Building on the insight that hearing the erectile dysfunction (ED) message from a woman made some men feel less alone with the condition and more motivated to seek treatment, VIAGRA launched a new campaign featuring a woman for the first time to de-stigmatize ED.

But, with a “hot button” subject like ED and an iconic brand’s reputation on the line, the media strategy had to be both impactful and thoughtful in order to secure positive, informative media coverage with maximum exposure. The team needed to leverage the unique nature of the campaign while pulling through important key messaging – all while adhering to legal and regulatory guidelines.

We developed a strategy to secure two exclusive media placements with the Associated Press and AdAge, centering on the advertising campaign and the topic of ED. We carefully reminded reporters about VIAGRA’s heritage in the category and the evolution of advertising around treatment – while pulling through important safety and efficacy messaging. And, we communicated key study data gathered in the building of the campaign.

The pitch worked! The AP and AdAge stories created an avalanche of media--more than 1 billion impressions--which pulled through key messaging developed by PR. In addition to AP pickup, original content around the campaign unfolded and PR played an essential role in analyzing tonality and mitigating potential issues.

The PR team navigated uncharted waters for an iconic brand making a bold shift in strategy. The result was unprecedented brand awareness generated through mainstream and trade media.

PR amplified the advertising campaign through an aggressive yet highly strategic public relations campaign from start to finish, spanning approximately 6 months. Execution involved message development for external communications, and the development of the strategy to secure high level media placements that would trigger an additional layer of widespread broadcast and print coverage. Additionally, we monitored the tonality of the pervasive coverage the campaign generated, particularly after the AP story hit, which involved auditing, and reacting to specific news stories.

The campaign generated more than one billion media impressions! The strategy of leading with two influential publications was hugely successful, triggering hundreds of stories that served to educate and de-stigmatize ED. This included more than 1,270 media placements--195 original stories, and more than 580 pick-ups of the Associated Press article. Overall, 87 percent of coverage tonality was positive or neutral around the campaign. 47 percent of total coverage pulled-through the key message that "over half of men over 40 have some degree of ED” and 59 percent mentioned that the ad featured a woman.

PR’s media strategy, its coordination with the marketing team, and ability to leverage the unique nature of the VIAGRA campaign with reporters at the New Yorker, Daily Mail and countless others, led to unprecedented media coverage and advanced a healthy conversation around ED.

Please see important safety information and full prescribing information at www.VIAGRA.com.