The Triple P

Pharma snagged five out of 30 spots designated for the marketing elite on Ad Age’s Power Players 2008 list. Each individual represents a company that is making milestones in terms of signature accomplishments and advertising spending. Let’s take a closer look:

#5 Brian Perkins, vice president, corporate affairs
Johnson & Johnson
Ad Budget: $2.41 billion
Key attributes: company’s sponsorship of the Beijing Olympics; conversion of Pfizer allergy drug Zyrtec to OTC; continued innovative marketing endeavors with expansion of its BabyCenter portal

#8 Susan Edwards, vice president, marketing
GlaxoSmithKline
Ad Budget: $2.46 billion
Key attributes: consumer business up with diet drug Alli (a $200 million brand); Sensodyne growing at double-digits speed; new CEO Andrew Witty outlines plan for more emphasis on consumer products and less on pharmaceuticals

#21 Ian Read, president, worldwide pharmaceutical operations
Pfizer
Ad Budget: $1.25 billion
Key attributes: Lyrica and Sutent both up more than 50 percent in the first half; Viagra sales were up 13 percent in the second quarter despite competition; agreement made to forestall direct generic competition against Lipitor until 2011

#23 Herb Ehrenthal, group vice president, global advertising and marketing communications
Schering-Plough Corp.
Ad Budget: $1.09 billion
Key attributes: strong pipeline of drugs in the making; big acquisition of biotech company Organon; organic sales rose 1.4 percent in second quarter

#24 Bernard Poussot, CEO
Wyeth
Ad Budget: $1.08 billion
Key attributes: raised full-year expectations with its second quarter earnings; acquired the Thermacare analgesic-heat-wraps brand from P&G; Thermacare can be coupled with its Advil ibuprofen brand

For a more complete list of agencies, see the 100 Leading National Advertisers 2008 database on AdAge.com