NEW YORK - Although direct-to-consumer advertising in the U.S. is expected to climb to $1.7 billion by next year, this heavyweight branding is not getting the attention of women - the primary healthcare decision-makers for American households.
Women are only slightly more aware (37%) than men (33%) of products promoted in DTC pharmaceutical advertising, according to a marketing study by Campbell Mithun Esty (CME) in Minneapolis. And among women who are aware of the advertising, the study found that more than 13 percent disliked the ads "a lot."
These findings could easily discourage healthcare communicators. Yet the solutions offered by CME SVP Beth Miller and other industry experts at the Marketing Healthcare to Women conference earlier this month offer some hope.
CME last year studied 18 pharmaceutical brands, including Allegra, Claritin, Evista, Prozac and Viagra, to gauge DTC awareness levels. The study involved 1,000 people, half of whom were women. Except in the case of Viagra, women were slightly more aware of the top pharmaceutical brands than men.
Many DTC ads aren't well-liked, however, because they tend to be too general, says Miller. To create more appealing and "involving" campaigns that target women, Miller suggests:
- demonstrating that you understand the psychological and physical results of your target's medical condition; and
- talking to the patient - not the public at large - by using segmentation strategies that qualify your target.
Need for Media Relations
The best marketing, however, requires an integrated approach to reaching the women's healthcare market and strategic PR initiatives are key. For women's health messages to really hit home, the media must do a better and more comprehensive job of covering key women's health issues, such as smoking, cardiovascular conditions and AIDS.
Not that the press has been entirely remiss.
Phyllis Greenberger, executive director of the Society for the Advancement of Women's Health Research, says the press provided high-profile coverage of how women were often excluded from "landmark" medical research in the early 1990s. The press coverage was key to convincing Congress to provide greater funding for women's medical research.
But the media is missing the boat on some of the more sophisticated women's health issues, says Greenberger. "The media often touches on the obvious differences between men and women in terms of our reproductive systems but does not report on differences in our hearts, livers and brains that affect our lives."
Exciting opportunities exist for fuller coverage of key gender differences in the areas of top health factors, diseases, risks and treatments. For instance:
- On average, women advance to full-blown AIDS with half the HIV-1 viral load of men, suggesting that women require anti-retroviral treatment earlier.
- Women have a higher risk of developing lung cancer than men.
- It is more difficult for women to quit smoking than men, and nicotene therapy is less effective in women.
The increasing demand for health news provides a hook for women's health communicators to work with editors to provide more multidimensional coverage on pressing medical issues that affect women. Greenberger suggests pitching more serious stories about women's health that go beyond the "celebrity-of-the-week" style often used by reporters.
And women's magazines don't have to have a monopoly on women's health coverage; target other general interest publications with story ideas too.
(CME, Beth Miller, 612/347-1395, e-mail: [email protected]; Society for the Advancement of Women's Health Research, Phyllis Greenberger, 202/223-8224, http://www.womens-health.org)
Women's Health Fast Facts
- Women account for 51 percent of the U.S. population.
- Women make 75 percent of the healthcare decisions in American households and spend almost two of every three healthcare dollars - approximately $500 billion annually.
- Heart attacks are the number one killer of American women, with death rates higher for African-American women than white women.
Source: Society for the Advancement of Women's Health Research