Genie In A Bottle

Aladdin, when he rubbed his magic lamp, had a genie appear who granted his wishes.

Ever try that with the bottle that your prescription medicine comes in?

You're looking for magic and what you get is an amber translucent plastic tube given to you by the pharmacist behind the counter at Walgreen's.

That ain't magic.

Then the pill comes out, maybe it's shaped kind of funny, has an odd color, a company name and number engraved on it. My dog tags look better than this.

And it is supposed to cure me? And my doctor thinks this pill is a good recommendation? And it costs me $25 a dose? And this drug represents $1 billion for the pharmaceutical company in sales?

And does this really motivate to comply and stay on my meds?

I wonder if this is really good marketing practice for the Rx value chain.

In contrast, I love my Ipod. I got excited when I bought it. I loved unwrapping it and taking it out of the package. I enjoyed what it did for me. And I thought the premium was worth it.

Why can't we do the same for the delivery of prescription medicines. Target tried with their redesigned dispensing bottle, but the focus on that bottle was communication of information.

I want to delight in my health as much as I delight in my music.

If we could develop a true partnership in medicine delivery from a marketing perspective, I bet we could have more delighted, compliant patients who recognize the value of their medicines. But when we put those medicines in that plain bottle, the message we convey is that we don't care that much about you and whether you take this pill or not. Good luck, it's your life.

Here is where marketing can contribute to responsibility and to encouragement of compliance. That can be the genie and the genius of marketing.