Wall Street Journal Runs Year-Old Prilosec Story on Front Page

The Wall Street Journal has a curious story about Procter & Gamble’s marketing of Prilosec OTC—curious because the story is such old news. P&G is sponsoring bunco tournaments in people’s homes, in which middle-aged women roll dice, drink, and possibly talk about heartburn and its cures. Winners go through to a televised bunco championship in Las Vegas, which at one point was endorsed by CSI hottie Marg Helgenberger (pictured). This is the sort of imaginative, non-traditional marketing effort that will be closely watched by brand managers looking to get off the TV-print-internet treadmill. The story is curious because of its timing—the Prilosec Bunco tournament has been rolling since at least February 2006. I know this because P&G Prilosec brand manager Karen Klei and pr rep Crystal Harrell briefed me on the promotion in May 2006. I decided not to write about it because the tournament had already been on television (you guys don’t pay $3.99 per issue of Brandweek to read about something you coulda seen on cable three months ago). I’m not saying the story ain’t news—it was interesting and in hindsight I wish I'd paid more attention—but it’s worth remembering that just because something is on the front page of the paper doesn’t mean it's fresh.