Weak Analogies Make Fun Consumer Ads, but Fall Flat in Pharma

From Mark McCoy, SVP, Brand Planning Director, Palio

“A weak analogy is a type of logical fallacy in which the argument is based on comparing two things that aren’t alike in some important aspects.”  -Evan Williams Bourbon Campaign: Master of the Weak Analogy

Despite the obvious flaws, weak analogies are great fun when used in most advertising. A current, successful ad campaign that is based on a weak analogy is the Evan Williams Bourbon campaign. One execution in the campaign pictures an awkward teenage girl and a photo of the same girl who has now grown up to be an extremely attractive woman. The headline states, “The longer you wait, the better it gets.” The tagline is, “Evan Williams. Aged longer to taste smoother.” The weak analogy is that women are like bourbon. The campaign works because it targets men who read Sports Illustrated – guys who also probably like bourbon and ‘chicks.’ The decision to buy a particular brand of bourbon is a purely an emotional one and doesn’t have to stand up to any logical analysis.

Why Weak Analogies Often Don’t Work In Pharma

The logical analysis is where consumer brands and pharma brands often part company. It is certainly possible to create a highly effective ad for a pharma brand based on a weak analogy. Consumers may respond well to the ad and ask physicians to write them a prescription for the brand. And physicians could see the ads and be motivated to prescribe the brand. Prior to the ascendance of managed health care, if a creative strategy was based on a logical fallacy, such as a weak analogy, it didn’t really matter as long as the campaign motivated physicians to write prescriptions for the brand.

Managed Care Looks Below the Surface

Today, prescribing decisions have become group decisions. Managed care is a major player in the decision because it sets the price that the patient will pay. Managed care decides how many hoops physicians have to jump through in order to get their prescription approved for reimbursement. Think of managed care as an unemotional deconstructionist who looks below the surface of the campaign to understand how the brand promise is supported. If the managed care deconstructionist see that the brand’s product differentiation is based purely on an emotional appeal and is not substantive, the brand will be relegated to an unfavorable reimbursement status.

Take Away

A logical fallacy – like a weak analogy – can be the basis for a brand campaign if the decision to buy the brand is made only by people who are not unemotional deconstructionists who look below the surface of the campaign. When some of the people involved in making the buying decision are immune to the brand’s emotional appeal, successful marketers must employ a story that is ultimately paid off by a unique selling proposition (USP) that the brand can defend.

What do you think: Do you see the need to communicate differently to the managed-care audience because they, unlike patients or physicians, are immune to emotional appeals made by pharmaceutical brands?