It’s hard to think of a product more well-suited for online marketing than Plan B, the Barr Pharmaceutical drug approved for sale to over-18s this week. A WSJ piece (reg req) today lays it all out pretty well. They need to reach a wide audience because contraception failure is the kind of thing that happens to a lot of people once or twice. It’s not the kind of situation where you try to reach your endemic audience, say HIV+ people or diabetes sufferers, and then target tightly based on that goal.
It’s also the kind of product for which advertising is more appropriate online. People are accustomed to doing all kinds of personal things online — paying bills, indulging their sexual proclivities, etc. — so seeing ads for Plan B aren’t likely to jar. This stands in stark contrast to how people might feel if they see such an ad while watching TV with family members. (May I suggest that FM’s Parenting Federation might be appropriate?)
The company’s Web site, go2planb.com is already getting great search rankings. It’s top of the heap and page 2 on Google, and it also benefits from shortcuts and refinements because the search engine recognizes it as a drug. I would have expected this kind of generic phrase to be difficult to optimize, but I would be wrong.
Note to Barr: It might be a good idea to update your Web site to reflect the FDA approval, and give potential customers an idea when they might expect to be able to buy over the counter. Right now, the site still says you need a prescription. The FDA approval, and corresponding media exposure, is likely to drive lots of traffic. (Note Google Trends report on the term. It’s really popular in Bogota, Colombia, interestingly.)