Refresh your knowledge of regulatory requirements for digital pharmaceutical banner ads.
Prescription Drug
Without a Boxed Warning
Without a Boxed Warning
Prescription Drug
With a Boxed Warning
With a Boxed Warning
Coming Soon Ads
Allowed to show a logo.
Cannot mention/imply therapeutic area or indication.
No fair balance needed.
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.
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.
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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