Pharmaceuticals and Humor? Check out the Trade Mag

So you know I like to market pharmaceuticals? I know what you’re thinking… commercials complex language and frightening “side effects.” But frankly I’d like to see all ads “fair balanced” like Rx ones.

• “This Toyota is moving forward, but we didn’t really test the breaks.”
• Best Buy’s convenience is over-shadowed by its higher prices and poor customer service.”
• Or “this movie’s trailer is awesome but the plot is implausible and dull.”

Say what you’d like about “big pharma,” but if I’m gonna market…  I quite like the idea of marketing things that matter. Medicines matter (at least to me). Could they be cheaper? Sure. So could coffee. At least it’s illegal to be dishonest in this industry, and that’s kinda cool.

So anyway I’m back marketing pharmaceuticals, right, and I find this article in the industry magazine (thanks to a flurry of texts, tweets and e-mails). It’s about the FDA’s department (DDMAC) that holds pharmaceutical companies accountable to appropriate marketing laws and regulations.

There’s a fabulous quote from me in what’s a rare and refreshing example that even the Rx industry is allowed to have a sense of humor. Unless you’re into marketing molecules online (and the nuances presented by social media) you’ll perhaps not find this as darned near as witty as me. But you can always visit my little ePharmify.com to watch inside-joke videos about the industry. It’s featuring the only video of me online that features a complete comb over (with actual head shaved).

So the picture below is of Tom Abrams speaking at a recent conference, but the trade magazine (Medical Marketing & Media, MMM) uses a file photo that must be older than some of my kids. Abrams in the director of of the Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communications (DDMAC) and I love him as a patient but fear him as  a marketer. If you get even a warning letter from DDMAC your career can come to a swift halt. I introduced myself to him at a recent conference and told him I’d give him free online-video consulting to guide the social-media guidelines the division has been promising for a while.

So with that perhaps boring and unnecessary context, I quote from the April Fool’s edition of the magazine:

As predicted by MM&M back in February, Abrams named former Propecia marketer and viral videotrepreneur Kevin Nalty to lead a new division dedicated to policing online marketing. “The Internet is great for porn, toilet humor and cute pictures of small, furry animals,” said Nalty, “but disseminating information about prescription drugs? People, trust me — stick to fart jokes and we’ll all get along just fine.”

I can already read your comments. This post is not funny to you. So I’ll make it up by telling you my totally unrelated but funny story of my friend David.