$25M Campaign Promotes Healthy New Attitude
Onhealth.com is so confident that it understands how Americans are redefining health that it launched a $25 million integrated campaign to promote its revelations and Web site redesign. Launched on July 26, the branding campaign identifies a broader definition of health that is "first and foremost about achieving balance of mind, body and spirit," and promotes the Web site's expanded informational resources.
The campaign includes seven 15- and 30-second spots that focus on a different aspect of health and wellness, from common illnesses like the cold to alternative therapies like Feng Shui. The spots are airing on ABC and NBC daytime shows and cable channels like Lifetime, A&E, E! and Comedy Central. The campaign also includes radio commercials that will air this summer and an outdoor effort that will launch this fall. The site's redesign includes faster access interactive tools, live shows, discussions and new links to related content areas from every page. New features include a customized wellness manager and health info tracker. In June, OnHealth.com generated 892,000 unique visitors, according to the online audience measurement firm Media Metrix.
(OnHealth, Tricia Viscardi, 212/297-6232, http://www.onhealth.com)
Physicians Launch Their Own Web Sites
Medscape's free Web site services for physicians are destroying the myth that physicians and the Internet are an oil-and-water combination. The physician section of Medscape's site (http://www.medscape.com) has helped 2,000 physicians develop a Web presence. These sites also are enhancing the physician-patient communication process as more consumers express an interest in having online dialogues with their physicians. Medscape walks physicians through the process of developing their own site in "Create My Physician Web Site" link under the "My Medscape" area of the site. Using customizable templates, the process should take physicians approximately 20 minutes to create their own site.
Web site features include:
- A home page and six pages of additional content, generally including office hours, emergency contacts, practice specialties, names of doctors in the medical group, affiliated hospitals and healthcare plans/payment procedures.
- Additional information includes directions to the physician's office, physician credentials, a note from the doctor on subjects of interest and information on office visits.
(Medscape, David Fluhrer, 212/760-3138)
Eli Lilly Ordered to Stop Making False Claims
The verdict is in: Eli Lilly is barred from making any promotional statements that its drug, Evista, can reduce the risk of breast cancer, according to a preliminary injunction issued by a U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York last month.
Promotional battle lines were first drawn in February when AstraZeneca, maker of Nolvadex - the only FDA-approved drug proven to reduce the incidence of breast cancer - filed for the injunction. (HPRMN, March 4, p.7)
In addition to the promotional muzzle slapped on Eli Lilly, the company has also been ordered to design and implement a training program for its sales representatives to ensure they adhere to the court's decision. This action was taken in response to the court's finding that Lilly sales representatives have been "systematically" communicating to physicians that Evista has been proven to reduce the risk of breast cancer and that it is comparable to Nolvadex.
(AstraZeneca, Mary Lynn Carver, 302/886-7859; Eli Lilly, 317/276-2000)
Boost Your News IQ
A new Web-based service that scans television news coverage and reports key information promises to help corporate communicators be smarter about news gathering projects. Medialink's News IQ, which will be available in late-August, provides the text of major domestic and international television newscasts within minutes of the broadcast on a password-protected section of its Web site, http://www.medialink.com. Medialink.com distributes streaming video and audio, live Webcasts, photographs, press releases and financial information to more than 6,000 online news sites.
NewsIQ uses technology that records the text of closed-captioned newscasts along with a proprietary network of Medialink data collection servers located nationally and internationally. It also is capable of scanning news coverage of 1,000 newscasts in the top 50 markets.
NewsIQ will be available on a premium subscription basis to professional communicators for $795/month (three-month minimum) or $9,500/year.
(Medialink, Greg Jones, 212/682-8300)