HealthTalker CEO Andy Levitt continues his trek across the US, hitting a slew of pharma meetings and speaking at a handful of them. Here’s his wrap up of the DTC Perspectives conference in Livingston, New Jersey.

The pharma Fall conference season is in full swing, and today I am happy to be in New Jersey to attend Bob Ehrlich’s semi-annual DTC program with about 200 other pharma-focused colleagues over the next two days. This year’s theme is “DTC in the Era of Consumer Choice.”

On many levels, I was excited to hear what presenters had to say this afternoon. There was wide consensus from each speaker that consumers are in control of how they choose to consume media. Health-focused consumers, much like the general population, have an endless amount of media distractions and choices, making the job of marketers that much more challenging to capture their precious and limited attention. This harsh reality calls into question the value of traditional reach and frequency media buys, and places greater emphasis on engagement and impact. (more…)

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

Pharma sales forces were out, well, in force for a two-day leadership summit put on by the Center for Business Intelligence this week in Philadelphia. As a newbie on the pharma reporting scene, I eagerly await these conference opportunities…especially the ones that deal with important sales management topics. This conference, in particular, presented sessions on just about every topic under the sales force sun—from cool new ways to reach physicians to interactive detailing and closed-loop promotion. In particular, I appreciated Matt Pammer’s presentation on examining the benefits and challenges of a rep-facilitated e-detailing program, and how it can complement a sales force strategy. (more…)