The Soul of Biotech

Hello, meet Gautham. Or rather, meet Gautham’s Facebook ad. He’s looking for a job in the biotechnology industry, and he’s found one of the better places to advertise: Facebook. Clicking on the ad directs you to his resume page.

Why is this remarkable? It’s one of the first instances I’ve seen of job-seekers advertising to prospective employers on social media rather than the other way around. Facebook’s ad structure makes it possible for job seekers to limit out-of-pocket expenses, and Facebook only shows your ad to those whose interests closely match yours (which is probably why I’ve seen Gautham’s ad many times on Facebook). What a clever way to bring the right employers to you!

Last year, I wrote about the future of non-personal promotion (NPP), and mentioned FluFlix, a YouTube contest encouraging the public to create ads about the flu.

Well, while I wasn’t looking, Novartis, which also owns Excedrin, created another contest, this time about a new Excedrin formulation. Furthermore, according to Online Media Daily, the contest has been deemed a success, based on the high volume of page views and the secondary promotion of the contest by the participants. Pretty clever way of employing your customers.

As I suspected in my previous post, the OMD reporter writes that this tactic is being investigated as “an alternative to the high costs of television ads” (and drug reps). I’m just thrilled to see a major drug company become so prominently involved in Web 2.0 media.