"How to push pills"

Advertising Age recently published work from IAG Research under this headline. An editor must have thought was a clever way to set up a list of pharma advertising tips. Though the goal in this article is to elucidate on the difficult marketing job pharma ads represent, they continue to disparage the industry as a gang of snake-oil peddlers.

With that out of my system, let's look at the findings of the IAG Research.

Finding #1: Get Creative - Develop a clever marketing idea.

Finding #2: Make Sure Your Campaign Has Legs - Customers remember brands when they are repeated in a series of ads Finding #3: Find Your Inner Abe Lincoln - Choose an icon that is meaningful for your customers.

Finding #4: Keep It Relevant - The ad and the product should relate to each other

Finding #5: Dare To Be Distinct

(Maybe they haven't read that the "Abe Lincoln & The Beaver" campaign is not working.)

But the bottom line is -- drug ads should be creative, repetitive, and should relate to your customers through a relevant visual.

We should continue to refine and apply our C.H.E.M.(r) tool for more effective creative ads.