More Videos
SPECIAL REPORT
MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Why Amazon Rules Retail
- Wave of Debt Payments Facing US Government
- Paul: Audit the Fed
- China Eastern to Complete Shanghai Air Buy by End '09
- The Social Media Gaming Threat
- JAL Slides to Record Low on Bankruptcy Jitters
- Gold Will Collapse Like Oil Did in 2008: Charts
- Prepare For Large Decline In Stocks, Next Year?
- Nielsen Ratings Coming to Video Games
- Can Murdoch Help Bing Challenge Google and Shift the Content Equation?
- HP's Mark Hurd
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- 9 Stocks That Play Rising Water Costs: Strategists
- Weis' Deal Likely Won't Change Big Money Contracts
- Gold Prices Can Double in 3 Years: Portfolio Manager
- Nov. 23: Unusual Volume Leaders
- Help Wanted—Please Run $4 Billion University
- Apple Comes to AT&T's Rescue
- Tuesday's Heavy Dose of Data to Dictate 'Risk' Behavior
- World's Largest Share Issue Priced at Deep Discount
- Obama says Boosting US Jobs is Top Priority
- GM to Cut up to 9,500 Jobs in Europe
- Playboy to Outsource Most Magazine Operations: Report
- Why the Dollar Will Likely Stay Weak for Some Time
- Appeals Court Denies Microsoft's Alcatel Petition
- HP Comes in As Expected; Is It Time to Buy?
- Cramer: What Monday’s Housing Number Really Means
PHARMA'S MARKET VIDEO
Cholesterol Drug Battle: Niaspan vs. Zetia 
16 Nov 2009Cardiologist Grades Cholesterol Drug Study 16 Nov 2009
Merck's Cholesterol Drugs Under Pressure 16 Nov 2009
Cholesterol Drug Battle: Merck vs. Abbott Labs 16 Nov 2009
Cholesterol Drug Battle 16 Nov 2009
Novo Nordisk CEO on Diabetes Epidemic 13 Nov 2009
RSS FEED
Pharma's Market
Text Size 
 |
Source: sexandthecitymovie.com Sex and The the City |
Well, it does have to do with cancer prevention. Specifically, staving off cervical cancer and/or the sexually transmitted disease known as HPV, which is the leading cause of cervical cancer.
While sitting through the trailers and commercials leading up to a screening of "Sex and the City," up pops a drug commercial. Yep, not even in the movie theater can you escape pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising.
It was a spot for Merck's [MRK
Loading...
()
] vaccine Gardasil. Moviehouses everywhere were packed with mostly females last weekend to see SATC, so I'm thinkin' maybe it's not a bad marketing effort aimed at a targeted, captive demo.
A Merck spokesperson says the company has made a national theater "buy" from May 30th through June 26th. The commercial will run not only during the trailers before "SATC," but also at screenings of "The Incredible Hulk," "Get Smart," "The Happening," and "You Don't Mess with the Zohan," among others. They're all films, the spokesperson says, that will attract the 19 to 26-year-old females who could get the Gardasil shots.
Merck is hoping the Food and Drug Administration will soon approve Gardasil for women into their 40s, so I wonder if the SATC campaign is also intended for them.
And in the near future the company plans to file for the FDA okay of Gardasil for young men and boys who can carry and transmit HPV. So, given their selection of summer movies Merck's marketers have made, here too, I suspect the commercials are an attempt to raise awareness among guys as well.
But again, the Merck spokesperson says it's the 19 to 26-year-old females (the FDA-approved group) that it's going for.
Gardasil costs around $300-$400 for the three shots (combined) that are given over six months. It's a major sales and profit growth engine for MRK and, so far, it is a big success.
And Merck is making a box-office bet that Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, Samantha and Big will make it even bigger.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes