Writing promotional copy

Promotional copy brings together a substantiated claim, the impression of the whole piece, its images and the needs of its intended reader.

Audience, brand and medium

The intended reader should be defined specifically, including habits, behaviours, likes and dislikes; attention to the audience rather than the writer helps gain attention and trust. ¹ Each kind of promotional material has a preferred writing style. ¹

Advertising seeks action and builds associations with a product or company, while medical advertising must address the link between medicine benefits and possible side effects. ² Accuracy and balance at every interaction may best help grow and maintain trust, and the writer should incorporate established company values appropriately. ² Channel and timing are as important as the message, and copy that works in one format may need changes for another. ² A medium should be selected for its contribution to the campaign rather than simply because it is available or a competitor uses it; writers benefit from keeping abreast of campaigns, market research and media planning. ²

Brand language comprises the words, phrases and terms an organisation uses to describe its purpose or products, helping consumers connect ideas with particular companies or products. ³ A distinctive language and tone can differentiate a brand, and tone should be consistent in customer messages and internal communications. ³ Overblown marketing language can become meaningless; testing a message on a non-specialist relative can help assess whether it works. ³ Recognising the basic techniques used in advertising claims helps assess how much truth a claim contains. ³

Medical advertising should be simple while remaining original and inventive. ⁴ For example, a refractory-epilepsy campaign's cliché “A ray of hope for your therapy-resistant patients” became more striking when changed to “More than a ray of hope for your therapy-resistant patients”. ⁴

Expressed and implied claims

In 2022, advertising in the United States, European Union and many other regions was legally required to be truthful and non-deceptive in each part and as a whole, with appropriate, widely accepted evidence for objective factual statements. ⁵ Inaccurate, misleading or unproven marketing could expose an organisation or freelance writer to legal action. ⁵

Both expressed and implied claims require substantiation, and the overall text and visuals must not mislead a reasonable consumer. ⁵ An FTC example of an expressed claim was that a refrigerator reduced energy costs by 25%; an implied claim was that a mouthwash killed germs causing colds, allowing consumers to infer that it prevented colds. ⁵ Personal experience and customer anecdotes are inappropriate evidence, particularly for health claims. ⁵

The FTC typically gave subjective puffery such as “the best” less scrutiny, but an objective element such as “most consumers prefer XYZ” required evidence, and subjective language could still contribute to a misleading overall impression. ⁵ Endorsements had to give honest opinions and actual, typical customer experience rather than unusual cases; “results may vary” was insufficient disclosure for an atypical result. ⁵ Expert endorsers needed appropriate qualifications and relevant opinions, and in many regions, including the United States, personal or financial relationships with the organisation required disclosure. ⁵ Disclosures and qualifying disclaimers had to be conspicuous and in plain language, and omitting material information important to a reasonable consumer's purchase or use decision was prohibited. ⁵

To address audience scepticism, writers should favour direct, objective, accurate claims with complete evidence and descriptions of the methods used to establish them. ⁵ Detailed, honest, independent expert analysis may be particularly persuasive for technical consumers. ⁵

Product comparisons

Comparative advertising compares products explicitly, by naming a competitor, or implicitly, for example through “Brand X”. ⁶ In 2022 both forms were legal in the United States, United Kingdom and European Union, and the FTC encouraged comparisons for the information they provided consumers and their encouragement of improvement and innovation. ⁶ Comparative advertising had to meet these conditions. ⁶

• Provide truthful information that is not misleading in part or as a whole.
• Compare equivalent products meeting the same customer need or intended for the same purpose.
• Objectively compare one or more relevant performance features that can be scientifically verified with appropriate evidence.
• Exclude other distortion or misleading information.
• In explicit comparisons, identify competitors by exact trade names, trademarks or other distinguishing branding marks, without denigrating or discrediting those marks.

⁶

Under these conditions, courts had consistently rejected competitors’ defamation or libel claims. ⁶ Comparative advertising can introduce new products, distinguish similar ones and establish a niche, although some advertisers consider it unethical or risky because competitors may retaliate with regulatory complaints. ⁶

Evidence and claims

Evidence searches should include relevant positive and negative evidence and use validated, peer-reviewed information. ^{7, 8} Medical textbooks, Martindale, the US Prescribers’ Digital Reference, the American Hospital Formulary Service, PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar, Medscape, WebMD and the Cochrane Library were recommended information sources in 2020. ⁸

Guidance for medical writers in 2020 recommended the following practices. ⁷

1. Conduct a comprehensive literature search using validated sources.
2. Simplify complex medical jargon.
3. Align information with product labels and marketing-authorisation claims.
4. Consult relevant reporting guidelines, including CONSORT, PRISMA, STROBE and STARD, and ethical guidance, including GPP, ICMJE and COPE.
5. Present results objectively: avoid misleading presentation of statistically non-significant results, and give absolute rates to place relative risk in context.
6. Avoid superlatives such as best, strongest, safest and no side effects, especially without strong evidence.
7. Present positive and negative results factually.
8. Portray benefits and risks accurately.
9. Substantiate all claims.
10. Highlight all limitations.
11. Ensure medical and editorial review, with quality checking for data accuracy.
12. Adhere to guidelines and regulations.
13. Disclose all conflicts of interest.
14. Self-regulate to ensure unbiased reporting.

⁷

Hanging comparisons such as faster, better or safer should specify the comparator, and stronger or more effective needs adequate supporting data. ⁹ All-embracing claims such as the safest or the gold standard should be avoided, and safety claims should reflect the product label and marketing authorisation. ⁹ Claiming no adverse effects or hazards can be exaggerated and unsubstantiated. ⁹

Representatives’ statements and promotional literature can focus more on promotion than physician education and omit or skim adverse reactions, contraindications, warnings and precautions. ¹⁰ A cross-sectional analysis of advertisements in US biomedical journals reported in 2020 found that 18.1% adhered to FDA guidelines, 49.4% failed at least one parameter and 32.5% were non-adherent mainly because of incomplete information. ¹⁰ A prospective cohort study in the United States, Canada and France found that serious adverse events were rarely mentioned in promotional elements, even for products with FDA boxed warnings. ¹⁰ A systematic analysis found frequent pharmaceutical-industry code breaches in the United Kingdom and Sweden. ¹⁰

Writers should check whether the comparator is an inferior treatment or a lower dose of a competitor and whether results from every centre in a multicentre trial are published. ¹⁰ Continuing technical and ethical training helps writers produce factual, objective and balanced promotional literature for health professionals. ¹⁰

Appraisal of promotional literature for health professionals should include these reporting checks. ^{11, 12, 13, 14}

• Mention drug-to-drug comparisons and dose details.
• Mention absolute risk ratio and numbers needed to treat.
• Mention intention-to-treat results.
• Ensure all positive and negative endpoints and all subgroup analyses are reported.
• Mention random assignment, blinding details and group comparability.
• Mention study power, P value and confidence interval.

^{11, 12, 13, 14}

Consumer risk information

Professional package inserts were frequently used as the basis of consumer drug advertisements in 2008, putting technical language beside consumer-directed copy. ¹⁵ Two advertisements illustrated the difference: one described in-vitro human microsome studies, drug interactions and cytochrome P450 metabolism in apparently 8-point sans-serif type, whereas the other used approximately 10-point serif type and asked readers to tell their doctor about all medicines, vitamins and herbal supplements, and about muscle aches or weakness. ¹⁵ The second advertisement used clear headings and larger type, and its excerpt avoided scientific and medical terms. ¹⁵ A proposed improvement in 2008 was to change any FDA requirement for consumer advertisements to include professional-insert information so that consumer-insert information was required instead. ¹⁶

Images

Images can influence belief and behaviour through associations even when the audience cannot read, and different people may take different meanings from them. ¹⁷ Text and images can support each other in conveying the advertisement's message. ¹⁸ Image selection should serve a clear message and the advertising strategy, rather than an image's appeal alone; novel images demonstrating benefit can attract attention. ¹⁷

Review

Every document should undergo medical review for accuracy, fact checking of claims and data against sources, and editorial and quality review for appropriate style and language. ¹⁹ An independent medical affairs team should check that campaigns directed at clinicians align with scientific data and contain no exaggerated claims, independently of commercial pressure from senior management. ¹⁹ Copy involving legal issues requires current legal sources and review by attorneys familiar with the jurisdiction, since laws vary geographically and change with technology and legislation. ²⁰