Six Reasons to Use Rich Media Ads for Pharma Brands

Pharmaceutical brands are no strangers to red tape. While everyone is jumping on digital marketing opportunities, many pharma brands are looking for ways to overcome compliance challenges to build awareness. Rich media ads might be the solution.

Pharma brands face intense regulations by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While it might feel like a deterrent, the United States is one of the only countries that allow direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising–so we see it as an opportunity.

Since 1998, pharmaceutical DTC spending has increased from $1 billion to $5 billion. As technology increases advertising practices from commercial and print media to interactive digital formats, your pharma brand has new ways to create meaningful marketing campaigns.

Here’s a look at how you can use rich media ads [and why you might want to] for your pharma brand.

1.   Get Better Engagement with Rich Media Ads for Pharma Brands

A static banner ad is easy to ignore. Rich media ads, on the other hand, combine sight, sound, motion, and touch to cultivate an interactive experience to draw viewers into an advertisement.

They beg for engagement - and that makes them highly effective.

In fact, rich media ads have been found to increase click-through rates by 267% when compared to static banner ads. With that type of ROI, your pharma marketing campaign can’t afford to miss out on this enhanced consumer experience.

2. Interactivity Keeps Eyes on Your Message

Half the battle in earning engagement for any type of company is keeping the attention on your brand.

In a technological world that allows people to share 360-degree views on social media or play games that fully immerse them in a virtual reality, it’s important to provide interactive advertisements that stimulate the minds of the modern-day consumer.

Interactive marketing has multiple benefits, the largest being that it keeps the consumer engaged and focused on what you want them to see the most – your advertisement.

Whether it’s wiping to reveal more information or tapping on a graphic to interact with it, the consumer will make a lasting connection with your advertisement. This connection impacts the brain, ensuring that the advertisements – and therefore your brand – sticks with them long after it’s off their screen.

3.   A Larger Canvas for Regulatory Requirements

The world is connected to the internet on the go, and pharmaceutical companies are seizing the opportunity this creates for a mobile advertising market.

According to research, the number of mobile health-related information seekers on the internet surpasses 2 billion consumers. However, one of the biggest issues pharmaceutical companies face is regulations. They must stay vigilant in what content they publish and how they represent themselves due to regulatory disclosure requirements.

Rich media offers a solution for these companies to bridge the gap between what they want to say and what they need to say about their brand or products. These kinds of advertisements allow more flexibility to say or show the benefits of the drugs they’re marketing without risking a regulatory faux pas. 

With rich media advertisements, companies can consider something like trying a full-screen display ad that pairs imagery of healthy, happy people with key text like the drug name, common symptoms, and required regulatory disclosures – making what they want to say and what they need to say a unified reality.

4. Unique Elements Stand Out and Comply  

Rich media formats provide pharma brands with a slew of creative elements that are impossible to deploy across any other advertising format like static banners or video. Mobile rich media elements draw on the best mobile technology to deliver a standout creative experience that also complies with industry regulations.

By tapping into elements like gamification, hotspots, and interactive design, pharma brands can be creative and engaging, while also being informative and compliant.

With rich media, you can turn your important clinical information into memorable and engaging content.

For example, when one pharma company wanted to educate their core audience on their birth control medication, they didn’t just put out a video that describes the key benefits. They turned to rich media to create a first-of-its-kind birth control game that engaged their audience, while also compliantly informing them about the product.  

5.   Helps Humanize the Ad Experience

Rich media is finally bringing a humanized ad experience to advertisement placements across the internet.

Instead of invasive pop-up ads that hold viewers as a captive audience, try rich media for a more authentic engagement that consumers will enjoy and remember fondly. Rich media ads can provide an opportunity to get in front of your core audience in a more native and authentic way. By prioritizing formats that are served in-line with web content, you can achieve high impact with the consumer while also fostering a higher willingness to engage with your brand.

These authentic placements could be the perfect play for a dynamic rich media unit that leverages the power of touch and sight to engage and inform.

For example, to illustrate how Rheumatoid Arthritis affects the body, another Pharma company turned to press and hold functionality to inform its audience about the disease and the impact of their drug. When consumers pressed down on the ad unit, they activated a demonstration of a body’s immune system attacking its joints. Consumers were enticed to engage in the content, and their own engagements led to vital information being shared about an important disease, therefore creating interest in the product.

6.   Personalization Sits at the Core of Rich Media Advertising

Everyone is looking for something personal–and the pharmaceutical industry is no different. When individuals are looking for treatments to alleviate symptoms or resolve problems, they want a product that WORKS for THEM. Case use studies are great to get their buy-in, but it’s ultimately a personal journey.

Nail a personalized ad experience using rich media. PadSquad helped Vail Tourism offer a more personalized experience by a ‘choose your’ option. They realized that even something as niche as skiing wasn’t a one-size-fits-all experience and they catered to those different needs using a rich media ad experience.

Since many pharmaceutical products have a variety of uses, these personalized rich media ad experiences are the perfect way to offer up a unique experience. Are you marketing a drug that fights depression, suppresses hunger, supports weight loss, and might also curb addictive behaviors? Offer personalized ad experiences for every audience with rich media.

Final Thoughts on Rich Media Ads for Pharma Brands

Advertising in the pharmaceutical industry has its own unique challenges with navigating ad restrictions and privacy laws. Gaining trust, recognition, and establishing an authoritative brand requires an advertisement that engages, educates, and interacts with your consumer base. Rich media ads achieve all of these qualities and are available in various formats. The diverse use of rich media ads makes them an ideal choice across multiple marketing strategies. Contact one of our creative strategists to engage sight, sound, motion, and touch and increase connection with your consumer base.