In case you’ve missed it, the experts at Reuters inform us that:
Taking a page from the pharmaceutical industry’s playbook, medical device companies are increasingly advertising their products directly to consumers, top executives said.
Pharmaceutical companies routinely advertise drugs for everything from impotence to high cholesterol on television, seeking the widest audience possible. Such heavy direct-to-consumer promotion, while not without its critics, often spurs blockbuster sales, studies show.
Now, makers of medical devices such as pacemakers and artificial hips and knees are getting into the act, top executives told the Reuters Medical Devices Summit this week.
Stryker Corp.’s use of golf legend Jack Nicklaus to sell hip replacements and Johnson & Johnson’s campaign on artificial knees are two of the most high-profile examples.
The ads are boosting sales and the trend is likely to continue, executives said. “We are in the midst of a major campaign, which has been extremely successful,” said Johnson & Johnson’s medical devices chief, Michael Dormer. “We fundamentally believe that advertising (direct-to-consumer) will be good for our business.”
The New Brunswick, New Jersey-based health products company is considering a direct-to-consumer campaign for its new artificial spine disc called Charite and other products. “There are quite a few opportunities for us,” Dormer said.
Just wait another 30 years for a new wave of advertisements — then on blogs — as aging bloggers start looking for knees, hips and dentures. Those will be the golden days for Medgadget.com.