Controversy is music to direct marketing's ears

By DITA DE BONI

Direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals has had a rocky year in public opinion, but for marketers, controversy has helped fuel good business.

At last night's 2000 TVNZ/Marketing Magazine awards, Roche scooped the supreme honour for its Xenical weight loss product campaign and "changing the shape of New Zealanders and the face of pharmaceuticals marketing."

Judges said the Xenical campaign launch was a world first and demanded "sound marketing technique and innovation."

The product, marketed alongside a programme administered by general practitioners, "is now a template for Roche throughout the world [that] ... has led the way in integrated direct-to-consumer marketing," the judges said.

The Xenical campaign - which centres on activities obese people are prevented from doing because of their size - has drawn wide-ranging criticism from size activists for "shaming" larger people into contacting their doctors for the drug.

But the advertising and marketing world has lauded Meares Taine's campaign, with last night's award one more in a year of industry plaudits. The campaign featured prominently at the Axis advertising awards in May and again at the Advertising Effectiveness Awards last month.

Pharmaceuticals were also to the fore at last night's FCB Marketer of the Year. Merck Sharp & Dohme sales and marketing director Ian Corless took the top prize for his work on products such as Zocor (for cholesterol reduction) and Propecia (a hair regrowth product).

Rookie Marketer of the Year was won by Rachel Allen, of Wellington, for her work for the Health Sponsorship Council. She is credited with taking the Smokefree brand to at-risk teenage groups.

The charity/non-profit category award was won by the Wellington Regional Stadium Trust, which sold $13,500 15-year membership packages in a venue that did not exist at the time of the group's initial solicitation of funds.

The trust eventually sold 2208 memberships worth $26.4 million, reducing the Wellington City Council's underwrite of the stadium project from $10 million to $3.6 million.

Aria Farms, of Hamilton, won the Unitec Small Business Award for its meat chips product. Over 20 tonnes of the beef, lamb and chicken chips are now sold in 95 per cent of New Zealand supermarkets.

The judging panel was convened by Arnott's New Zealand general manager Janine Smith and included Flying Pig executive chairman Stefan Preston.