Millward Brown Launches Defense of Drug Ad Effectiveness

Research agency Millward Brown has attacked a Harvard Medical School survey which concluded direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising does not work. Back in September, Harvard published a study that compared U.S. drug commercials for Nasonex, Enbrel and Zelnorm, seen by English and French-speaking Canadian audiences. The results indicated that sales were not affected by the campaign. (The study theorized that the English speakers would see and understand the ads wheras the French speakers would not, and thus any sales difference would be obvious.)

Millward Brown -- which obviously doesn't want to see clients abandon DTC Rx drug advertising -- launched a broadside against the study in the form of a research paper titled "Direct-To-Consumer Advertising Works." Some highlights:

The conclusion cannot be justified by the research design. The research was conducted in a country with a national healthcare system and different drug pricing and prescribing restrictions than the United States. The media spillover was not measured, and no account was made for the quality of the creative or the number of people who saw the advertising that were actually among the target audience for the drug. Therefore, the study cannot possibly shed any light on the effectiveness of DTC advertising in the United States.

The question the Harvard study attempted to address has already been definitively answered through our own research as well as that of other companies. The success of DTC advertising in the United States, as measured against a number of outcomes, cannot be disputed.