What do trade magazines fear?
Jul/04/2007 08:48 Filed in: Current
DTC
There is no doubt that the DTC industry is in trouble. Congress feels that DTC only serves the pharmaceutical companies and that patients are taking prescription medications they may not need. Somewhere along the evolution of DTC advertising it has become purely a business model with little regard to consumer needs. Most pharma websites still embrace Web 1.0 and pharma marketers don't want to acknowledge that the power has shifted to consumers. DTC marketers don't know what to do with Consumer Generated Media or how to interact with consumers and current customers. They are afraid at this point that anything they do will draw criticism from a politician or someone within the FDA's DDMAC division.
The truth is that we are paid to take risks and push the envelope but we also have to remember that what we do is aimed at improving the lives of our customers. I would not, for a moment, sell something that I didn't believe in. If the recent story about Merck and Vioxx turns out to be true than people need to be held accountable to the highest standards. This is where trade publications need to step up to the plate. They need to reinforce the need for transparency at every level of the pharma organization. They need to continually communicate to pharma marketers that the days of "push marketing" are over, and they need to get all DTC marketers thinking about the Catch-22 situation of profits vs. patient health. If trade publications won't be the conscious of the industry than who will? Pfizer is going to meet with key shareholders to become more transparent but what about being transparent with customers?
If a pharmaceutical company spends millions of dollars to sponsor a Golf Tournament who will speak up and ask why and question whether this decision is really about patients or the CEO playing gold with Tiger Woods?
DTC Marketers know that internal company politics can be a tricky maze to navigate but as a DTC marketer we have to be able to hold ourselves accountable for not speaking up when we should be heard. Trade magazines need to unite DTC marketers through a common theme that what we do we believe in and that DTC advertising benefits patients. If DTC marketers are just collecting paychecks or afraid to speak up for fear it may lead to career stagnation then they have sold out patients but more importantly..themselves.
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