Medicine marketers ~ apply directly to the brain
People are surprised that HeadOn is selling EXTREMELY WELL (up 234% according to this temporarily-available article) in spite of its annoying “Apply directly to the forehead” commercials. The company did soften, and multiply in chorus, the voices on the repetitive tag line, but the ad still seems to work. Why?
What HeadOn is doing is distinguishing themselves from all the other messages out there. In once sentence, they are advertising to their potential customers and instructing them on how to use it. In just the product name, they are conveying an all out attack on your head ache and telling you where to put the medicine. You feel like you could rush to CVS in a migraine panic and buy one of these puppies to use while the receipt is still printing. The annoying ad only serves to remind you of how much your head really hurts.
What HeadOn is not doing is portraying their medicinal product as a medium to paradise like others do. Take this Aleve ad for example. I’ll bet that practically nobody remembers this ad, which could be a wave coming up onto the beach. It’s a less successful image compared to the urgency that HeadOn’s carries.
If you go to the Aleve website, you might also see a really happy couple there with a bright blue background and just a hint of sandy brown on the bottom. Looks kind of beachy to me. Oh, and the top of the page says that it’s also the “Official Pain Reliever of the PGA Tour.” Don’t forget to sign up for the “Team Aleve Golf and Spa Getaway.” These marketing techniques are too common.
The prescription drug companies also have an especially difficult time understanding the need to visually distinguish themselves. How many times have you seen an image like this one, supposedly for rheumatoid arthritis information, trying to peddle a medication to you:
The use of escape imagery is so pervasive that it means nothing other than some subconscious little feeling that we are supposed to vacation in warmer climes and buy golf property in the run up to our deaths. There’s got to be more. There are at least better advertising opportunities out there.
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Posted on September 25, 2007
Filed Under Advertising, Commercials, Contests and Sweepstakes, Health and Wellness |
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I saw this blog mentioned on Feedburner and had to check it out. I love the subject. Consider yourself subscribed to. Nicely done.
But those cigarette print ads in the Greek islands still get me. Wait, I can’t remember the brand!
Welcome Local SEO Guide! Thanks for the compliments. There’s a lot more where these came from. The trick is getting past the ones that I see every day to the archives. Where’s the 25-hour day?
I like your blog and saw this on Feedburner. Very interesting take on Aleve. Commericals are so cheesy these days.
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