U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1961)

Promotion: An ingenious "medicine cabinet" piece once used by NBC Radio to xuoo drug clients. Cover was mirror; inside (above) was sell to drug industry. even count them, for .1 great majority go unreported. The statistical picture is further clouded by virus, influenza and other plagues that act like colds. But it is generally accepted that about 95 percent of all illness can be attributed to only about five percent of the known diseases such as colds, Hu, rheumatism, etc. For some idea of just one segment of the drug industry — laxatives — Time recently reported some 100 million Americans are regular users, spend $148 million a year on them. Q. Who shops for packaged medicines? A. The American housewife, almost always. Husbands and children have been found quite neglectful where minor ills are concerned (they complain but they don't do much about it) , so it is up to "mom" to purchase, and often administer the medicine. Unless the man of the house is a hypochondriac, it is the wife who keeps the medicine cabinet stocked. Of the nearly 40 million American housewives, 93.7 percent listen to radio 16 hours and 45 minutes weekly. Many proprietary medicine advertisers appreciate this and have no fetish about so-called "prime" or traffic time. They can reach her daytime, nighttime and week-ends. Q. What advantages does radio offer the packaged medicine advertiser? A. Quite a few, and here are some: • Economy. To get the brand name across to the consumer is the chief aim in the highly-competitive drug field — a job radio has proved it can do expertly and economically. Biggest marketing problems facing a manufacturer of packaged medication is usually at the point of sale. The drug store is the main outlet. Yet the average drug store is crowded to over-flowing not only with competitive brands, but with hundreds of "up-front" items ranging from shower sandals to French perfumes which all but snow-under a little box of headache pills or vitamin tablets. Shelf space is at a premium, but even if it weren't, the medicine advertisers would still stand little chance of such grand displays as soap or cereal pyramids at the supermarkets. Most proprietary medicines come in relatively small bottles, jars and boxes. They are neither as beautiful as lipstick displays nor as large and colorful as candy boxes. In many crowded-for-space independent drug stores, packaged medicines are lucky not to be tucked completely out of sight under the counter or stuffed away in drawers. The druggist can find them, but the customer had better know what to ask for. So in advertising these items, the brand name becomes of utmost importance. The picture of the pill box on television doesn't mean much; the customer probably won't see it on display anyway. • Efficiency. The housewife, as has been pointed out, is the decisionmaker and purchaser of medications for the family. Radio reaches her throughout the day, is most times her last contact with advertising before she sets out for the shops. There are still some five million U. S. homes without television, and many of these are in areas where selfmedication is popular. Negro tadio, Latin-American and other foreign language radio programing are extremely efficient ways for the proprietary drug advertiser to reach audiences who are much given to self-medication. In many areas, radio outstrips tv in reaching different homes. As a daytime medium, it also enjoys an edge. But in large markets, where tv impact and coverage are needed by the drug advertiser, radio complements tv effectively. For awhile after the tv bandwagon got rolling (in the early and middle '50s) , a lot of proprietary medicine brands mistakenly pulled out of radio and boarded the newer, more glamorous medium. Their error has gradually been corrected. For the past few years, drug advertisers have been coming back into radio, and staying with it. Example: F & F cough lozenges which, after some years exclusively in spot tv and newspapers, is now back in radio with Mutual Broadcasting System. • The packaged medicine commercial story can be tofd as well on radio as any other medium, and often with more taste. A happy jingle, a humorous commercial such as the one comedy stars Bob & Ray did for the antibiotic lozenge Candettes, straight and sincere sell, or the public service type of copy (". . . take an Aspirin, go to bed and call the doctor . . .") all get across the brand name and what this product does. Probably no other industry is watched as closely by the FTC as is the drugs, and no drug manufacturer in his right mind is going too far out on a limb with rash claims which may upset that suspicious body. An intelligently-handled radio commer 20 U. S. RADIO/July 1961