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Direct-to-consumer advertising growing more popular
As more companies hit the airwaves, strategies shift from product specifics to disease awareness.
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After testing the waters of direct-to-consumer advertising over the last couple of years, orthopedic implant makers increasingly are choosing to wade in. Four joint implant makers now ply the airwaves with messages about joint replacement products, which will capture more attention from aging baby boomers in the years ahead.
Part of the recent increase in advertisers arises from a kind of competitive critical mass. Once a couple of companies begin advertising, others feel compelled to join in. “We were actually very reluctant to engage in direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising … but the situation with our competitors really made us feel that we had to,” Danette Fitzgerald, marketing and communications director at Biomet Orthopedics Inc., told Orthopedics Today. Biomet began its DTC campaign last September.
“We believe very strongly that the surgeon should be paramount in that decision-making process, but we were really hearing from surgeons who use our products [and] from our shareholders once our other competitors got more aggressive with their advertising efforts.
Also driving the move into DTC: more patients looking for detailed information, Fitzgerald said.
The case for awareness
Most ads tend to aim at two large consumers groups. One group asks, “Do I go see an orthopedic surgeon? Is my problem that serious,” Fitzgerald said. The second group includes patients who are “really doing their homework” and want sophisticated information on clinical results and long-term studies. Early industry ads — starting some two years ago — focused on specific products and probably spoke more directly to the second group. Today, companies are moving away from that approach.
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Fitzgerald said her company, for example, is taking more of a general branding approach that should appeal to both consumer groups. She said her competitors have shifted away from early product-specific ads to a more general disease-awareness approach. That may prove a bit more palatable to orthopedic surgeons. Many find value in the awareness-raising aspects of DTC but bristle when some patients ask for a specific joint-replacement product they saw advertised on television and then become disappointed when told the implant might be inappropriate for them, or is not yet backed by long-term studies.
“We’ve worked closely with orthopedic surgeons to develop our approach, and they’ve told us that they want to see ads that create realistic expectations about joint replacement surgery, without promoting specific products or surgical techniques,” said Mindy Tinsley, group manager, communications for DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. “The way DePuy meets this objective is to highlight the risks as well as benefits of surgery.”
Biomet’s first commercial focused on implant variety. Its second spot highlighted its “rapid recovery” program and minimally invasive joint replacement surgery. “We also have only a 30-second TV commercial where our competitors do 60 seconds, so we’re more limited as to what we can say,” Fitzgerald said. “While you can’t get lots of details in a 30-second TV spot, we wanted to make the point that ‘rapid recovery’ is more than just a small incision,” Fitzgerald said. “The program that many surgeons use if they use the rapid recovery program is a complete program of care that has education, nutrition, exercise, things like that.”
Disease awareness/education
Biomet’s ads, which focus on “disease awareness,” or patient education, invite reluctant patients to seek information about specific products and explore various treatment options, Fitzgerald said. “I think different ads speak to different people,” Fitzgerald said. “You can’t assume that every consumer has the same concerns. I think the variety of messages out there are going to speak to different people and may get someone to take the step of finding out more, someone who’s living in a lot of pain, to get them to take a step to find out what their options are, so I think different messages are good.”
Tinsley said DePuy encourages potential patients to do the following: (1) seek help earlier; (2) speak with an orthopedic surgeon about whether joint replacement may be right for them; and (3) ask about advances in techniques and technologies — not about specific DePuy products or surgical techniques.
“DePuy’s consumer education program is an integrated communications model — using communication channels, including advertising, Internet, patient education forums and detailed patient education materials — all centered around a common theme: talk to your orthopedic surgeon. Advertising is just one tactical element of our broader, integrated approach.”
For example, in a hip replacement ad, an actual DePuy patient named Marcy tells her story in her own words, including the fact that hip replacement surgery wasn’t easy. In addition, a practicing orthopedic surgeon explains the risks and benefits of surgery, as well as the need to work hard at rehabilitation, Tinsley said.
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“The simple goal of DePuy’s DTC advertising is to educate patients about joint replacement and encourage them to talk to an orthopedic surgeon sooner,” Tinsley told Orthopedics Today. “Our goal is to help people who are in pain to overcome their fears and seek out help sooner, leaving the decision of implant choice and surgical technique between the surgeon and the patient.” DePuy’s ads also invite consumers to ask about advanced techniques and technologies not related to specific products or surgical techniques, Tinsley said.
“Through direct-to-consumer advertising, we’re able to reach patients who remain untreated or undertreated and otherwise may not have sought care,” Tinsley said. “Our goal is to create a better patient experience by encouraging patients to talk to an orthopedic surgeon and then support those conversations with information about what patients may expect during each step of the process — before, during and after surgery.”
Not all device makers engage actively in DTC advertising. For example, Medtronic relies less on DTC advertising and mostly targets physicians. Dj Orthopedics has not aggressively pursued DTC advertising, except for limited test projects, said Jamal Rushdy, the company’s director of regeneration marketing operations.
Does DTC work?
Both Fitzgerald and Tinsley reported good DTC response rates, which include increasing Web site “hits,” telephone calls and visits to orthopedic surgeons. “We are exceeding our investment model — large numbers of consumers are contacting us and visiting orthopedic surgeons who use our products,” Tinsley said. Furthermore, DTC is an opportunity for DePuy to partner with surgeons in communicating a fair and balanced message about total joint replacement in their local communities, Tinsley said.
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