Tuck study shows costly health care ads require better targeting
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—January 20, 2009
CONTACT: Kim Keating,
603-646-2733
HANOVER, N.H.—A new study by Tuck Professor of Management Punam Anand Keller and visiting professor Donald R. Lehmann shows that pharmaceutical companies and health organizations that spend billions annually in advertising should tailor their messages by gender, age, and race. The study "Designing Effective Health Communications: A Meta-Analysis" was recently published in the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing. It provides a guide to designing effective health communication messages and includes a comprehensive evaluation of 60 studies that review effective heath communications.
Keller's study shows that knowing the target audience and formatting a message specifically for it provides the most effective way to communicate. The results also indicate what types of messages (such as fact-based or fear-inducing) are most effective for different groups.
For example, one key finding in Keller's study shows that younger audiences are influenced by messages that show social consequences, while older audiences are influenced more by physical consequences.
Another key finding that might surprise advertisers is that expensive television ads with vivid scenes become less effective as patients take a more proactive role in their health care. But, these highly involved audiences do respond well to ads that present a strong, logical argument for using the product.
View professor Keller's website for more on the role of gender, age, and race in pharmaceutical and healthcare advertising.
Founded in 1900, Tuck is the first graduate school of management in the country and consistently ranks among the top business schools worldwide. Tuck remains distinctive among the world's great business schools by combining human scale with global reach, rigorous coursework with experiences requiring teamwork, and valued traditions with innovation.
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