Digital Pharma Banner Ads Cheat Sheet

Refresh your knowledge of regulatory requirements for digital pharmaceutical banner ads.

Prescription Drug
Without a Boxed Warning
Prescription Drug
With a Boxed Warning
Coming Soon Ads
Allowed to show a logo.
Cannot mention/imply therapeutic area or indication.
No fair balance needed.
Not allowed.
Single-frame banners (placed in eNewsletters or static/backup for HTML5): Act as Reminder Ads
Allowed to show a logo.
Cannot mention/imply therapeutic area or indication.
Fair balance/ISI are not needed.
Act as a Reminder Ad due to inability to have a full scrolling ISI.Note that it is common to “unbrand” (described to the right) these placements to communicate what the drug is for instead of saying nothing in a branded way.
Not allowed: Instead, companies typically “unbrand” these ads and use non-brand colors/fonts, allowing them to mention indication.
Unbranded description cannot identify unique characteristics of the product, so it should be more general.
HTML5, Animated Banners: Product-Claim Ads
Allowed to show a logo and indication/therapeutic area, but required to include “scrolling” ISI and a link to prescribing information.
Same as products without a boxed warning.
Unbranded Banners
Cannot mention/imply the product name, though can talk about use/indication, as long as it doesn’t identify unique characteristics of the drug: therefore, the statement should be more general.
Same as products without a boxed warning.

DISCLAIMER: While we have tried to keep this as regulatory-proof as possible, please treat this cheat sheet as a guide only.

Other considerations:

  • Corporate “sign-off”/ID number placed somewhere on the banner ad (within the scrolling ISI; on one of the animated frames, or within a static ad)
  • 1-pixel border around banners (required by media-serving platforms like DoubleClick)
  • Implementation of clickTAG variables for destinations in HTML5 banner ads
  • Flash is not an option
  • Use of campaign manager/media serving vendor, such as DoubleClick
  • Full banner area should be clickable, not just the CTAs/buttons
  • Tracking/tagging destination URLs
  • A/B/n testing for creatives/CTAs/destination pages

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