Drug Advertising Spending Has Levelled Off - So Has Consumer Response

New York, NY - The ads may be ubiquitous, but drug manufacturers have levelled off their advertising expenditures and consumer response has flattened accordingly, says new research from Ipsos PharmTrends174, a syndicated tracking study of consumer behavior by Ipsos, the global marketing research firm. Consumer recall for prescription drug advertising is flat relative to prior periods: 55% of consumers said they had seen advertising for prescription drugs in the twelve months before August 2003, consistent with the proportion reported during the same period last year (50%). And the proportion of consumers who take action because of prescription drug advertising continued to level off: one out of four consumers (21%) said that direct-to-consumer advertising prompted them to call or visit their doctor to discuss the prescription drug they saw advertised. "Prescription drug advertising has a bigger job to do than traditional consumer goods advertising," said Fariba Zamaniyan, vice president and spokesperson for Ipsos PharmTrends. "Without traditional branding elements such as packaging and shelving, prescription drug ads need to communicate complex messages and benefits within a short period of time that is compelling enough to motivate the consumer to take action such as call or visit their doctors." "All of this has to be done within FDA guidelines, too. Given these obstacles, prescription drug marketers have realized, through experience, that they must step back and give DTC the scrutiny it deserves before embarking on a spending spree. Now that everyone's done it, it's time to get better at it," said Ms. Zamaniyan. Certain categories experience higher advertisement recall among consumers than others, and the top-ranking categories for advertisement recall changed somewhat in this survey update. Lung/Respiratory, moved into the top five driven by spending levels by leading brands within the Asthma treatment market such as Advair. The rest remained: Allergy, Behavioral Disorders, Cardiovascular and Gastrointestinal. Several branded prescription drugs show high levels of ad recall among their purchasers: Viagra continues to top the list where nearly all of Viagra buyers recalled seeing an ad for the Erectile Dysfunction drug in the year ending June 2003 (90%). Detrol LA with an ad recall of 80% among its buyers closes the Top 10 list down from #9 in the prior year. The most significant movement upward of any prescription drugs was evident for Fosamax (#5 up from #23 year ago). "Despite all of the challenges to DTC advertising for prescription drugs, its advertising efforts have done well. Drug advertisements are memorable and have moved the needle on persuasion," said Ms. Zamaniyan. "Going forward, marketers will be forced to execute campaigns that move this needle even further--to where brand linkage is developed and equity achieved. This is the long term goal of advertising and is no different than any other product category that invests in this promotional tool to optimize sales." For more information, please contact: Fariba Zamaniyan Vice President Ipsos PharmTrends 516.507.3047 PharmTrends174 is a registered trademark of Ipsos-Insight, Inc. Ipsos PharmTrends Methodology Ipsos PharmTrends174 syndicated tracking service captures both prescription fulfillment and over-the-counter purchasing data through a longitudinal and continuous consumer panel of 16,000 households that is representative of the U.S. census composition. Each month, panelists report their prescription and over-the-counter purchases for the treatment of a full spectrum of conditions (general and specific). The monthly tracking began in 1997. To learn more about Ipsos PharmTrends174 please visit our Homepage. InstaVue Survey Methodology During the month of August, 2003, Ipsos PharmTrends174 interviewed a representative sample of over 25,000 adults 18+ years of age nationwide using InstaVue, an omnibus mail survey. The study was conducted and paid for by Ipsos PharmTrends. About Ipsos-Insight Ipsos-Insight is a member of the Ipsos Group, a leading global survey-based market research company. As the company's flagship marketing research division in the U.S., Ipsos-Insight provides custom and tracking research to domestic clients as well as U.S.-based multinationals. Ipsos-Insight specializes in research for the Consumer Products, Technology & Communications, Financial Services, and Health industries, to name a few. It also acts as the portal to other Ipsos specializations including advertising research, forecasting, modeling, global research, public opinion research, and customer loyalty research. 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