consumers became aware of the miraculous little blue pill through such reports. Many observers felt that spending money on DTC would be a waste of marketing resources, as brand awareness was off the charts. But Pfizer knew there was an advantage to controlling the message, lest it become a staple of late-night talk show monologues. There was a bit of stigma associated with impotence, now recast as ED, as well. Pfizer's main aims with DTC were to address the stigma, carve out the appropriate positioning, and generate demand. The first stage involved the use of the prominent politician Senator Bob Dole to help de-stigmatize impotence and establish ED as a legitimate medical condition for which there are effective treatments. This unbranded work for Pfizer Men's Health, along with a follow-up, "Faces of ED" campaign, set the stage for defining brand positioning with male target audiences. A big element of the second stage was to align with the male-dominated NASCAR auto racing circuit and use another celebrity, driver Mark Martin, as a pitchman. Pfizer spent heavily, about $90 million each in 2000 and 2001, with fairly consistent levels thereafter. For a few years, Viagra had the market to itself, and built its franchise while anticipating competition. Then, in late 2003, GSK/Bayer launched Levitra with an aggressive "Get Back in the Game" campaign involving their football-through-the-tire commercial and a three- year NFL sponsorship, including Super Bowl spots in 2004. Lilly/ICOS brought their campaign for Cialis to market in 2004, encouraging target consumers to "Choose the Moment" and promising "When a tender moment turns into the right moment, you'll be ready." They also secured a PGA golf sponsorship. The advertising and marketing battle continued at high levels for a couple of years but has since waned as
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