The Rodale DTC study may have been an eye opener to a lot of people but perhaps the biggest surprise are the number of people who are taking action because of DTC ads (asking for an Rx) is becoming smaller and smaller. You would never know this watching the evening news but consumers are pretty much ignoring DTC TV ads and doing their own research rather than listening to what marketers are selling.
1. It’s safe - DTC marketers are used to working within the envelope and like to do more what they already are doing because they know they can get it approved my MLR teams.
2. But it does drive sales - When presenting data to senior executives anyone can show enough data to show that the ads are working. This is especially true because a lot of senior executives don’t have marketing expertise to challenge the data and ask the hard questions.
3. Use it or lose it – DTC budgets are set and a lot of marketers have to either use the money or lose it and then they are subject to budget reductions next year.
4. We don’t have the resources to do anything else - Agencies can do the commercials and media agencies can buy the media. All you need is to get MLR approval for the spot and your off to the races.
5. MBA marketers stuck in old school marketing – “But this is way we did things at Coke when I worked there”. Take that marketing textbook and chuck it out the window because it so does not apply to empowered consumers and patients.
6. They don’t understand that consumers have changed - “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”. Perhaps nowhere has consumer behavior changed as much as in healthcare. Consumers mistrust pharma and the FDA, they are researching health conditions online and comparing notes with others and if a medication, in their opinion, has side effects that they don’t want to deal with they are not going to take it.
A logical person would look at the Rodale data, among other data like Manhattan Research, and say that traditional DTC ads are not working anymore, at least not for the investment required. ”What can we do to make the transition to new media and new marketing ?” But whoever said that DTC marketing is logical and is consumer focused ?
I have been in healthcare marketing for over 10 years working on some great brands like Cialis, Prozac, Sarafem and Prozac Weekly. I am a passionate healthcare marketers because I believe that patients today are consumers of healthcare and they are using the Internet in increasing numbers to make their healthcare choices. I am also a freelance writer for healthcare trade magazine and author a monthly column in PM360 Magazine on DTC Marketing. I live in Souther California, have an MBA in Marketing and love the challenge of marketing to empowered patients.
I am one of the few docs that doesn’t despise DTC’s because of their potential to help me. The fair balance requirements of DTC’s however, make most of them worthless, because their is no way for a patient in 30 seconds to weight the risks and benefits of “prevents heart attacks” and “rare, but serious side effects.”
I think the answer is non-branded, disease state awareness DTC’s. For example, instead of an Advair, Singulair, Asmanex, Symbicort, etc. add telling patients they will breathe better with one of those products; I would like to see a non-branded DTC that get across the points that 1) asthma is a serious disease and can kill you 2) most patients are not aware that their asthma is under poor control 3)using albuterol daily can kill you 4)with proper medication, most asthmatics can lead normal, productive lives and 5) check with your doctor to make sure you asthma is under control.
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To be clear, the study shows the ads are consistently effective, even with the new data. Over 13 years of tracking shows approximately 1-out-of-3 people who see an ad have a conversation with their doctor. The change this year – once they were in the office fewer people asked the doctor to prescribe the drug, they were more likely to just talk about the drug.
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