Yahoo!: Health searchers more apt to visit, act on brand sites

Yahoo!: Health searchers more apt to visit, act on brand sites

Consumers who search online for health information are more likely than non-searchers to view branded pharma Web sites and act on them, reports a new Yahoo! consumer survey. The study reveals a huge opportunity for pharma to capture engaged consumers online, and in a media environment cluttered with messages, maximizing search is key to brand success. Online health searchers are three times more likely to visit a branded Web site than non-searchers. Sixty-one percent of searchers have been to the doctor or plan to visit the doctor since their search for information. Searchers also become loyal to whatever brand they research, Bonnie Becker, director of the pharmaceutical category for Yahoo! Search Marketing, tells ePharm5. The study showed that 70% will question their doctor if they are prescribed a different drug than the one they have researched. ----------- Yahoo!: Online health searchers more likely to visit brand sites, act on them Consumers who search online for health information are more likely than non-searchers to view branded pharma Web sites and act on them, reports a new Yahoo! consumer survey. The study reveals a huge opportunity for pharma to capture engaged consumers online, and in a media environment cluttered with messages, maximizing search is key to brand success. The Yahoo! survey of 5,600 patients showed that 55% of Internet users researched health information online using search in the past three months. Online health searchers are three times more likely to visit a branded Web site than non-searchers. More than half--54%--said they used a branded pharma or drug site to look for health information in the past 12 months, compared to only 16% of non-searchers. Sixty-one percent have been to the doctor or plan to visit the doctor since their search for information. In addition, 71% of searchers talk about medication with their doctors. Searchers also become loyal to whatever brand they research, Bonnie Becker, director of the pharmaceutical category for Yahoo! Search Marketing, tells ePharm5. The study showed that 70% will question their doctor if they are prescribed a different drug than the one they have researched. Health searchers are hyperengaged, says Becker, who came to Yahoo! from a brand management role at Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, adding that the use of search for health information is indicative of a shift in consumer behavior. She says consumers are more empowered and active in their healthcare and searchers bounce around the Web gathering information about their condition. They might start out on a third-party site, such as WebMD or Yahoo! Health, then click on a display ad, and then view a site for a particular pharma brand. "They are going to multiple places to learn and information-gather," she says. Consumers are also becoming their own best advocates, and search is helping them do that. Becker says that 34% of searchers will not take a drug without first looking it up online. Moreover, 31% use search to become more informed about their condition before even setting foot in the doctor's office. Searchers are 130% more likely to have seen an online display ad and view it as informational, and 20% of consumers were driven to search online because they saw an advertisement and wanted more information, according to the research. This search behavior also appears to hold true across treatment categories. The Yahoo! survey focused on consumers who searched for information about allergies, depression, and high cholesterol. Becker says she was surprised to learn that aside from a few variations, attitudes and behavior surrounding search tended to be the same across conditions. Aside from the search engine itself, searchers spent the most time with health sites, such as WebMD and Yahoo! Health, followed by brand/drug sites. Searchers said they spend more time using these sources than they do asking friends or family, reading ordinary brochures or flyers in the doctor's office, visiting pharmaceutical company sites, and reading newspaper or magazine articles. Becker says pharma needs to pay more attention to search, and that the Yahoo! research adds weight to the important role that search plays in engaging consumers. She says search marketing tends to get lost among other media, but should become a bigger priority. Maximizing search is key because it's a way to capture the consumers who are most engaged and the most likely to act.

Physicians in Wales are using podcasts for patient education

Physicians in Wales are using podcasts for patient education

Doctors at a physician's practice in Wales are using podcasts to educate their patients, reports BBC News. They found that many patients have trouble using their asthma inhalers correctly, so the first podcast features a practice nurse demonstrating how to use one. The doctors plan to develop other podcasts as well, including ones about the importance of receiving flu shots and cervical screenings. According to the BBC, nearly 8 million Britons will search for a podcast in the next six months. In addition to being used by physicians to explain diseases and treatment to patients, iPods can be used to store medical information and act as medication reminders, Grant Winter, president of The Manhattan Bureau, said last week during Pharmaceutical Executive's Marketing and Sales Summit in Philadelphia.

 

Patient education improves Rx adherence, condition understanding

Patient education improves Rx adherence, condition understanding

Getting educated about their condition and medication improves medication compliance and patients' understanding of their condition, according to a survey from patient-physician communications firm InfoMedics. The company studied the experiences of more than 37,000 patients who participated in education programs for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The majority of patients reported taking their medication all the time as prescribed. More than 95% of high cholesterol patients felt the program helped educate them about how the medication improves cholesterol levels, and more than 90% felt they were better able to manage the medication's side effects. According to the research, 47% of patients were less concerned about their blood pressure after receiving condition education. InfoMedics data also shows that physician access to patient-reported medication outcomes increases prescribing, improves adherence, and results in more efficient office visits. InfoMedics clients include 14 of the top 15 pharmas. http://www.infomedics.com/

 

Pharma Ads Send Consumers To Search Engines

Pharma Ads Send Consumers To Search Engines

by Shankar Gupta, Thursday, Jun 22, 2006 6:00 AM ET

THE MAJORITY OF USERS WHO search engines to research health information on the Web schedule visits to their doctor after going online. That's one of the conclusions of a new Yahoo study examining the connection between search behavior and offline activity. The study found that 61 percent of health searchers go to a physician after conducting a search, and 71 percent of health searchers discuss in depth the medications and brands they are prescribed. For the study, Yahoo surveyed 5,625 consumers and found that most--55 percent--used a search engine to find health care information in the last three months. That group was found to be more engaged than other online consumers: searchers were about twice as likely to view third-party health sites, and three times more likely to spend time on pharmaceutical-branded Web sites searching for information on health topics. The study also detailed the effectiveness of online ads on health-interested consumers. Twenty percent of those surveyed were convinced to search online after having seen an advertisement and wanting to know more, and 70 percent of searchers said they question their doctor if they are prescribed a different medication than what they've found searching online. The survey was fielded in March by Yahoo and Hall & Partners Healthcare.

 

Sony BMG Give Fans Power to Place Music Videos Online

Works With Brightcove to Create Ad-Supported Distribution Play

By Abbey Klaassen

Published: June 19, 2006

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Record label, meet music fan. Music fan, meet record label.

The one-to-one relationship between the two parties has in the past few years been nonexistent, at best, and downright ugly at its worst, thanks to reams of file-sharing lawsuits and clumsy digital-rights-management technology.

Sony BMG is working with Brightcove to enable consumers to place music videos on their own Web spaces.

Musicbox Video
But this week Sony BMG is going directly to consumers with an internet TV play it has created through Brightcove. The service, called Musicbox Video, distributes music videos from Sony BMG artists -- from Shakira to the Dixie Chicks to Nick Lachey -- across its fan sites and even down to the MySpace pages of music-obsessed fans.

"They're using syndication services to make it possible for fans to take players and put them into blogs or MySpace pages," said Adam Berrey, VP-marketing and strategy at Brightcove, which creates, distributes and sells advertising in internet TV channels for media companies and marketers.

The flash-based video player features several "channels" -- top 20, rock, pop and R&B -- and can be found at the artists' websites. Fans can e-mail a video link to a friend or copy the HTML code to post the video in blogs or on their MySpace pages.

Ad-supported
Pre-roll advertising will run before the music videos launch and another ad will load between every other video. The ads, sold by Brightcove under a revenue-sharing agreement, will be another way for the music industry to pick up some of the dollars it has lost to peer-to-peer file sharing. Hewlett Packard has already signed on as an advertiser.

Mr. Berry said future advertising applications might include deeper sponsorships within the player, a sponsorship that takes over the player or some other kind of sponsorship integrated into the lineup of videos.

"It turns the video play into a revenue stream," he said.

Simon Renshaw, principal at Strategic Artist Management and manager of the Dixie Chicks, has been an outspoken advocate of a more direct-to-consumer approach in the music industry and said the increase in broadband penetration is driving the potential of such one-to-one relationships between artists and fans. The Dixie Chicks, for example, struck a deal with MSN to stream their first concert in two years -- a June 15 show at Shepherds Bush Empire in London.

'Trying to stay relevant'
"SonyBMG should be commended for at least trying to do something in the space," said Mr. Renshaw. "Right now labels are trying to find out what works and what gets traction -- they're trying to stay relevant."

That said, it might already be too late for the labels. Mr. Renshaw thinks broadband may eventually empower artists to the point where they'll be able to leave traditional record-label relationships behind in favor of their own distribution pacts.

"Physical distribution is going to become less and less important and that makes it easier for all creative people to have direct relationships with consumers," he predicted. At that point, "artists will ask, who's my better partner? Warner Bros. Records or MySpace? MTV or YouTube?"

Clearly, Sony BMG's latest step represents a hope that they can all work together.

 

New online tool helps patients decide when to see a doctor

New online tool helps patients decide when to see a doctor

Consumers vacillating between deciding whether to go to a doctor for a condition or treat it at home will have help from a new online tool from Subimo and SelfCareNet. The two companies have partnered for what they call a pre-visit tool to help consumers determine the severity of their illness, decide when to take action, and select the best course of treatment based on quality and cost. Health content firm SelfCareNet will provide easy-to-understand injury, illness, and symptom guides that help patients determine when to call a doctor and how to treat certain conditions at home. The content will be combined with Subimo's tools for choosing the right hospital and physician and identifying price information about prescription medications and medical treatment choices. Click the supporting link below to read more.

 

Companies putting products into play with `advergames'

By William Weir
Tribune Newspapers: The Hartford Courant
Published June 19, 2006

Television commercials last about 30 seconds; print ads are often seen for a fraction of that time.

But with a video game, potential consumers could be interacting with a product for seven to 10 minutes at a time.

That's why if you go on a major company's Web site, there's a good chance you'll find a video game hawking one of its products -- keep the Filet-O-Fish sandwich away from the sharks, dunk as many Oreos as you can in a glass of milk, and smash through walls of ice for your Pepsi.

"It's a huge audience," says Dave Williams, general manager of Shockwave.com, which has developed 50 video game advertisements. "Businesses are asking, `How can I get people interacting with my brand?' and there's probably no better way to do that than with a game."

The practice has shot off in the last few years, and industry watchers say they don't expect to see it diminish any time soon. According to a report by the Boston-based research group Yankee Group, $118 million was spent on advertising with video games in 2004 -- and that figure is expected to top $800 million by 2009. These figures include both video games developed specifically for a product, known as "advergames," and product placement in established video games.

Advergames make sense to business as more consumers find other ways to spend their time besides watching TV and reading magazines and newspapers. This is especially true for the elusive 18- to 34-year-old male demographic. According to a report by Nielson Entertainment, this group spent more time in 2003 playing video games than watching prime-time TV -- 30 billion hours' worth of playing.

Some products seem natural for video games -- pretty much any vehicle, for instance. Go to Jeep.com, and you find no fewer than 10 action games. Volkswagen boasts of the Touran's spaciousness with a game where you (in the form of soccer star David Beckham) kick soccer balls into the mini-van.

But how do you make Pringles potato crisps exciting? Easy. You have giant cans of them roll down a slope at you while you try to leap over and dodge around them. That's the idea behind "King Kong Jump," a game that touts both the movie and the snack.

Even salad dressing can make for hours of gaming fun. When Sonic hired Shockwave to find a way to gets its salad dressing on the minds of gamers, Williams says his company incorporated it into the existing "Diner Dash" -- a game where players have to wait on several tables at once. Sonic's salad dressing shows up several times in the game.

Unlike movie and television audiences wary of seeing advertising bleed into their entertainment, studies seem to indicate that gamers have no beef with product placement. They might even prefer it. Realism is a big plus for gamers and real-life products help in that respect.

Advertising watchdogs are, not surprisingly, less accepting of real products showing up in video games -- especially junk-food products.

"They're very effective, and I think that's a problem for children," says Susan Linn, assistant director of the Media Center for Children. "The marketing industry really likes these games; they call them `sticky' because kids spend more time on them than they would a 15-second commercial."

As the channels for advertising become more varied regulating marketing to kids becomes trickier. J. Michael McGuinnis, who recently led a report for the National Academy of Sciences on food advertising's effects on children, says it might be more effective to work with the companies than pushing for government regulation.

"They're concerned about their images," he says of the companies. "So, from our perspective, we want to engage the companies to shift their marketing focus to healthier products."

McGinnis has been encouraged by a few steps in that direction. Kraft, Coca-Cola and Pepsi Co. have all announced they plan to focus their marketing on more healthful products.

Execs Unhappy with Marketing, Moving Spend Online

Chart: http://www.marketingvox.com/uploads/blackfriars2.jpg

Marketing research consultants Blackfriars Communications today released its Marketing Category Indices for 12 types of marketing spending, indicating that spending is moving to online advertising, which grew to 15 percent of overall marketing spend. Spending on traditional advertising accounted for 19 percent of budgets. Blackfriars also set its Blackfriars Marketing Index at 146 for the second quarter of 2006, indicating that U.S. companies expect to have spent 46 percent more on marketing in the quarter than they spent in an average quarter in 2005.

All online categories of marketing spend, including online advertising (15 percent), direct email (6 percent) and website and internet media (5 precent), together accounted for 26 percent of budgets, according to Blackfriars (see graph).

"Businesses are rethinking their marketing spending," said Carl Howe, a principal of Blackfriars. "Online spending of all types grew to more than a quarter of marketing budgets. We could see even more growth online if executives start spending the larger budgets they have planned for the second quarter."

Q2 Marketing Budgets chart: http://www.marketingvox.com/uploads/blackfriars2.jpg

A key finding of Blackfriar's survey of senior business executives was that discontent with marketing is growing. Almost a quarter of respondents said they are not very satisfied or not at all satisfied with their marketing efforts. Worse, the proportion of executives who are extremely satisfied or very satisfied with their marketing has fallen to 38 percent from Q1's 53 percent.

"With both spending and marketing satisfaction down from last year, we could see a pullback in marketing activity for 2006," said Howe. "Marketing accounts for about one trillion dollars of spending in the U.S. annually. If marketers slow their spending, that could hurt traditional media channels and the economy overall."

Blackfriars also set its first-quarter index of actual spending at 54, 52 points below the budgeted value from February - the lowest in two years.

Not, this is not a Web site for pot-smokers...

New Daiichi Sankyo site aims to help people with dry mouth: MyDryMouth.com

Daiichi Sankyo is sponsoring a new Web site for people who suffer from Sjögren's syndrome, a condition that causes dry mouth and eye. The site, mydrymouth.com, offers tools to help people with the condition, 90% of whom are women, recognize the symptoms and discuss the problem with their doctors. According to Daiichi Sankyo, people often live with the condition for up to 10 years before being diagnosed. The site offers tips for people with the condition, a questionnaire for users to fill out and share with their doctors, and links to additional resources about Sjögren's syndrome. Users can also join the Moisture Network, an opt-in program in which patients receive additional information about Sjögren's syndrome. Daiichi Sankyo makes the drug Evoxac, a treatment for dry mouth in patients with Sjögren's syndrome. Learn more on the Web site http://www.mydrymouth.com/.