Promoting Type 2 Diabetes Treatment with a Sweepstakes

Novo Nordisk has announced that they have re-signed NBA Hall-of-Famer Dominique Wilkins as a celebrity spokesman for the company's diabetes drug Victoza. This time, however, they are including a familiar basketball theme and a sweepstakes.

The theme, the Diabetes Dream Team initiative, harkens back to the 1992 Summer Olympics gold medal-winning basketball team composed of Michael Jordan and others. Wilkins was not a member of that team, but he was a member of what's known as Dream Team II, which won gold in the FIBA World Championships in 1994 and included Wilkins, Reggie Miller, Alonzo Mourning, and Shaquille O'Neal, among others.

"[Wilkins] articulates the message of education and empowerment," Martin Jernigan, VP of diabetes marketing at Novo Nordisk, told FiercePharmaMarketing.

"After I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, I learned my disease could affect many areas of my health, so I built a 'Dream Team' of diabetes experts to help me," says Wilkins. "My team includes my doctors, pharmacist, diabetes educator, nutritionist, fitness trainer, and my family. While my plan is specific to me, it's a full-court approach that adults with type 2 diabetes can personalize to help manage their disease."

Novo Nordisk has attached a sweepstakes to the initiative, which, when combined with a prescription drug, is not something you see every day. There will be a single Grand Prize winner, who will have the opportunity to join Wilkins at a diabetes patient conference and receive a personalized support package, including time with a Certified Diabetes Educator and a personal trainer.

Through December 31, 2015, adults with type 2 diabetes and their caregivers can enter the My Diabetes Dream Team Sweepstakes.

Additionally, Wilkins will announce a Diabetes Dream Team MVP on Twitter each month. These MVPs will receive prize packs to help get their diabetes game plans on track.

Since I generally write about cancer topics, celebrity drug endorsements aren't something I see very often, and sweepstakes attached to such drugs? Absolutely not. So I'm a little taken aback by a sweepstakes promoted by a drug company.

Should drug companies be promoting their products through routes such as sweepstakes and giveaways? Is this an effective means of getting people talking about the health problem in question or just effective at boosting company revenue?

Source: FiercePharmaMarketing