Never take yourself too seriously

Humor in pharmaceutical advertising is a tough sell. But if every TV commercial nowadays is doing it, why can't we?

This was in the era right after the Purdue Pharma insanity that was depicted in "Dopesick." So marketing a pain reliever, or in this case a muscle relaxant, was about getting the Goldilocks effect. Meaning getting the dose just right. Too much and you're out of commission due to side effects. Too little and you're out of commission due to pain and muscle spasms. For SOMA, this meant launching a new dose (250mg) which was just right. By using humor, we never actually had to say "just right." That wouldn't have got past regulatory in the modern environment. Below you can see the intentionally cheesy journal ad and a series of humorous "TV spots" that were meant to run on the reps iPods as part of a "just push play" direct marketing campaign. They also would go on the brand site.

This campaign was the intellectual property of the Hal Lewis Group and Meda Pharmaceuticals.