Marc Brownstein recently wrote an article in Ad Age entitled “Pharma Marketing is Embarassing.” While he understands the fact that the industry is highly regulated he showed his lack of industry knowledge by thinking advertisers would be well served if they just stopped mentioning those embarassing side effects. In fact, they are just the things that regulators force advertisers to keep in their scripts.
Now we in the industry can laugh at such an naive view. But it got me thinking about the creative challenges inherent in working in such a regulated environment, especially in Canada. One might think that such an environment would stifle creativity and idea generation. But that assumes that marketers start with the constraints of advertising regulations and start working from there. But that’s simply not how it works.
The truth about how we develop ideas in pharma marketing – whether they are traditional or digital – is that we start with a blank page, just like everyone else. Ideas about how to engage customers or communicate a brand message with maximum impact are born without any blinders, harnesses, or saddles eventually imposed by Health Canada and PAAB.
Ultimately, the ideas in pharma that ultimately get implemented are those that pass the test of simply being excellent ads, or excellent digital programs, BUT ALSO can be successfully molded to fit the requirements those unfortunate regulations.
So pharma marketers have to have doubly creative – not only do they have to come up with the ads and programs, but they have to be extra creative in how to make them work effectively in a heavily regulated environment.
So while its easy to cast stones at pharma ads, the creative energy behind them is certainly no cause for embarassment.
