The Effectiveness of TV Advertising for Pharma

Sandy Donaldson, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Impiricus, spoke with Pharmaceutical Executive about the state of pharma advertising. Recent regulatory conversations and public perception have the industry rethinking its approach to DTC campaigns.

Pharmaceutical Executive: What is the regulatory landscape for DTC pharmaceutical advertising at the moment?
Sandy Donaldson: The regulation for pharma when it comes to television buys is getting extremely restrictive. It’s already been a couple of years since DTC TV ads came about, and we’ve already had restrictions placed on pharma. Since the Trump Administration came to office, we’ve since those restrictions constrict even more.

When it comes to black box warnings and understanding limitations of the medicine, we’ve seen those restrictions become even more of a regulatory minefield for pharma companies, who are now being more cautious of the types and the volume of the TV advertising that they’re doing.

PE: How effective is TV advertising for pharma?
Donaldson: There is still a place for TV advertising in terms of reaching consumers with pharmaceutical products. However, we’re seeing this become increasingly focused. It’s gone from the days of mass TV adverts to something more targeted, and the effectiveness is being called into question as well.

With the advent of new technology and the ability for pharma to be much more precise and targeted in digital advertising, it’s becoming increasingly restrictive to use TV ads in pharma.

PE: How specific can digital advertising targeting be for pharma?
Donaldson: Digital does allow pharma to be targeted to an N of 1. To a large degree, it can be highly targeted for consumers as well. With physicians, we’ve had this ability for a while now, but for consumers can certainly get to certain demographic groups.

I think pharma is going to focus more on engaging with physicians. There’s a been a lot of work and focus on consumers, but we’re seeing that regulatory environment becoming more difficult. There’s also a groundswell among the public, who are asking if it’s the right thing to target consumers with pharma advertising. With physicians, we want to make sure they have access to the right information to help their patients.

I expect there to be an increase in targeted educational programs that deliver information about product services directly to physicians.

PE: What are the benefits to marketing to physicians as opposed to directly to patients?
Donaldson: The benefits is that those people are ultimately the gatekeeper to understanding what the right therapy is to put a patient on. It’s critical that physicians have access to the most relevant information about the therapies that are out there and how to get patients on those medications.

There is value for consumers to have information about the pharma world, but it’s going to become more focused on disease awareness and education campaigns.

PE: What is the reaction to DTC pharma advertising?
Donaldson: Consumers will slowly but surely have increased distrust in pharma TV ads. We’ve all seen them over the past 25 years, they’ve got the same story. It’s somebody going about their daily life in the sunshine and paddling a boat, but we all know the marketing message.

There’s a vast amount of money on DTC ads, about $8 billion-a-year, and healthcare costs are a major concern for American consumers. I think we’ll see even more pushback on these ads by consumers.