May 10th, 2004
Behind the 'Boomer Coalition,' a Heart Message From Pfizer
By Erin White
Wall Street Journal
Viewers of ABC’s Academy Awards red-carpet telecast last month learned during
a commercial break about a new health-awareness group. A 30-second spot flashed
nostalgic images of celebrities—actor James Coburn, baseball star Don Drysdale,
comedian Redd Foxx—while a voiceover explained that each had been lost to
cardiovascular disease.
"Let’s fight CVD. Join the Boomer Coalition," the ad’s voiceover
said.
It sounds like a grassroots group of 40- and 50-something health activists.
But the Boomer Coalition is the invention of a tiny Dutch- based ad shop and
its giant multinational drug-company client, which are targeting an enormous
generational swath with a new case of cause marketing.
The Boomer Coalition, which has applied for nonprofit status, counts the American
Heart Association as one of its founders. Its other founder is Pfizer Inc.,
the New York pharmaceutical giant and maker of blockbuster heart-disease-related
drugs. Visitors to the Web site boomercoalition.org learn that the new group’s
mission is "raising awareness about America’s number one killer."
That would be CVD, the moniker that is the Boomer Coalition’s rallying cause.
The Boomer Coalition is a striking example of how the line between charity
and marketing is blurring as corporations devise new ways to build stronger
bonds with customers. Pfizer provided initial funding, estimated at less than
$10 million, for the group; two Pfizer executives—a medical expert and a
marketer from the company’s cardiovascular-disease team—are on the coalition’s
six-member advisory board.
Pfizer also hired the ad agency, StrawberryFrog, of Amsterdam, to create a
commercial for the Oscar telecast. There are no plans to run that spot on regular
TV again, although a new print and television campaign is in the works. The
agency also played a major role in creating the idea of the Boomer Coalition
and its fight against CVD.
"The moment you say ‘heart disease’ or ‘cardiovascular disease,’ people
tune out," says Heather Fullerton, head of a New York office StrawberryFrog
recently opened. "’CVD’ makes people say, ‘CVD? What is CVD?’ It’s purposefully
creating interest and intrigue."
The coalition also is working on a "tribute concert and boomer rally"
planned for fall in New York. It’s all part of an unapologetic effort to tap
into baby boomers’ collective view of their generation. "We introduced
equal rights and danced at Woodstock," the Web site says. "We ushered
in the sexual revolution and gave birth to rock and roll. We even brought down
the Berlin Wall. . . . We made up the frontline of every significant cultural
revolution in the last half century . . . But before we can enjoy the fruit
of our labors one more revolution awaits us. CVD."
Pfizer says it hopes the Boomer Coalition makes baby boomers more conscious
of the threat of cardiovascular disease. It is no coincidence, of course, that
Pfizer also is the maker of Lipitor, a cholesterol drug; Norvasc, a blood-pressure
medicine; and Caduet, a Lipitor-Norvasc combination.
"We’re always looking for creative ways to break through what we’ve found
to be a lack of awareness and action," says Michal Fishman, a Pfizer spokeswoman.
"We’re always looking for what’s really the thing that’s going to make
people take action." There is a stigma about seeking treatment, Ms. Fishman
adds. In addition, many people wrongly assume that if they are physically fit,
they aren’t at risk for heart disease.
Visitors to the Boomer Coalition’s Web site are invited to "sign up and
take responsibility for your heart health," providing a user name, age,
e-mail address and blood pressure and cholesterol level.
Pfizer says it won’t use the information to market to consumers. The Boomer
Coalition will use the information to track the success of the program, such
as finding out how many people sign up, Pfizer says. Pfizer says it doesn’t
plan to use the coalition to market its brand name or its drugs. In fact, the
company says the effort is "disease awareness," not cause marketing.
The American Heart Association didn’t provide any funding, but it is a co-founder
of the Boomer Coalition and has two representatives on the group’s advisory
board. The other two members are from the American College of Cardiology and
the Living Heart Foundation, a nonprofit group funded partly with Pfizer grant
money.
The AHA says it has no qualms about Pfizer’s backing. "The key important
thing here is that it’s a large group of people that need to hear this message,"
says Coletta Barrett, chairman of the association. "Our research told us
we needed to start targeting our message more specifically to different parts
of the population. The baby boomers are a perfect age group for us to take a
look at."
As cause marketing has grown, so have its critics. Since 2002, a San Francisco
breast cancer awareness group, Breast Cancer Action, has run an annual campaign
called "Think Before You Pink," urging people to question the benefits
of corporate promotions that also tout support of breast-cancer causes. The
group cites General Mills Inc.’s "Save Lids to Save Lives" campaign,
for Yoplait yogurt: A woman would have to eat three containers of Yoplait every
day for four months to raise $36 for the cause.
General Mills says it has donated more than $12 million to breast cancer causes
over the past six years. "We consider the program to be successful on several
levels—because it helps raise money and also because its helps raise awareness
of the breast cancer cause," says Allegra Sinclair, a General Mills spokeswoman.
Already, the Boomer Coalition isn’t sitting well with some activists. Gary
Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, a Portland, Ore., anticommercialism
group, says he is concerned that drug makers don’t do enough to promote exercise
and healthy diet as a way to prevent cardiovascular disease.
The coalition’s Web site says: "Fighting CVD begins in the doctor’s office."
If lifestyle changes aren’t enough to lower your CVD risk, it adds, "your
doctor can prescribe medicine to help you along the way." The text also
recommends quitting smoking, adopting a healthy diet, exercise and weight-loss.
"This is about raising awareness of a preventable disease, not about the
drugs," says Pfizer’s Ms. Fishman.