When it comes to DTC TV ads, most DTC marketers are clueless, illustrated by a product. Tepezza, which defies proven research of reach & frequency, not to mention that the incidence of TED is only 16 per 100,000 women. It’s a colossal waste of money demonstrating how lousy pharma DTC is.

A product is running ads on TV like they have a ton of money: Tepezza. Let me be blunt: the DTC manager and agency responsible for running these ads with nauseating frequency should be fired.

Focusing on frequency without context is a mistake. There’s a significant difference between having positive interactions, each of which is retargeted or precisely laid out to lead shoppers to purchase, and repeating the same experience. When the same viewers see your ad repeatedly, they may experience ad fatigue. This could cause them to block out your message, become numb to your ad, and ultimately remove themselves from the buyer’s journey.

Tepezza suffers from ultra-ad fatigue. Ad fatigue occurs when your audience sees your ads so often that they become bored with them and stop paying attention. This, in turn, causes your campaigns to become less effective, prevents users from moving down the sales funnel, and ultimately hurts your brand’s bottom line.

You would expect the brand manager and agency to know this, but they want to spend what’s in the budget.

Repetitive ads are a noticeable nuisance for anyone watching TV. It’s a known issue and bad for business, as viewers associate the ads with frustration. Research shows an inverse relationship between ad frequency and effectiveness. An analysis of TV campaigns by Simulmedia found that seeing an ad between six and ten times made people 4.1% less likely to purchase than those who saw it between two and five times.

I cannot understand the strategy to show the same ads throughout a program or even an evening of viewing. One gets the message that these brands and their agencies are stupid. What school of thought has educated them about their onslaught that results in totally desensitizing us to their messages? More isn’t better; more is more annoying.

DTC marketing is devoid of talent. These faux DTC managers pat themselves on the back at conferences or give interviews to trade magazines who love to suck up. It’s time to admit that there are too many dumb DTC managers.