7 ways VIAGRA changed how drugs are marketd.

When Pfizer launched Viagra, in 1998, it did so with eyes wide open about the immediate impact the drug would have — on patients, of course, but also on physicians, the health media, and purveyors of late-night chuckles. What the company may not have anticipated was the longer-term influence that Viagra's wild success would wield on pharma marketing as a discipline.

Marketers who worked on the drug over the years, however, were not blind to the phenomenon that was brewing. “Right from the outset, it felt as if we were working on a big brand,” recalls Michael Sanzen, then VP, group copy supervisor at Cline Davis & Mann, who worked with VP, group account supervisor Ken Begasse on a broad range of HCP- and patient-communication tasks during Viagra's infancy (the two would cofound Concentric Health Experience in 2002, where they continue to work today).

“It was one of the first times in the pharma space where we were really ideating on what a brand needed to be based on the customer perspective, not solely on the product perspective,” Sanzen says.

McCann HumanCare SVP, group creative director Doug Welch, who co-led his agency's successful pitch for a big piece of Viagra business in 2004, agrees. “It felt as if we were in the middle of something big,” he says. “Would we be quite where we are today in the candor with which we discuss sensitive conditions? I honestly doubt it.”

While Pfizer declined an interview re­quest about Viagra's enduring legacy, a handful of marketers who worked on the campaign during its early days were happy to take a trip down memory lane. Without further ado, here are the seven ways that Pfizer's marketing of Viagra proved transformational — for Pfizer, sure, but also for the business as a whole.


1. It provided the blueprint for medicalizing a supposed lifestyle condition.

2. It created a new therapeutic category: ‘Erectile dysfunction'

3. It enabled more candid conversations with physicians.

4. It ushered in the era of the celebrity spokesperson.

5. It obliterated the media's reluctance to cover “embarrassing” health-related stories.

6. It freed drug marketers to rethink their sales materials.

7. It made a whole lot of careers.

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