Desperate Housewives, watch your back

by Michaela Drapes, September 22nd, 2006, 7:00 am

First there was Extreme Makeover and The Swan. But those “reality” television shows were missing one key element that makes pilot-season contender The Hottest Mom in America such a sticky prospect. The show’s main sponsor is a pharmaceutical company — Medicis Pharaceuticals, maker of cosmetic pharmaceutical treatment and “wrinkle filler” Restylane.

The production is the wacky scheme of “Felicity Huffman’s former manager” (I wasn’t kidding with that Desperate Housewives reference!) and champion poker player Jamie Gold. Gold’s viral marketing firm BuzzNation, is also in on the action — it’s spamming every message board imaginable with information about the show’s auditions in Dallas, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta, New York City, and Los Angeles — as well as canvassing salons in the upscale neighborhoods of those communities. The production is off to a rocky start: The first audition, in Dallas, hardly drummed up the thousands of hopefuls that vie for berths on American Idol — a pool of 300 applicants seems a bit thin. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Gold is tied up in a Nevada court, sorting out his World Series of Poker winnings in a lawsuit brought by a business partner.

This certainly is a novel way to market a drug — Restylane is a prescription-only topical cream that hasn’t even made a dent in cosmeceutical market dominated by Allergan’s Botox. Medicis is hoping that this viral marketing campaign will get your average housewife hooked on the Restlyane treatment (and its $2,000 per year price tag) before Allergan’s next potential blockbuster, topical wrinkle cream Juvederm, hits the market in January 2007. If the reality show scheme works, it could open the door for more elaborate viral marketing campaigns in the pharmaceutical space in the future. What’s unclear, though, is exactly how these campaigns will shore up with regulations that police the marketing of pharmaceuticals directly to consumers.

If the show is picked up by networks — there’s no word yet if it has been — the winner of the title of America’s Hottest Mom will become Restlyane’s spokeswoman and she’ll be awarded a college scholarship for her child. No word yet, though, if BuzzNation’s next reality show pitch will feature said Hot Mom’s brood in a televised battle for the college-funding booty.