A History of DTC Direct-Response-Driven DTC While the use of TV was desirable for efficiently reaching a mass audience, the industry was restricted in its ability to deliver a meaningful message. Part of the reason for the failure in the nicotine patch market was that the message to the consumer (via TV) had no disease awareness component—the campaign consisted of reminder commercials only. And while disease awareness ads had more information, they were only effective for the market leader. So, many advertisers began to explore the idea of driving consumers interested in the information presented in a disease awareness ad to call a toll-free phone number for additional information and provide branded materials to the caller. In 1994, Merck initiated a direct response TV (DRTV) campaign for its prostate drug Proscar, and, for the first time, a branded message was delivered to those who requested it on the telephone. Soon after, many advertisers followed suit and began developing patient databases and direct marketing programs targeted at callers who responded to ads. But the desire to deliver the brand message more efficiently and via mass media led to the milestone decision by the FDA to alter the requirements for branded messages delivered via broadcast media. Branded DTC Debuts on TV On August 8, 1997, the FDA shocked the industry when it issued draft guidelines allowing the use of branded communications in television commercials, as well as in other forms of electronic media. The decision appeared to fulfill the hopes and dreams of many pharmaceutical marketers who were restricted to using television only for disease awareness ads or reminder messages, but never for the "whole story." 127
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