Doctor, Doctor, Give Me The News

ZINC TABLETS TO bolster the immune system. Calcium pills for osteoporosis. Iron supplements for producing hemoglobin. Beta-keratin because people always mention it on television, even though no one knows what it is. Multivitamins with vitamins A, C, D and about 200 different kinds of B. Anti-histamines. Anti-histamine blockers, just in case those anti-histamines get out of control. Vitamin E. Ephedra. Fluoride. Ginseng. And that’s just what people take daily when they are well.

An apple a day doesn’t cut it anymore. As understanding about the human body increases, so too does reliance on the medical industry. What is healthful today may be harmful tomorrow, and as people learn more, they take their health more seriously and act more responsibly. As the coffers for pharmaceutical companies expand, so do the number of competitors, and a little marketing can go a long way into making a new medication a household name.

In Sickness

“The market has grown in leaps and bounds in recent years. People are taking more medications more times a day. This is mostly due to the increase in preventive medicine’s popularity,” said Peter Will, president of Universal Promotions, Rogers, Minn.

As one of the leading producers of medical aids, Universal Promotions has seen many industry changes and has developed products to match trends. “In the past, medication schedules were fairly simple, with doses taken in the morning or at night,” noted Will. “Now, with the generation of patients that are medicating for good health versus medicating for sickness, we have to introduce delivery systems for multiple doses per day at specific times.”

Products such as Universal Promotions’ pill reminders and organizers are items that end-users will utilize every day, which is good news for any marketer, and the company’s new MagnaDose magnets are incredibly popular because of the high level of exposure and the custom options available. A large healthcare provider recently used the magnetic MagnaDose as part of a promotion aimed at families with children; the response was so great the company placed a second order, this time for the adult version. As Will noted, “With the growing amount of medication delivery, the exposure of the marketing message is greatly increased.”