Doo Wop and DTC = More bad DTC

Apr/07/2007 09:59 Filed in: Current DTC
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How much worse can DTC get? Well there are the horrible ads for Rozerem featuring a beaver and Abe Lincoln and now there are ads featuring doo-wop for Astelin. Doo-wop? Yes guys wearing black sweaters with the letters of Astelin spelled out singing a doo-wop song. The only thing that I can think of is that the creative person on this account has a major drinking problem and is mired in the 50's. Again the consumer is left to decide "what the hell is this ad all about" and I am thinking that there is no lifeguard on duty in the pharma marketing talent pool.



It's estimated that consumers see anywhere from 500 to over a 1000 brand messages a day. To cut through the clutter advertisers have convinced brand managers that they have to be "cute" and brand managers have signed off on this absurd notation. Instead of keeping the message simple and informing consumers of brand differentiations or key selling points they have to hire a talking beaver and a doo-wop group. Oh my aching head !

I guess I am not surprised given the lack of talent in pharma marketing but at some point you have to scratch your head and ask "what the hell is going on here?". I can't imagine what it was like to present the ad concepts for Rozarem and Astelin to executive management. Are these senior manager so devoid of marketing skills that they buy into these really bad concepts? This is what happens when senior managers have no marketing background and as such have to rely on agency and brand DTC people to present (and explain) concepts.

The Astelin ads are another example of really bad DTC and another reason why good talent is hard to find.

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