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Advertitis

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 The Creative Clinicians
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4520-0016-9

Contents

Chapter 1 Birth of a notion.............................................1Chapter 2 A case study..................................................5Chapter 3 Why 'itis'?...................................................11Chapter 4 The detail that goes into saying nothing......................17Chapter 5 The silent killer.............................................23Chapter 6 Harley Street meets Sesame Street.............................31Chapter 7 Creative stem cell research...................................39Chapter 8 Creative preventive medicine..................................47Chapter 9 A prognosis for healthcare advertising........................69Creative Clinician's Grand Rounds........................................77

Chapter One

Advertitis[TM] is by no means a bona fide medical term. In fact, until the conception of this book, it didn't even exist. However, you may be surprised to learn Advertitis is not only highly contagious - it's worryingly widespread throughout the world of pharmaceutical advertising. What is Advertitis? And exactly why is it something we should be so concerned about?

One not so extraordinary day, a medical director was watching his creative director deliver a short, albeit pithy, presentation. The compelling demonstration showed how a powerful, single-minded advertisement could, through off-hand cursory remarks and ill thought-out opinions, quickly develop into a perplexing mess of tangled messages. The creative moral seemed simple enough. However, through the medical director's eyes, a very different story was being told. The creative director's few PowerPoint[R] slides weren't so much describing the gradual communication breakdown of a world-renowned advertisement but the gradual inflammation of extremely delicate tissue. To the physician the swelling was the result of an infiltration of a multitude of unrelated opinions that were infecting and beginning to tear the tissue beyond all recognition. The fact that an advertising concept is often called a tissue during the early stages of development made the medical director's observation all the more astute. Further discussion exposed and then centered on a disturbing truth. Today's pharmaceutical advertising is in the most fundamental sense an often-confusing mix of messages and claims with little priority in terms of importance. You only have to flip through the pages of JAMA to see how challenging many ads can be to decipher. It's not uncommon to witness half a dozen messages screaming at you at once. A place where clichd happy smiling patients, animals on skateboards and the ubiquitous boxing gloves all scrap for attention. Few ads cleanly state in a memorable manner one single differentiating claim - a real life-and-death state of affairs in a highly competitive and crowded marketplace.

As the creative and medical partners began to debate the reasons for this fundamental communication breakdown, they also questioned how they could buck the negative trend in a consistent manner. Undoubtedly, in many cases, ever-stricter regulatory guidance, limitations and mandates often temper the creative solution and completely suffocate any compelling communication. Obviously these layers won't disappear so the real challenge is to work within this complexity and penetrate the dense set of constrictions. The partners came to the conclusion that the conception and development of single-minded creative ideas rely on several critical factors: The creative has to be rooted and grounded in the medical and scientific rigor of the product and disease state. It has to be synthesized into a compelling, simple vision. To bring this into effect both creative and medical have to be joined at the hip every step of the way - not just by a cursory dialogue at the start of the project and then again at the end. Both concluded that without an innate connection between the two skills sets, truly compelling, medically relevant creative solutions would continue to be elusive. Without the insights into the minds of physicians, patients and customers, you can't take full advantage.

In many cases it is, at best, a piecemeal process, fragmented with no real consistency. Perhaps if a definitive set of criteria were proposed and adhered to, then every tissue would have the opportunity to thrive into a powerful piece of communication. The authors clearly believe this is the case and to reflect this important alliance they propose new titles be given to all creative and medical directors. It's the reason why the authors choose to call themselves Creative Clinicians.

Chapter Two

I was called to an emergency by my staff to respond to a serious incident that needed my immediate attention. When I arrived all was utter chaos. Confusion and disorientation swept through the room as many bystanders looked on this very tragic and traumatic scene.

I tried to get as much history as possible, rapidly and efficiently, from those huddled together amidst the panic. It became clear that there had been considerable past history of this type of presentation before.

As I focused on the task at hand, it was immediately apparent that the victims were unresponsive and motionless, barely hanging on to dear life. I quickly assessed vital signs that revealed a weak and thready pulse, shallow breathing and extremely elevated pressures. Reflexes were exceptionally blunted, central cognition was impaired and posturing was setting in among those affected. Amidst all this commotion, I suddenly noticed the horrific sight of exposed tissue that was severely inflamed and damaged beyond recognition. The body of tissue was grossly compromised: extremely friable, and swollen with obvious distortion.

I immediately requested a number of stat consults and began securing central lines to the victims. In the end, after reviewing the findings on physical examination, incorporating relevant history and expert opinion from a number of consults, I determined that the victims were suffering from a severe case of what we call . . . moderate to severe Advertitis.

Chapter Three

Advertitis[TM] (in case you were wondering), is not just a silly name for a book. 'Itis' by its very definition means inflammation. The condition occurs anywhere in the human body, be it an organ, tissue, joint or a nail. Dermatitis, for example, is the inflammation of the skin's dermal layer. Appendicitis is the inflammation of the appendix. Therefore in the minds of the Creative Clinicians, no word is more appropriate. Advertitis is defined thus: the inflammation of the creative tissue, which over time swells losing its integrity and purpose, due to external forces. Instead of simplicity, it's toxicity. In place of compelling, is swelling. The visceral reaction of the by-standing team in the previous case study is typically how customers react to the majority of published pharmaceutical advertisements (eliciting no response, thready pulse and hardly breathing). Right from the onset, opinion after opinion completely transfigures the delicate, native creative tissue. Every subsequent well-intended compliment (internally at the advertising agency and then externally at the client end) rips and tears the delicate structure, making it friable (bleeds easily) and unable to withstand scrutiny and pushback.

The Big Four

Typically, a physician defines inflammation by indicators known as the big four: rubor, calor, tumor, and dolor (red, hot, swollen, and...