That’s what King Pharmaceuticals is hoping will happen after it airs its unusual Super Bowl ad this Sunday.

The drugmaker, which sells the Altace hypertension medication, is spending more than $4 million to raise awareness of the condition - but won’t actually promote the drug in a series of spots that will run during and after the game. Instead, the ad directs viewers to the American Heart Association web site and the King logo itself only appears briefly and discreetly.

This is a pretty interesting gambit, because Altace has about 8 percent of the market share for such drugs. The common wisdom is this kind of advertising is usually believed to be more effective for brands that dominate their category.

This is “a little bit curious,” Michael Guarini, president of WPP Group’s Ogilvy Healthworld, told The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

If it works, though, you can be sure more such drug advertising will show up on the tube. Remember that such ads don’t require all that side effect info normally required by regulators. And by directing viewers to web sites, particulary sites run by companies, consumer info is gathered in valuable databases.

And for a drugmaker, that’s like scoring a touchdown.

[tags]Advertising, King Pharmaceuticals, Super Bowl[/tags]