Rx Advertising Weathers Promotional Downturn From the mid 1950's, when the pharmaceutical renaissance began, until 1993, manufacturers' expenditures in advertising, promotion and communication programs had grown steadily. Field forces had gone from hundreds to thousands of representatives and journal ads from single-page displays of product packaging to colorful multi-page units. Sustained, over the years by pharmaceutical advertising, hundreds of medical publications were founded for general practice and specialty audiences which provided for the informational needs of physicians as medicine became more and more complex. An array of new promotional vehicles were created: advertising on Rx pads and health record forms; audio and video tapes for car, office and home; cable TV; FM radio; instructional programs in a variety of formats, all aimed at registering the industry's messages with prescribers. The remarkable growth in U.S. pharmaceutical sales from $1.3 billion in 1954" to $54.8 billion in 1994" supported the burgeoning growth in advertising and promotion. Then in 1993, the virtually straight-line trend of some 40 years encountered new, threatening circumstances. The unrelenting rise in healthcare cost became a pressing concern for individuals and businesses and this concern translated into a political movement to restructure the health delivery system. In the debate over healthcare, the prices of pharmaceuticals were pushed center stage as a major part of the problem. New providers—managed care organizations (MCOs) and pharmaceutical benefit managers (PBMs)—emerged as cost-saving answers. Most importantly, the pharmaceutical industry, suddenly under pressure to hold down prices and envisioning a dramatically changing sales environment, pulled back on promotion. Advertising and promotional expenditures, along with all budgetary items (including research), came under scrutiny and with everything else, were reduced. For example, the industry's overall field force size declined by 12% by the end of 1994. Journal advertising fell by almost 11% in 1993 and 3% in 1994.13 However, counter-trend during this period, DTC experienced healthy growth—from $183 to $250 million in 1994.14
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDMwNDAx