If
the tobacco magnates have had their day in the world
of professional sport sponsorship, then the pharmaceutical
companies are ready to move in. Direct to consumer
(DTC) advertising of prescription drugs has become
big business. There are more adverts for medicines
on primetime TV now than for new cars. And pharmaceutical
marketing departments are always on the lookout for
new promotional channels. Sport sponsorship seems
to be the latest craze.
Of course, like the athletes themselves,
only the elite make it to the top. Only the blockbuster
products can successfully compete for the finite sponsorship
packages up for grabs. The big names in the sporting
world at present include Viagra (Major League Baseball),
Levitra (National Football League) and Cialis (PGA Tour).
The deal between GSK and Bayer (co-marketers in the US for Levitra) and the NFL is football's first sponsorship agreement with pharmaceutical companies. It allows GSK and Bayer to run men's health awareness and education ads to the NFL audience, which totals around 120 million people on an average weekend.
The NFL permits sponsorship from therapeutic products in eight categories: allergies, cholesterol, dermatology, diabetes, gastrointensinal, hair renewal, prostate and erectile dysfunction.
"ED treatments make
a lot of sense, because of their play to ego and masculinity,"
says Mike Rea, managing director of IdeaPharma, referring
to erectile dysfunction
drugs. "They suggest that they provide a positive
spin, rather than cancelling a negative, which most
drugs are doing - there is something aspirational
about them." Rea also points to NiQuitin's sponsorship
of the Williams Formula One team as a good match because
Williams openly opposed tobacco sponsorship of the
sport.
Rea says that the success of sponsorship really depends on the type of drug in question. "If the associations of the brand (for example, masculinity, speed, power, youth) are aligned with the sport, then it makes sense. If not, the sport is simply being used as a provider of 'opportunities to see.' "
Of course, the danger is that the drug and the sport become inextricably linked. Could Levitra, for example, become "the NFL drug"? This endorsement might work for football fans, but would possibly turn off other target populations.
Companies must certainly consider the possible dangers of high profile brand associations. Links with sports are great when everything is going well, but what happens when things turn sour? "We've all heard of stories of sponsors pulling out because a member of a team, for example, has done something unsavoury," says Jeff Daniels, Director of Strategic Brand Communications at Grey Healthcare. "Sponsors want to be associated with success and vitality, but it can backfire if a person or team doesn't behave."
Even if the millions of devoted sports fans vehemently resist the influence of sponsors' marketing, at least these deals should begin the rapprochement between the pharma industry and the general public. A company that supports sport is a company with cred.
Source: http://www.brandchannel.com)
