Merck launched the first national Gardasil -specific direct-to-consumer advertising campaign, the company announced Nov. 13, featuring a marketing message designed to empower teens and young women to become "one less" woman who will battle cervical cancer.

The marketing campaign includes print, broadcast and online ads targeted largely to teens and their mothers, portraying images of strong women taking control of their lives.

Two different TV ads depict teenage girls taking part in different activities, from skateboarding to playing the drums, shooting hoops, dancing and running. One ad opens with a skateboarder, who comes on the screen and says, "Each year in the U.S. thousands of women learn they have cervical cancer. I could be one less."

Then the ad turns to a basketball player who says, "One less statistic. One less," before the ad pans to a shot of a horseback rider who says, "Because now there's Gardasil, the only vaccine that may help protect you from the four types of human papillomavirus that may cause 70% of cervical cancer."

The risk information associated with Gardasil is delivered by someone who appears to be a mother. According to Merck, the ad is designed both to empower girls and encourage mothers to "help their daughters want to become one less person who will battle cervical cancer."

Gardasil launched in June, but Merck delayed brand-specific ads for the vaccine until now, choosing instead to launch the "Tell Someone" HPV educational campaign in April ahead of the introduction (¹ Also see "Merck Launches HPV Awareness Campaign In Preparation For Gardasil" - Pink Sheet, 4 May, 2006.).

Merck said it will continue to separately support HPV disease education with the "Tell Someone" campaign, as well as through the "Make the Connection" multi-lingual disease awareness program.

According to a National Cancer Institute study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting Nov. 12, more educational programs are needed to raise awareness of HPV and its connection to cervical cancer (see ² Also see "Public Education On HPV Needed, Studies Find" - Pink Sheet, 13 November, 2006.).

FDA approved Gardasil June 8 as the first vaccine for women and girls ages nine to 26 for the prevention of cervical cancer, cervical pre-cancer, vulvar pre-cancer and vaginal cancers caused by HPV types 16 and 18, as well as by genital warts and low-grade cervical lesions (CIN 1) caused by HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18 (³ Also see "Merck’s Gardasil HPV Vaccine Clears FDA" - Pink Sheet, 8 June, 2006.).

The vaccine generated $10 mil. in revenues in its first day on the market and contributed $70 mil. to Merck's third quarter sales (⁴ Also see "Merck’s Gardasil Records $70 Mil. In Sales In Q3" - Pink Sheet, 20 October, 2006.).

The European Commission approved Gardasil in September (⁵ Also see "CDC Adds Merck’s Gardasil To Vaccines For Children Contract" - Pink Sheet, 1 November, 2006.).

-Jessica Merrill (j.merrill@elsevier.com)

Merck Launches "One Less" Gardasil DTC Ads Targeting Teens

More from Archive

More from Pink Sheet