Celebrities and pharmaceuticals 101
August 13, 2010 – 2:14 pm by Joshua SlatkoWe get lots of press releases here, hundreds each day, and after a while many of them start to look the same. So imagine my surprise yesterday when this headline landed in my inbox:
The Cure for the Common Celebrity Search: Rx Entertainment
New Agency Focused on the Healthcare Entertainment Marketing
This wasn’t the best-written leader ever – you’d think it was about Grey’s Anatomy, and the “the” in the second line is unnecessary – but it caught my eye enough to read further and find out what it was really about: an agency that pairs celebrities with healthcare brands for marketing campaigns.
And THAT was interesting. I’m certainly aware of many of the prominent celebrity campaigns for pharma brands – that Mandy Patinkin commercial for Crestor has been stuck in my head for years now – but didn’t know that somebody could make a living out of engineering such marriages. So I had a little digital talk with Nancy Caravetta, the founder of said agency, and she had some very interesting things to say.
Josh: What brought you to this particular endeavor?
Nancy: I had been in healthcare public relations for many years working at many of the top international agencies, based in NYC. I owned a global healthcare boutique called CPR Worldwide which I sold with my partners to Omnicom in 2003.
Josh: How does someone get into the business of pairing celebrities with healthcare marketers?
Nancy: As the rules of direct-to-consumer advertising changed in the 1990s, using celebrities in pharmaceutical campaigns became much more popular. Since I had been in pharmaceutical public relations for 16 years, I already had a large client base of pharmaceutical companies and PR and advertising agencies.
When I sold my agency in 2003, many of my clients began asking me to find celebrities for them. I had implemented many celebrity campaigns when I worked on the agency side and I also went to USC film school, so I had a plethora of friends who worked in the entertainment industry.
Josh: Can you give me some examples of deals you’ve done between celebrities and prescription pharmaceutical brands or companies?
Nancy: Although I cannot speak of campaigns we currently work on, we have worked with top celebrities, chefs, and athletes. I’ve worked with:
- Keri Russell on a campaign for Sanofi-Aventis on the Sounds of Pertussis vaccine campaign
- Angelica Huston to help launch the well-known Merck Manual
- Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Marg Helgenberger for a fundraiser sponsored by P&G where all the proceeds went to breast cancer research
- Robert DeNiro to help launch a nicotine patch. He was premiering one of his films in NY and we coordinated a fundraiser for cancer research tied to the event.
- Dara Torres; we worked with Dara, Centecor, and The National Psoriasis Foundation on a public service campaign to raise awareness for psoriasis
- Hector Elizondo on a campaign for CaringforAlz; campaign focused on the caregivers of Alzheimers patients and Hector’s mom suffered from the condition. This was a national campaign supported by the Exelon brand team at Novartis.
Josh: Tell me about the process of selecting a celebrity for a particular campaign. How involved are you in that process?
Nancy: We are very involved. Initially, our clients either share just the campaign overview and we brainstorm together the best type of celebrity that would resonate with their target audiences or they have already determined what parameters they need for a celebrity spokesperson. At that point, we begin to cull our proprietary databases that include information about the celebrity’s connections to certain healthcare issues or diseases; and more basic information about their latest and upcoming projects, demographics and how they appeal to a variety of audiences. We will then provide the client with a research report that includes our input on which celebrity opportunities might be the best fit for their campaign.
Rx Entertainment manages the negotiation process from beginning to end. In order to have consistent communication amongst all parties during this sensitive time, we assign one senior staff person to be on call for every aspect of the campaign. This goes beyond once the contract is signed; we also work to coordinate media trainings, media days, interview requests and any other appearances.
If the campaign we are working on involved product placement or branded integration, the process is even more involved. Our team spends a great deal of time working with major movie and television studios and production companies looking for properties that would be appropriate to pair with healthcare brands and integrate them into the story line of the show. This includes both over-the-counter products, prescription medications, and unbranded awareness campaigns.
Josh: Do companies usually come to you saying, “I want XYZ celebrity,” or is it more of a discussion/negotiation/process of figuring out who best fits the campaign?
Nancy: It’s really a combination of both of the above. Some have a precise idea of who they want. In other instances, it can take a fair amount of discussion and brainstorming to find the right fit. Because we have spent years cultivating data on celebrities, we are often able to make recommendation that fit the bill pretty quickly once we know the client’s needs and goals.
Josh: As nearly as I can tell, the list of celebrities involved in prescription pharmaceutical campaigns is a relatively short one, and a few of them (like Robert Jarvik) have gotten into trouble along the way.
Nancy: I think you would be surprised at the actual number of Rx campaigns involving celebrities. Often times the campaign is strictly focused on disease awareness and there won’t be mention of the brand or related pharmaceutical company. We actually have a pretty robust database on our site that lists most of the campaigns that have been launched in the past 10 years. Some of the more recent ones include:
- Claire Danes and Brooke Shields for Latisse
- Food Network’s Ellie Krieger for Centecor in the area of arthritis
- Gretchen Wilson for LapBand
- Jennifer Lopez for childhood vaccines
- Vanessa Williams and Virginia Madsen for Botox
- Sally Field for Boniva
- Jim Belushi, Bruce Jenner, Danica Patrick, and Patty Loveless for COPD
Josh: What would your pitch be to a prescription pharma marketer who is nervous about the risks of tying their brand to a celebrity?
Nancy: I would tell them that the most important factor is that the celebrity has to have a legitimate tie to the disease. In fact, I’ve never worked on a campaign where this wasn’t the case. At Rx Entertainment, we are known for due diligence, to ensure there are no other issues that may arise as a result of the partnership. Our years of experience have given us a feel for which celebrities are more or less volatile, which is another factor that we base our recommendations on.
We often advise clients to tie in a charitable cause to the campaign, as opposed to a straight product endorsement. Folks want their celebrities to be relatable and they want to learn about support programs that can benefit them; they are adverse to the hard sell.
Another factor that we strongly suggest to our clients is they not always go for the A-list celebrity. The A-listers do bring a lot of cache, but they also bring a litany of scheduling issues, an entourage, and additional difficulties. There are many relatable, likeable celebrities that can bring as much recognition and enthusiasm to your campaign, with less headaches, you just know need to know where to find them.
Josh: What benefits can they get out of the arrangement that might not be available through other strategies?
Nancy: Like it or not, our society is a bit obsessed with celebrities. Most of all there is nothing like putting a human face on a disease. Nothing is more powerful than when someone you know says, “I have this problem and I’m learning to deal with it in this way.”
It’s why social media campaigns can be so successful. People like to hear about things through other people with similar experiences and we all like to feel that we can have something in common with a celebrity.
Josh: What do you think are some of the biggest success stories in the recent history of celebrity/pharma brand relationships? Why so?
Nancy: I think the Sally Field/Boniva campaign was a home run. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t seen that campaign in both advertising and public relations. Most folks know the drug and the disease it treats. You can’t get any better than that. Doctors I’ve spoken to say they get patients coming in all of the time who ask for the “medication” Sally Field is taking. GlaxoSmithKline invested a tremendous amount into this campaign, but it definitely paid off in brand recognition and awareness.
Tags: Celebrity marketing
