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| Marketing Works!: Rants and Musings of a Retail Pharmacist |
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by The Redheaded Pharmacist - August 22, 2011
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Provided by The Redheaded Pharmacist
Have you ever asked yourself the question “why do drug companies spend so much money on advertising?” or “why does that commercial have such an annoying song in it?” The answer is marketing and the reason why companies do it is simple: it works.
I had a call from my mother recently on one of my days off. She was just checking in on me and we were chatting about random stuff including my work. Then all of a sudden mom asks me “So what’s this about Walgreen’s ten-point check stuff?” She was referring to a commercial she saw that explained how Walgreens has a ten-point “safeguard check” as they call it. There is a whole advertising campaign centered around this idea including this information on the Walgreens website explaining the safety checks and promoting their concern for patient safety.
I told my mother that every pharmacy has checks to ensure safety and accuracy. Walgreens indeed does have several safeguards in place to help ensure accuracy just as the commercial says. It wasn’t a lie but instead just a marketing campaign by the company to highlight their prescription filling processes that help ensure accuracy. It’s a technically factual advertisement but somewhat misleading in trying to imply that while Walgreens goes through several safety checks other pharmacies might not be as careful themselves.
The reality is that every pharmacy is required to check for drug interactions, allergies, and the appropriate dose for a given patient and prescription medication. It’s called the profession of pharmacy and it is what we do everyday whether we work for Walgreens or the independent on the corner. Now it is true that a company the size of Walgreens may have features like barcode scanning for accuracy that not all pharmacies employ but every pharmacy does have their own means to check for the things we are required to check to do our job properly.
And then there are the drug companies. They spend millions of dollars to promote one legend drug. Why? Simple, it works! Patients are pro-active these days and if they see a commercial that tells them to ask their doctor about X drug some will actually do it whether they need the drug or not. And the only rushed part of any drug commercial is the part that talks about the side effects of the medication in question. But none of the happy people in the commercial ever suffer from any of those do they?
And technology has increased access to information by the general public. Whether it is good or bad anyone can now use the Internet to look up symptoms and at least attempt to diagnose themselves. They come to their physicians or pharmacists with a lot of information. The problem is that the information they receive may or may not be accurate or complete. And they don’t have the medical training to process the information even if it is correct!
As a consumer you have to be careful with the information you see advertised in print or on television. The goal of those advertisements isn’t to give unbiased information regarding the product or service being advertised. Their mission is simply to sell something. This means that patients and healthcare professionals alike must be careful and process promotional material with a little caution.
Even advertised sales aren’t necessarily what they seem sometimes. According to this LA Times article I found CVS has agreed to pay $2 million to settle complaints they have been overcharging customers for products that are supposed to be on sale but sold at higher than advertised prices and misleading shoppers with their sale advertisements. Consumers must be vigilant to sift through the hype and find the bottom line information. But those sales brought customers into CVS stores because they work and people respond to the advertisements. That is why companies run the sales.
Think about the health insurance commercials for a moment. Have you ever seen a commercial for a prescription drug coverage plan explain that they will force patients to use mail order pharmacies for maintenance medications or require prior authorization for several medications that aren’t on their formulary lists? The norm is that they highlight the positives of a given drug coverage plan without mentioning the downsides or the fact that depending on which drugs you take your individual saving with their card may vary. But the advertising and marketing of those plans work and people sign up by the thousands without really understanding what kind of coverage they are getting for their money.
So this is a type of warning to everyone: look past the fancy advertising tricks and find the real meat and potatoes information from the promotional materials you see in print and on television. Because sometimes companies aren’t completely honest with what they will promote. And sometimes their advertisements are more marketing tricks rather than useful information sharing. But hey, it works so get used to seeing the promotions and advertisements.
So yes mom, my employer has us do at least ten safeguards for accuracy just like Walgreens and every other pharmacy. We just don’t promote it like it is some rare function within the industry. Walgreens is hoping people simply don’t know better. It’s a shame they don’t give consumers a little more credit. But marketing works and score one for Walgreens. Maybe they gained a few new patients who think their ten-point check is unique in some way? It’s a shame those people didn’t know that everyone else does the same thing too. Ah marketing, is there anything it can’t do?
The Redheaded Pharmacist
The Redheaded Pharmacist has been working full time in retail pharmacy for more than a decade. He is in his mid 30s, and, yes, he has red hair.
Disclaimer: This blog represents the opinions of the author and the author alone. It does not represent any pharmacy group or organization. I also will leave out or change the names of patients/customers to protect their privacy and comply with government regulations regarding patient privacy rights and personal information.
The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.
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