Schering's Weird New Nuvaring Ad: "Don't You Have to ... Put It In ...?"
Schering-Plough’s new TV commercial for Nuvaring employs a weird strategy — it features a group of women explaining the old Nuvaring commercial as it plays in the background (video below).
It’s sad when you have to run a commercial talking about how great your previous commercial was, only to clarify the earlier ad because obviously no one could figure out what you were selling.
Here’s how the script starts:
Woman 1: Ooh! I love this commercial!
Woman 2: Would you guys try Nuvaring?
Woman 3: I’m not even sure what it is!
Woman 2: [Explains the device in unrealistically specific terms].
Woman 1: Don’t you have to … put it in …?
Woman 2: For me, it’s easy!
It’s a matter of time before the statement “Don’t you have to … put it in?” becomes a SnorgTees shirt.
More seriously, once the gals on the sofa have talked up the product, they examine the risks — which are heard over footage from the old ad featuring women dancing in swimsuits. That’s a classic example of the Nasonex Bee distraction strategy, which may ultimately be banned by the FDA.
Nasonex is also marketed by Schering. Coincidence!
Jim Edwards, a former managing editor of Adweek, has covered drug marketing at Brandweek for four years, and is a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University's business and journalism schools. Follow him on Twitter or send him an email.
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