Pfizer passed Chantix creative work to McGarryBowen, ending McCann HumanCare’s contract on the smoking cessation drug, agency sources confirmed.
The McCann consumer shop retains account duties on Pfizer’s Viagra, Aricept, Detrol and Toviaz, and will continue working on Wyeth’s OTC products Centrum and Caltrate, now under the Pfizer umbrella. Branded print and banner ads from McCann’s Chantix campaign, featuring a tortoise and hare motif, will continue to run through the first quarter of 2009, according to Sally Beatty, director of worldwide communications at Pfizer.
Adweek reported the account shift on Friday, noting that Pfizer spent nearly $60 million marketing Chantix during the first 11 months of 2008. A spokesperson at Pfizer told Adweek that McGarryBowen “presented us with very innovative ideas that we feel best meet the needs of this brand at this time.”
McCann is part of Interpublic, and McGarryBowen was acquired by Dentsu last November.
From the March 01, 2009 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
