Our past, anecdotal experience is that pharma DTC television commercials are overly consistent and use the same scenes and elements across brands and categories. For consumers, this means a sea of sameness, which makes it difficult to remember a specific commercial or brand. So, we decided to objectively study these commercials and see if there is some fact to these anecdotes.
We analyzed 83 pharma direct-to-consumer (DTC) television commercials for 33 different prescription brands available on media aggregation site iSpot. The commercials were categorized by condition and covered four categories: (1) diabetes, (2) stroke, cholesterol, & blood thinners, (3) osteoporosis & arthritis, and (4) asthma & COPD. While this is not an exhaustive list of commercials done by the industry, it provides a good, representative sample that we used for our analysis.
We found a great deal of consistency amongst the commercials that extended across brands and disease categories. That is, not only did commercials for a disease category (e.g., diabetes) show consistency, there was consistency between different diseases categories. This lack of differentiation and creativity make for less than memorable brand interactions, which must reduce the overall effectiveness of these commercials.
For those who wish to continue down this path and make more of these commercials, we thought we should make it easier for you. So, we created a tool you can use to make a commercial that will include the industry’s favorite scenes and elements: Create-Your-Own Pharma DTC TV Commercial.
Download full white paper and infographic
Alternatively, if you'd like to read our recommendations for doing things differently, then download the white paper to see how we think the industry should proceed.
Notable Findings
We watched each commercial to determine the different scene settings (e.g., a park) and also the key plot elements (e.g., a dog). We found a remarkable consistency in the use of certain settings and plot elements far beyond what might be expect from random chance. Below, we summarize a number of these consistencies.
All Disease Categories
Some settings and elements were consistent across brands and categories. Here are pharma's favorites. (The percentages represent the percent of commercials (n=83) that included the item.)
SETTINGS
Park
Living Room
Backyard
Kitchen
Bedroom
19%
18%
16%
14%
12%
PLOT ELEMENTS
Potted Plants
Wall Art
Benches
Fences
Dog(s)
33%
25%
25%
24%
22%
COMMENTARY: A doctor's office was the setting for just 12% of all commercials, which is surprising considering the products we're talking about here and museums (of all places) were featured in 5% of all commercials.
Specific Disease Categories
Some settings and elements were popular within specific disease categories. Here are some of the more interesting ones we found. (The percentages represent the percent of brands that included the item in at least one commercial.)
Diabetes
SETTINGS
Backyard
Kitchen
Park
30%
30%
30%
PLOT ELEMENTS
Bicycle
Dog
Food Truck
50%
40%
30%
Arthritis & Osteoporosis
SETTINGS
Living Room
Park
Front Porch
63%
50%
38%
PLOT ELEMENTS
Bench
Piano
63%
38%
Stroke, Cholesterol, & Blood Thinners
SETTINGS
Doctor's Office
Backyard
Park
100%
60%
60%
PLOT ELEMENTS
Potted Plants
Dog(s)
Books
80%
80%
80%
Asthma & COPD
SETTINGS
Living Room
38%
PLOT ELEMENTS
Potted Plants
Camera
Benches
63%
50%
50%
We created a more detailed overview of our findings and a summary "infographic" with some of the more interesting numbers.
Download full white paper and infographic
If you'd like to check out the raw data we used, which analyzes all 83 commercials at a scene-by-scene level, you can download it from Google Sheets.
View and download the raw data
If you'd like to check out all of the commercials for yourself. You can find them all here:
The white paper includes our recommendations to the industry along with an overview of the study findings, but if you want some more guidance and you're ready to do things differently, we're ready to help. You're just one click away.