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After going to the movies to catch an ad on birth control pills, Wyeth-Ayerst marketer Terry Davidson says he can't remember the flick that followed. It was, after all, a pretty monumental occasion.
This past spring, Wyeth-Ayerst debuted a consumer ad campaign for the prescription pill Alesse that was two and half years in the making. And Davidson was responsible for the pretty innovative-some say risky-approach to marketing of a prescription product by Canadian standards.
"The Alesse campaign was really interesting," says Ray Chepesiuk, commissioner at the Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board in Pickering, Ont. "And I think it was a challenge for Health Canada because it was the first time someone had done something like that."
Health Canada's stringent regulations prohibit marketers from doing direct-to-consumer advertising. Ultimately, Canadian pharma marketers may create branded-only ads or unbranded-only ads, and for the most part, shy away from doing any at all. Wyeth-Ayerst...