I attended the Pharmaceutical Advertising and Marketing Excellence (PhAME) Awards at the Guggenheim in New York Thursday night—or, at least, the pre-ceremony cocktail reception—and chatted briefly with Lilly’s manager of patient marketing, Anne Myers. Myers was on the judging panel.
Among the snippets of news I picked up:
• Merck swept the show with five awards for its Gardasil marketing.
• Conspicuous by their absence were Pfizer and the team from Takeda’s Rozerem. PFE didn’t enter a single brand into the competition, Myers said.
• Although the awards recognize creativity, there were still plenty of ads centered around smiling middle-aged people and green fields—the classic tropes of this often unimaginative business.
• Irony alert: In the ‘Best Interactive’ category, two of the nominees were AstraZeneca for an unbranded cancer support effort and Novartis for its work on Femara. The former has been the subject of headlines recently because of allegations that its cancer marketing was in violation of OIG rules. Ultimately, the category was won by Lilly for its ‘Real Stories’ depression effort.
Myers speculated that with all the new management turmoil at Pfizer, the marketing folks there had other priorities. As for Takeda’s Rozerem work, it has been some of the most unusual the category has ever seen, from the perspective of both creativity and media placement. Perhaps because PhAME entrants have to show the results of their work, Takeda thought better of it—the brand’s sales have been miniscule.
After the jump: Extracts from my Q&A with Myers, who was friendly, talked much faster than I could take notes, and was determined not to say anything that could possibly count as ‘news.’
Me: What were the judges looking for?
Myers: “Creativity as well as results,” she said. “What was actually achieved and what was the benefit to the patient.”
Me: What campaigns got your attention?
Myers: “Merck’s ‘Tell Someone’ campaign is a frontrunner in 5 categories. It’s a very unique way of getting word of mouth spread through this campaign in a very creative way,” she said. [The ads urged people to tell women that the HPV virus causes cervical cancer, which prior to the campaign most people did not know. One ad asked, if she had lipstick on her teeth, you’d tell her, so why not this?]
Me: Pfizer’s new Celebrex ad, which is long and spends an unprecedented amount of time listing the drug’s dangers—“death” is listed twice—isn’t eligible until next year’s competition. Is that the kind of creativity that judges would reward?
Myers: “It certainly could be. In categories like that where there are benefits and risks to consider [it’s] a very good thing.”
Me: What do you think of the DTC reform bill that’s currently in the Senate right now?
[After trying to dodge the question because “I’m primarily here to talk about the PhAME awards,” Myers said:] “A lot of times you don’t know a whole lot about a product [until it’s been on the market for some time.] If there’s going to be something that comes out [like adverse events, then DTC reform] won’t make any difference either way.”
Me: Does Lilly have a position on the issue?
Myers: “I’m sure they do [but she said she did not know it]. I’m not on the inside [for those issues.]
Me: This industry is beset by a constant stream of controversies. Does that make it more difficult for the public to trust DTC?
Myers: “Whenever there’s controversy in the media it’s going to impact public opinion [but that doesn’t detract from] the need to highlight to consumers and inform them and help them live better and healthier lives.”
Me: You mentioned Merck’s generation of word-of-mouth for Gardasil. Do you think that pharma marketers are more interested than they used to be in WOM campaigns?
Myers: “People are certainly interested in it [she said she’d seen a lot of PR programs in the entries] it’s very interesting. Any way you can get the right information into consumer’s hands … is something to consider.”
Me: But how do you convey the relevant risk and side effect information by word of mouth?
Myers: “Certainly if you intend to share branded information [it's a problem], but there’s been a resurgence in unbranded advertising.”
Me: Do you think we’ll see more unbranded advertising in the coming year?
Myers: “We saw that certainly in the past year, that trend will continue.”
Me: Do you see changes in the media mix? Drug marketers are always talking about pulling out of traditional media and going onto the web and such, but their spend on network TV just continues to go up and up.
Myers: If the PhAME entries are any indication there’s much more of a balance, more interactive, more relationship marketing, PR, all of very high quality.
Me: What was the most unusual media vehicle you saw in the entries?
Myers: “One on the back of benches at bus stops in an information campaign about HIV.”
Me: Were there any surprises this year?
Myers: Pfizer did not enter. That was a surprise. I think it’s a matter of where their priorities are right now compared to in the past…. And Merck was not a big contender in the past until this year.”
[After trying to dodge the question because “I’m primarily here to talk about the PhAME awards,” Myers said:] “A lot of times you don’t know a whole lot about a product [until it’s been on the market for some time.] If there’s going to be something that comes out [like adverse events, then DTC reform] won’t make any difference either way.”
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