Decisions on message and media, once the province of "judgment," now had to deal with "the numbers" and the computer. This change was dramatized all the more in 1972 with the creation of PERQ.by David Gideon, which provided on-line computer systems to assist with media selection, competitive ad tracking, and schedule management. This trend continued with the formation of Health Industries Research by David Labson shortly thereafter, offering both media readership, ad exposure research and reach-frequency analysis. The art of medical advertising had relinquished some of its prerogatives to the science of medical adverting. Consumer advertising agencies have always been players on "Medicine Avenue," obtaining Rx business through corporate connection and then melding the accounts into their normal departmental organization. When billings were large enough, separate units were set up as was the case with the Wallace Laboratories account at Ted Bates. Because Wallace operated without sales representatives making calls on physicians, spending on journal advertising and direct mail was heavy, particularly the latter. It was not unusual for a physician to receive a mailing a day on Miltown or Milpath. The medical group at Bates developed Rx advertising expertise and used it in the 1960's to win assignments in competition with the specialized ethical drug agencies. The growing lucrative pharmaceutical area attracted interest from others on Madison Avenue. J. Walter Thompson (JWT) brought James Barnum—a consumer marketer who became a physician after a successful career in product development—into the field in 1967 to head up a unit named Deltakos. The keystone account was Eli Lilly. Benton & Bowles (B&B) and Leo Burnett also tested the waters of Rx advertising in the 1950's-1960's but without success. These forays into pharmaceutical advertising by large consumer agencies were harbingers of the future.
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