If a drugmaker can run DTC campaigns on the Telly, why can’t a company that sells knee replacements or defibrillators? And that’s what the marketing teams at Medtronic and Zimmer are doing - spending millions of dollars on new TV ads.

Ad execs are thrilled. “I think it’s going to definitely grow,” Michael Guarini, president of WPP Group’s Ogilvy Healthworld, tells The Wall Street Journal, noting that the device market is becoming increasingly competitive

As a goal, raising awareness makes sense, but selling devices through TV ads is more complicated than pitching prescription drugs. The patient must still rely on a doctor to agree and then there’s the little matter of undergoing a procedure. This ain’t just popping a pill.

Moreover, think about the grief some drugmakers experienced for pushing their drugs inappropriately to wider audiences than for which their products were appropriate. The paper says a Cutting Edge survey actually found most device makers are skeptical of TV ads.

Of course, doctors make more money by conducting procedures, which raises a question: will patient demand tempt some docs to perform unnecessary surgery? The Zimmer ad tells viewers they will be “amazed at what a difference a knee replacement can make.”

Just what kind of difference remains to be seen.

You can read more in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

[tags]Knee Replacement, Medtronic, Zimmer Holdings[/tags]