strongly suspect the special report will be accompanied by some fairly compelling promotional material for the drug. Now that's the way to do it.
Maybe they've been reading this blog!
Have you seen any other big advertisers using strategies like these?
