Big Spenders: The Pharma Ad Budget
2 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // June 26th, 2007 // 4:29 pm
Not surprisingly, big drugmakers - especially those with lots of over-the-counter products - are among the companies that spend the most on advertising. And the latest annual ranking from Advertising Age makes that clear.
Last year, Glaxo was the 7th largest, spending $2.4 billion, and Johnson & Johnson came in 9th with $2.3 billion in spending placing the health care giant ahead of Unilever, Toyota and Sony. Here’s where the others can be found:
31 - Pfizer, $1.1 billion;
33 - Wyeth, $1 billion;
36 - Novartis, $1 billion;
38 - Merck, $1 billion;
40 - AstraZeneca, $1 billion;
42 - Schering-Plough, $932 million;
59 - Bristol-Myers, $691 million;
69 - Lilly, $561 million;
70 - Bayer, $554 million;
80 - Sanofi-Aventis, $463 million;
91 - Abbott Labs, $374 million.
You can see the entire list here.
JS
Does Pfizer’s 1.1 bln include the manaufacturing of slides? It seems they churn those unapproved marketing pieces out like candy corn….hmmm maybe they should have the HIV division in charge of all the marketing then they could cut back on those big ad firms…just a thought
knowsbigpharmaways
Here is a thought: On “Ethical” scale Glaxo was no one, the best while Novartis and Pfizer were 4th and 5th in 2007 with positions reversed for 2006. Glaxo was No 1 both years.
Does the amount spent on advertising reflect Co’s ethical level?
Maybe yes. While Glaxo uses their money for legitimate advertising companies like Novartis and Pfizer maybe use bulk of their promotional budgets for “other purposes”, like off label, unapproved marketing pieces and so on. We know about Pfizer already.
Both Novartis and Pfizer are close together in spending on ads as they are on ethical scale and both are much more successful then Glaxo.
Can we conclude that the alternative, “other purposes” ways are more effective than the “legal”? We think so and know so from experience.