Direct-to- consumer branding of prescription medicines in Australia

For prescription pharmaceuticals, branding primarily targets the medical profession in an effort to achieve brand recognition, brand preference and brand loyalty and, in turn, increase prescriptions. Despite direct-to-consumer-advertising of prescription pharmaceuticals not being allowed in Australia, there have been cases of branding pharmaceutical products directly to consumers via “un-named” product promotion and disease awareness campaigns. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of current pharmaceutical marketing strategies in Australia. It also considers branding issues facing pharmaceutical corporations including industry regulation of promotional activities, as well as suggesting future implications and opportunities for research.