Sham WOW

If I say the name Vince Shlomi, you probably have no idea who I’m talking about. But, more than likely you’ve seen him on TV in a popular commercial. Better known as “the Sham Wow guy,” Shlomi is the up-in-your face endorser of the product that maintains an-almost-yelling voice for the entire commercial. Despite his current reputation, Shlomi does have affiliations other than the Sham Wow. He made a movie that received horrible reviews by critics, and struggled to sell it until he was inspired by the success of Girls Gone Wild. After he put the film on an informercial, it sold 50,000 copies.

Shlomi is now doing the same with the Sham Wow. The commercial has earned a spot on humor websites and I place this product is on my list of “ridiculous items”—ones that I actually find humorous and can’t believe that people buy—along with the Snuggie, and that thing that claims to pop the dents out a car. Despite the laughing, the commercial has sparked huge sales for the makers of Sham Wow.

Shlomi has recently gained some attention aside from his outrageous infomercial. It was reported in the news that he hired a prostitute (No-No #1) and when he attempted to kiss her, she bit his tongue and would not let go. Sham Wow guy then punched her several times until she let go, causing multiple facial fractures and lacerations (No-No #2). His previous reputation as a popular marketer (or so he calls himself) may be ruined. Will Sham Wow cut all ties to avoid public affiliation with an accused assaulter? Even more so, will the incident destroy Shlomi’s career or cause sales to decline? We have seen it happen before. Just recently, Michael Phelps lost sponsorships and promotional contracts were terminated after he was caught smoking weed. And Chris Brown is expected to lose a huge fan base and see a drop in record sales after being arrested for beating up girlfriend, Rhianna. Many radio stations are even refusing to ever play his music again. But we can only wait to see if Vince Shlomi’s case has gotten enough media exposure to elicit a hurtin on the Sham Wow.

Marketing Changes in the Big Pharmas

A guest speaker in one of my classes who is an executive at Astra Zeneca brought up one of biggest issues facing marketing at pharmaceutical companies. As of 2009, sales reps are no longer allowed to hand out samples, gifts, or tokens to health care professionals and their affiliates (which includes me as a University PharmD student). From the public perspective, this ritual was contributing to the astronomical drugs costs in America. I got to hear the other side of the story from the speaker. Companies now have limited access to physicians and are struggling to find effective ways to form relationships with practitioners. These relationships were beneficial to both the doctors and patients. The reps educated doctors about the drugs, new indications and research findings, and promoted the use of their products. Patients who are uninsured or can’t afford their medications could get samples to experiment a treatment before spending money on something that doesn’t work. They had access to the same quality of health care as any other patient.

The new policy has changed all of that. It is affecting the marketing of novel, brand name drugs and changing how the companies promote their products. On top of limited access to their target consumers—the prescribers—drug companies are simultaneously undergoing scrutiny in other areas. I sort of feel bad for them. The health care system has created this mess and the pharmas have to take the hit. They spend billions of dollars, and intangible time and resources discovering drugs and getting them approved. Yes, they then make money on them, but only for a limited amount of time. Once their patent expires, the generic drug steals 90% of sales and they can only hope that their name brand product will even survive. On top of all this, they no longer have the freedom to market their products in a way that was working.