Continued Ignorance of the Web
Second Life.com is an example of emerging media online. Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by a total of 3,659,699 people from around the globe. Some smart brands are starting to make the plunge into this virtual world where people can interact with each other and share brand experiences. While this program is still in the early stages of its product life cycle it opens up a whole new opportunity to savvy marketers.
The online viral
opportunity of some brands, like Cialis, could be
huge but instead of breaking new ground your more
likely to see a "36 hour" commercial while
watching cable TV. No wonder the category is in a
funk. Marketers of ED products are stumped
because they can't figure out how to get men to
ask their doctors about their brands. They think
that once someone sees a commercial on TV it will
eliminate the potential barriers that men have to
overcome to seek treatment. Now you can see why I
believe that a DTC award is more of an oxymoron
than an award.
This week I received an innovation to the next
DTC National in Washington DC and of course there
is another award dinner. Pharma marketers are
great at patting themselves on the back but this
industry should not reward baby steps as much as
innovation. Too many marketers out there stuck in
traditional brand marketing cycle..spend on DTV
for reach and frequency? No wonder the ED
category has not seen major growth..the marketers
who control the media dollars are just too myopic
to understand that the way to connect brands to
people is to connect with people. Too
bad....