Pfizer Mobile Public Toilet App Rated Top 25 by George Costanza

Pfizer Mobile Public Toilet App Rated Top 25 by George Costanza

I just love following Fabio Gratton on Twitter. Yesterday he posted this tweet:

"Has anyone download this Pfizer app? (only available in Israel). Terrific idea! http://t.co/JAMzbIa4 #mhealth"

When Fabio says something is terrific, I have to see it.

The app he was talking about is Pfizer’s ‘public restroom’ iPhone app, which targets consumers in Israel. BTW, there are in fact no public toilets in Israel!

So, how do you find a public toilet where there is none?

"We launched a GPS app that locates the nearest toilet – restaurants included!”, said Tali Rosin, public affairs and policy manager with Pfizer Israel. According to a reviewer (here), "users can add toilets not already in the app’s database, and can also grade toilets they visit for criteria such as cleanliness, availability of toilet tissue, or whether they needed to ask for a key."

Now THAT's a mobile app that George Costanza would rate among his TOP 25! Actually, Pfizer's app was among Apple App Store’s coveted “Top 25” most-downloaded apps and was downloaded over 15,000 times in about 3 months after it was launched in September 2011.

You could refer to this app as the Mobile George Costanza Public Toilet Finder:



The app is designed to raise awareness about Overactive Bladder (OAB). People with OAB would find this app useful because the condition is characterized by frequent urges to urinate. I bet it's also useful for tourists.

NOTE: It's only useful if the database includes good coverage of a city with lots of ratings from other users. Otherwise, it's a simple matter to walk into any restaurant and ask to use the toilet. You don't need an app for that! I suspect there are a lot of "George Costanzas" out there who may not have OAB, but like to know where the best toilets are located, just in case.

The app also includes an RSS function that automatically sends news feeds to the app. I am not sure what kind of news -- maybe tweets from Pfizer. Interestingly, it also facilitates calls from within the app to Pfizer's hotline.

Pfizer claims that the app has a positive ROI and has lead to an increase in product sales (I suppose for Toviaz, its OAB drug; see here).

Mass Media DTC Trumps Mobile Marketing
So why don't we see such "innovative" smartphone pharma apps here in the U.S.?

Simple. We have direct-to-consumer (DTC) BRAND advertising via mass media and the Internet here in the U.S. That EASILY trumps NON-BRANDED disease awareness social media and mobile apps in terms of awareness. That is one reason why pharma's spending on social media and mobile marketing is so minuscule.

Another reason why the availability of DTC marketing in the U.S. leads to minuscule eMarketing is that brand managers spend so much on mass media DTC there is very little left in the budget for "e" of any sort and a big chunk of that goes to building web sites and buying search engine ads to drive traffic to those web sites, IMHO.

Your Wife, Your Choice - Diapers or Detrol (now Toviaz)?

Your Wife, Your Choice - Diapers or Detrol (now Toviaz)?

Pfizer's @pfizer_news Twitter account just posted this tweet:

"Toviaz top-line primary endpoint results positive in overactive bladder study of nocturnal urinary urgency http://t.co/OU60l6oZ" (see here). 

The link is to a press release that reports the results of a study that purports to show that Toviaz (a reformulation of off-patent Detrol) is "statistically significantly superior to placebo" in treating OAB (Over Active Bladder). The "statistically significantly superior" results were "based on patient self-reporting," which is a very subjective measure of efficacy to say the least.

OAB is one of those "medical conditions" that has been refurbished by the drug industry so that more people -- especially women -- can believe they have a problem requiring treatment by a pill rather than by some other, less invasive, means. I wrote about this before -- see "Overactive Bladder: 'Pharmacia instrumental in creating new disease' says Former VP." Pharmacia was purchased by Pfizer after that post was made.

An anonymous commenter to that post said:

"In the case of OAB, Pharmacia (and later Pfizer and others) provided an acceptable name for the condition, increased awareness, and provided access to effective treatment for a large group of patients (women especially) suffering a hugely difficult condition. Your wife, your choice - diapers or Detrol?"

I thought the last sentence was worth immortalizing in the title of this post because it is said that OAB is one of those conditions that "women especially" suffer from.

The Pfizer press release claims that "approximately 33 million Americans are estimated to suffer from overactive bladder symptoms." It doesn't say how many of these Americans are women, but the Toviaz Web site features a woman posing as a patient ("Not an actual patient") as in this banner:

Yesterday, I asked "Do Women Take More Drugs Than Men Because They Need To or Because They Are Targeted by DTC Advertising?" (see here). Toviaz ads (eg, the Toviaz.com Web site) demonstrate how women are targeted by direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisers. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I plan to discuss this in an upcoming Pharma Marketing Talk LIVE podcast discussion tomorrow (see "How to Score With Women (as a Marketer) via Social Media").

One other thing I have to say about the @pfizer_news tweet is that it is an example of a branded tweet that may not comply with FDA regulations because it mentions a brand name drug plus its indication but does not include any "fair balance" (ie, major side effect information) as required by law.

Most pharma social media initiatives such as company blogs and twitter accounts (including @pfizer_news) are managed by corporate communications people who are increasingly taking on the role of brand marketers. These people tend to think of themselves as outside of FDA's purview. Consequently, Pfizer may claim that the Toviaz-branded tweet is notice of a press release, not advertising, and that the press release contains the necessary fair balance (albeit one click away).

In the post about OAB mentioned above, I included slides from a Pharmacia VP that demonstrate the importance of PR and the media in "creating a new disease." One slide said "Drive potential patients to physician offices by using DTC and PR with symptom recognition." Another slide (see below) shows that the Media are an important component in creating consumer demand: