NDMA On DTC Ads And Post-Marketing Research

Aggressive new health care voices seeking consumers' time and attention will influence how they self-medicate, Edward Tedeschi, a partner at MVBMS Advertising, told the US Nonprescription Drug Manufacturers Association's annual research and scientific development conference (Marketletter November 25). Direct-to-consumer advertising has skyrocketed to over $600 million annually, and if consumers choose to get a specific prescription drug from their doctor, that's a form of self-medication, he said.

Managed care is becoming a provider of information to consumers in order to influence how they respond to health care, said Mr Tedeschi, and is turning into an information rather than a care-giving business. Companies are using their databases to deliver evidence-based messages directed to particular consumers to influence their decisions. Managed care could be the most important influence on consumer self-medication, he said; it does not want to tell consumers directly which over-the-counter products to use, but will influence them through information and determine rationing through evidence.

Managed care and DTC advertising combined equals over half of what the OTC industry now spends, said Mr Tedeschi. The primary communication vehicle now, television, is fast being replaced by interactive media time. On-line buyers will grow to over 100 million in the next five years, and interactive media is expansionist rather than reductionist, as are print and broadcast media. The new media is democratized, invites interaction and is being used by a new, empowered, self-reliant consumer who believes less in a doctor's recommendation than in a friend's.