Anything You Can Do, I Can Do The Exact Same Way

A friend of mine on Facebook, okay fine, an acquaintance on Facebook recently posted a status update asking "Why are all the men in erectile dysfunction commercials so sexy?" which got me thinking about commercials for prescription medications because the first thing that came to mind was Dr. Kelso's monologue about his experience with the Blue Bombers which was funny but disturbing, and I had to think about something else. Quickly.


Marketing prescription medications has to be extremely difficult.  With names like Cymbalta, Pristiq, Zyrtec, and Claritin it's difficult to ascertain which medication is meant for which medical condition.  What makes it worse is that the commercials for all of these medications are identical.  The person in question has an STD/blood clot/depression/arthritis/flatulence which makes him or her completely unable to perform that day's simple tasks.  As soon as the sufferer takes the recommended dosage the clouds clear, symptoms subside, and the entire family is all smiles as they play on the beach/front yard/in the living room for family night.  This begs one question.


How do any of these products differentiate themselves?


What I've done here is compiled a list of medications that are all meant to treat different medical conditions.  None of these products are competitors of each other.  Or maybe they do.  I don't know what any of these medications do except for Claritin and that's only because of the product name.  It makes sense.  Breathe with clarity: Claritin.  It's an allergy medication!  Or does it break down mucus?  It doesn't matter.  Because all of the commercials for these products, despite being for different medical conditions, all follow the same basic template.  The user has a treatable condition that is preventing him from doing the day's task until he takes the medication and then is able to go on with his day.


Viagra and Cialis, ironically the ones that are for ED where this blog post starts, are the ones that differentiate themselves from one another.  I have to believe that this came from proper market research and extensive focus group sessions.  First, the Viagra commercials show a middle-aged man presented with a problem, and because the middle-aged man is "experienced" he "knows how to get things done."  He easily solves the problem and is on his way but not without sexual innuendo from the narrator.


Pfizer knows their market well.  Erectile dysfunction isn't a problem for young adult males, and middle-aged men hate being reminded that they're getting older.  Cialis takes a different approach in its advertisements.  They show middle-aged couples enjoying a romantic getaway.  Cialis is saying in its commercials that the effects of the medication lasts longer than Viagra so couples can wait "until the moment is right."  This suggests that users of Viagra were unsatisfied with the duration of Viagra's effects and opted to do the deed when one of the two wasn't in the mood, or not at all.


Viagra uses brand position to sell its medication to men who are experienced and know what to do.  Cialis found a shortcoming in how long the effectiveness of Viagra lasts and positioned itself to exploit that shortcoming.  I think the reason why nobody looks depressed or upset in those commercials is because they know they will be having sex within the next 30 minutes to 36 hours.

All I Care About Is Dark And Brutal

In the movie Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, Jack Black and Kyle Gass hear of a myth.  There exists a guitar pick made from the tooth of Satan.  Whoever is in possession of that pick becomes the greatest guitar player in the world.  Guitar legends Eddie Van Halen and Angus Young at one point have owned this pick, and it made them the guitarists they are today.  

Some people say metal was started by Satan himself in the depths of hell.  While musically it has derived from the blues, the heavily distorted sound many metal bands use and morbid lyrics have made many conservatives think that metal musicians, starting with KISS, worship Satan.  

I haven't seen a single print ad that references this myth.  Most of them show the guitar being held by Slash or Dave Grohl or some amazing guitar legend that most people haven't heard of like the guy from Shinedown.  No American guitar manufacturer does anything to really differentiate themselves in advertising.  I came up with a campaign for DBZ Guitars, founded by Dean B. Zelinsky who designs guitars meant for heavy metal, that embraces the "origin" of metal, from the depths of Hell.  If metal started in Hell, shouldn't the guitars be made there too?

I took the guitars straight from the DBZ Guitars website and the background is concept art from Mortal Kombat.  The first one is a nod to Wayne's World where Wayne starts to play Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" until he is stopped by a store clerk who points to a sign proclaiming "No Stairway To Heaven".  The second one is my favorite, listing the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and saying the fourth of the group (You) is Death.

When Does An Ad Campaign Grow Stale?

Too much of a good thing can be bad.  It doesn't matter whether it's good for you or not.  Too much sun can lead to skin damage.  Too much water can wash nutrients through your body.  Once in a while, we just need something different to offset the monotony of the over-done.  People need a change of pace.  If we're presented with too much of the same, we get bored.

The case can be made for advertisements, particularly television commercials.  We can skip over print ads in magazines and newspapers.  We've learned to tune out ads on websites unless it gets splashed on our screens before we can reach the content we want.  But we generally have to sit through TV ads (unless we can fast forward on DVR).  We're force fed 30-60 seconds of filler so that the actors/news anchors/reality "stars" can get paid.  

Once in a while, a campaign will stick with the public.  Two campaigns that people are talking about are Dos Equis' "The Most Interesting Man In the World" by Euro RSCG and Old Spice's "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" by Wieden + Kennedy.  These two campaigns are focusing on one thing that makes a man: experience.  With experience comes the know-how when put into certain situations that men may not normally be comfortable in.  Before we go any further, let's look at what the point of advertising is.

Are companies trying to increase sales or increase brand awareness?  Just because a consumer is aware of your brand doesn't mean that consumer will purchase it.  I'm aware of Tampax Tampons but as a single male, I have no reason to purchase that product (until I get married).  The reason why I'm aware of Tampax Tampons is because of advertising.  My mom watched a lot of Oprah as I was growing up.  Anyway, since the campaign, Dos Equis has seen an increase in sales this year.  Old Spice has seen sales increase by 27% over 6 months.

So when does a campaign grow stale?  When copycats try to mimic the campaign? When consumers start dressing up as your spokesperson at Comic-Con?  When sales finally start to flatten out or (gasp!) DECREASE?  Wieden + Kennedy has done a great job by switching up the spokesperson for Old Spice over the years getting B-movie cult icon Bruce Campbell, Neil Patrick Harris fresh off of reprising his role as Neil Patrick Harris on Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, NFL linebacker Ray Lewis, former NFL player-turned-actor Terry Crews, and most recently, Fabio (?).  Dos Equis has been backed into a corner.  Where do you go from The Most Interesting Man in the World?  How can you effectively plan a campaign without knowing when consumers will grow tired of it and switch to competitors?

These are just two examples of campaigns that have increased sales for their products, yet are getting tiresome.  Old Spice was able to keep it fresh, but adding Fabio to the stable was confusing to me.  The man is 52 years old and was the cover boy to trashy romance novels read by bored housewives sitting in the stands of their 11 year old's baseball game.  Wieden + Kennedy has done an excellent job in re-positioning Old Spice so far to target not just men ages 18-25 (incredibly difficult to reach due to media usage habits), but also women.  That's not to say Euro RSCG hasn't been effective with Dos Equis.  I'm just ready to see if they can outdo themselves.  What's interesting to me right now is how Kenny Powers will fare as the MFCEO of K-Swiss, and how long it'll be before I get bored with that.