The Top 5 Most Recalled Drug Ads of 2008

(MoneyWatch)  The Cialis bathtub couple still rules: Eli Lilly produced three of the top five most memorable drug ads of 2008, according to Nielsen IAG, including one for Cialis. Warner Chilcott and the joint venture of Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis for Plavix produced the other two.

IAG describes the results as a return to creativity after a wave of conservatism engulfed the industry in 2007 over regulatory fears. Consumer recall is defined as:

... adults 18+ who correctly recalled the storyline of the ads they were exposed to within 24 hours after airing. Only ads airing during primetime on broadcast networks were included in the ranking.

So don't read too much into it. Here's the list:

• Cialis, Eli Lilly: Daughter comes home and surprises parents during intimate moment.
• Cymbalta, Eli Lilly: "Depression hurts."
• Loestrin24 Fe, Warner Chilcott: Two women at pharmacy counter, talk about blood tests.
• Cialis, Eli Lilly: Couple sits on an elevated platform on the beach.
• Plavix, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi-Aventis: Man inspects anatomical model, followed by gurney.

Note the Cialis ad, which has been running in essentially the same form for years. I once interviewed the Cialis brand manager, and asked him why the ads used the ostensibly bizarre imagery of a couple in separate baths, outdoors -- imagery still being recycled in the current campaign.

He replied that Lilly surveyed couples to find out what kind of relaxed moments they enjoyed that might lead to lovemaking. The answers came back: in the bath, at the beach, looking at a mountain view. So they shot an ad featuring all of the above -- a couple in the bath looking at a beach from a mountaintop.

IAG's Fariba Zamaniyan hosts a video of the five ads here.