Pharmaceuticals: Why Are You Even Bothering With Television Advertising?

So I think everybody has seen a commercial advertising a new prescription drug, whether its to quit smoking, birth control, or even those ridiculous Viagra commercials of men doing manly things like changing their oil or saddling up a horse...because real men own a horse, but can't get it up for the little lady.

Part of the requirements of the FDA for prescription drug advertisements on television is that all side effects of the drug must be disclosed in the commercial. But I think we all know the stereotype of how the side effects always seem worse than the original ailment.

I just saw a commercial for a new birth control, Mirena, and distinctly remember exclaiming out loud "Jeez!" One of the side effects included "pregnancy that may occur while on Mirena could cause death or loss of fertility." Which leads me to start to think, at what point does advertising actually start to hurt a product's sales rather than help it? It seems that there's a belief somewhere in the advertising world that any advertising is good advertising when this is clearly not the case. Case in point, girls would you be comfortable taking that pill everyday just knowing that one side effect, nevermind the string of other painful ones they also mention?

The whole point of advertising is to anchor a good feeling to your product in the eyes of your target market. This good feeling creates brand equity when your potential customer sees your product in the store or hears about it from their doctor because they have now become familiar with the product and feel comfortable about it.

If your target market walks away from your advertising scared and thinking "um, no thanks," have you really achieved your goal? Something is broken here...

A Great Example of an Ideavirus

I just finished reading marketing guru Seth Godin's manifesto Unleashing the Ideavirus (you can download it here), probably one of the most relevant pieces on marketing ever written. While reading it, I thought of a great example of a successful Ideavirus.

I'm sure by now everybody on Facebook is familiar with the application Mafia Wars, an application created by Zynga. The growth of this application has made it one of the most popular on Facebook ever. After reading Seth's thoughts, I understand why.

First, Mafia Wars was without a doubt remarkable (worth remarking about). How many other things do you have going on in your life that allowed you to pretend you are a mafia kingpin- killing, maiming, and extorting money?

Second, the application was incredibly viral. Every time you log in to the application, it gives you a prompt to "invite people to your mafia." This turned its users into promiscuous sneezers spreading the ideavirus for their own personal gain. The more people you invite, the bigger your mafia got and thus the more powerful your mob became. This scalability of Mafia Wars made it so that the more people that joined Mafia Wars, the better the individual user experience became.

Third, it had a hive with a definite vector. It became big with college kids first who then gradually started running out of people to invite, so they started inviting family and friends who were out of college, bringing Mafia Wars across the early adopters chasm to the general public.

Fourth, it had a great amplifier, Facebook. 'Nuff said...

Fifth, it was incredible persistent. People logged on more than once a day (I was one of them) to use their points and check their bank account. Foolish yes, but persistent, definitely.

Sixth, and probably most importantly, Mafia Wars traveled through a virtual vacuum. There were other applications you could download on Facebook, but none that allowed you maim your friends and amass a fake fortune. Utter genius.

The Psychology of Advertising

Saturday morning, it just stopped raining as I waited it out so I could walk down the street to the gym. Problem now is that I've been sitting still for two hours feel like a sloth. So I needed to start moving around and getting pumped up.

I figured some music might help me, so I put on something on YouTube while I stretched out and jumped around. As I was waiting for the song to load, a STUPID advertisement for some GMC truck came on and wasted 15 seconds of my time. It wasn't long but it felt like an eternity. It wasn't until the end of the advertisement that I realized something...

Yesterday I read an article about how Cadillac is having problems shaking the stereotypes American consumers have about their brand. First it was a car for people between the ages of 80 and deceased, then it became the iconic ride of pimps all over the world. They further whored out their brand when they offered the Escalade to cater to this demographic. They recently just fired their advertising firm because they weren't able to change the public's perception of the brand with the new "sexy" commercials.

The problem is as simple as the advertisement I just saw. It seems that GM is anchoring negative feelings to their brand. I already think that GM cars are crap quality (from family members transmissions being fried on multiple occasions) and their advertising scheme is just putting them into a deeper sinkhole. I heard their quality is getting better, but I'm the general public and we're always justified for the feeling the way I feel.

The whole point of advertising is to anchor positive feelings to a product or service. This is why Coca-Cola is sponsoring the World Cup in 2010 because they want to anchor the feelings of excitement and celebration to their brand. Its also why advertisers pay millions of dollars to advertise during the Superbowl, because the emotional ROI is priceless.

So what did GMC accomplish by advertising to me on YouTube? They've managed to frustrate and piss me off and successfully anchor those feelings to an already tarnished brand. Awesome...

My advice to GM and the other American auto companies is this. If you want to change the public perception of your brand, advertise to us when we need a break from something positively intense. Advertise to us at weddings, parades, or maybe even AFTER the YouTube song has finished playing. At least then you'll be taking the positive feelings I just got from listening to Michael Jackson and some how associating it to what you're about to show me, albeit on a subliminal level.

Now its back to Michael Jackson (Ghosts is HAHT!), and off to the gym...