FirstMed Consulting Blog

The next advertisement I will be discussing for erectile dysfunction treatments is the “We are the Champions” Viagra ad that uses the Queen song to celebrate that triumphant feeling of getting Viagra.

In slow motion to Queen’s legendary anthem, The mailman is flinging letters in the air, guys are hugging each other in the street, an old man is shuffling down the porch with a smile on his face to join the party…A deliriously happy man bounds out the front door of his home and onto the street, taking part in the euphoria of ordinary men who have rediscovered their potency. A woman next door watches with disbelief as she waters her garden with a limp hose. A chap down the street joins in the party as he swerves his hips next to his lathered car. The postie throws the mail into the air and a businessman twirls his briefcase round and round, spilling his paper everywhere. By the end of the advert the neighbourhood is celebrating on the street. The Viagra pill appears on screen, with the words, “Talk to your doctor”.

Some have accused the ad of being less about the treatment of ED and more a celebration of Pfizer’s dominance of the ED market. Indeed, Viagra seems so sure of its universal recognition and consumer brand-loyalty that it can joke about the high price of Viagra, while surreptitiously gloating over its market supremacy in the ad.

But Viagra’s advertising campaigns were never the key to its success. After it received FDA approval in March 1998, Viagra had five straight years of being the only clinically tested ED medication available and immediately cornered the world market. Having no other similar products from which to differentiate itself, Viagra didn’t need to create an image for itself. Because of its unique clinical function, Viagra became an immediate cultural point for all issues relating to virility, male sexuality, and aging, and through this continual popular referencing, much more than the effects of its $100 million advertising budget, Viagra has achieved a level of brand recognition that is reserved only for superstar drugs Viagra continues to be a constant source of office jokes and comments for late night talk show hosts. More than simply spreading the word on what Viagra is, the enormous street and media buzz that Viagra has inspired over the last five years has established Viagra’s image overwhelmingly in terms of power and efficacy as the remedy for impotence.

Here’s the ad. Let us know it you what you think. Is it important partly that it allows a topic that is excruciatingly embarrassing for many men to be broached in a positive and even celebratory way, or is it a painfully victorious dance for Pfizer.