WSJ - Behind the 'Boomer Coalition,' A Heart Message From Pfizer

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This one should make you choke!

>From: Belkin

http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB107888331293251022,00.html

Behind the 'Boomer Coalition,'

A Heart Message From Pfizer

By ERIN WHITE

Staff Reporter of THE 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 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.

WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED

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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.org2

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.

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Pfizer also hired the ad agency, StrawberryFrog, of Amsterdam, to create a

commercial for the 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 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. "

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The Boomer Coalition's -show ad featured images of Coburn and

other celebrities.

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.

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.

Write to White at erin.white@...