Football Hero Ditka Hired in Impotence Ad Battle
Thu Jul 31, 9:04 AM ET
By Jed Seltzer
NEW YORK (Reuters) - As a professional football player and coach, "Iron" Mike Ditka was known for his toughness. Now he's being paid to show his sensitive side.
Bayer AG and GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the pharmaceutical companies, have hired Ditka to promote Levitra, their new impotence drug, in a campaign to encourage men to confront touchy health problems.
Every week, 120 million football fans will be inundated with television ads of Ditka touting the benefits of Levitra, which clinical trials have shown works faster than Viagra.
Earlier this month, the companies paid an undisclosed amount to be a sponsor of the National Football League. While the league would not provide details, published reports put the deal's value at $6 million per year, in addition to costs Bayer and Glaxo will pay to purchase advertising time on TV networks during the football season.
The agreement with Ditka is the first salvo in a fierce marketing battle between the companies and Pfizer Inc., the maker of Viagra.
Pfizer, which launched Viagra in 1998 and has made it into a household name, uses a baseball star and a prominent race car driver as well as former Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole in its ads to promote Viagra. Glaxo and Bayer hope Ditka, with his tough image, can transform himself into a sensitive salesman.
"We really think we've scored a touchdown with Ditka. We were looking for a real guy who could relate to men," said Nancy Bryan, vice president of marketing for men's health at Bayer.
Ditka, who coached the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl in 1986 and was the first tight end elected to the Football Hall of Fame, is known to fans for his gruff manner, unyielding perfectionism and abrasive attitude.
Are Bayer and Glaxo worried he will be too off-putting to convince men to address erectile dysfunction?
"In spite of that image, the interesting thing is that he comes across as being very personable and very interested in men's health," said David Pernock, a vice president at Glaxo.
Bayer's Bryan said Ditka has had erectile dysfunction in addition to a heart attack, making him the perfect spokesman for a men's health campaign.
At stake is a multibillion dollarmarket. Sales of Viagra, which has a monopoly, were $1.74 billion in 2002.
But analysts expect the overall market for impotence drugs to expand greatly as more men seek treatment.
"Fifty percent of men over the age of 40 have these problems at one time or another, but about 80 percent have not sought treatment," said Glaxo's Pernock.
MORE COMPETITION
In addition to Levitra, which is marketed in Europe and expected to be approved in the United States later this year, Eli Lilly and Co. and its partner ICOS Corp. have an impotence drug called Cialis, also available in Europe. They hope to win approval in the United States, the world's most profitable drugs market, this year.
With the commercials, Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline are hoping for major impact. The NFL's TV ratings normally dwarf the viewership of the other three major U.S. sports: basketball, baseball and hockey.
"We have roughly 18 or 19 corporate partners," said
Steve Phelps, vice president of corporate sponsorship for the NFL. "But this is not an area we have been in previously in terms of looking at the health issues of our fans."
Combined with a violent sport and overtly sexual commercials, the Ditka ads would be consistent with the NFL's macho image.
"But there's been a balance in the advertising," Phelps said. "We've also had advertisements in there with very family-oriented messages.
Now THAT would be a good commercial!! 
