Eli Lilly pulls millions in Twitter advertising after fake account debacle — report

Eli Lilly is pulling its millions in ad spending on Twitter after last week’s fake posts debacle, according to a news report.

When an imposter Lilly account with a “verified” blue check mark touted, “We are excited to announce insulin is free now,” it set off a mad scramble inside Lilly to reach Twitter and get the post taken down, according to the Washington Post and its sources inside the pharma. The problem, however, was made even worse when no one at Twitter responded for hours, likely due to new owner Elon Musk’s massive staff layoff.

And in the hours that the fake post remained up Thursday afternoon, others joined in with “verified” imposter Lilly accounts with even more fake commentary. Lilly apologized on Friday at its official account@Lillypad over the “misleading message from a fake Lilly account.”

However, the real damage had already been done. By Friday morning, Lilly stock had dropped by more than 5% from the day before. The Twitter stunt pulled down the stock price of other diabetes drugmakers, including Novo Nordisk and Sanofi. Lilly’s stock has yet to recover and, on Monday morning, remained down more than 4% over the past five days.

Elon Musk's pay-for-play Twitter sows chaos as fake Eli Lilly account proclaims insulin is free

Lilly is also pausing its entire Twitter publishing plan for all corporate accounts globally, the Post reported. It quoted a former Lilly communications executive who criticized Twitter saying, “For $8, they’re potentially losing out on millions of dollars in ad revenue. What’s the benefit to a company … of staying on Twitter? It’s not worth the risk when patient trust and health are on the line.”

A Lilly spokesperson sent Endpoints News a statement when asked about the ad shutdown, saying: “We are deeply committed to ensuring patients and customers receive accurate information about our medicines. In recent days, fake/parody Twitter accounts for Lilly have communicated false information and we continue working to correct this situation.”

The Lilly Twitter fakeout poured fuel on the already fiery controversy over insulin drug pricing, which has been both a healthcare and a political hot-button issue.

By the time it happened, many pharma companies and ad agencies had already paused ads on Twitter last week — Pfizer and Gilead confirmed among them, but others quietly doing the same — after new owner Elon Musk charged onto the scene with promises of unfettered free speech.

Lilly’s advertising drop comes as no surprise, but begs a bigger question for the rest of the industry — and will other pharmas follow its lead? Conservative pharma companies have already been slow on the uptake with social media advertising, and the Lilly debacle will likely have a chilling effect.

While Twitter is far from pharma’s first choice in social media — that would be Facebook, where an older target demographic and longer post capability are more welcoming — the damage would still amount to millions in revenue Twitter can’t afford to lose.

Major advertising holding companies, including IPG, Omnicom and Havas, recommended clients, which include many pharma and healthcare companies, to pause advertising on Twitter for now.

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来源: Endpts

Jasmine Enberg

Last week, eMarketer’s Insider Intelligence slashed its Twitter ad revenue forecast overall by 39% through 2024, taking into account Musk’s takeover of the platform. It now pegs Twitter ad revenue at $4.79 billion by 2024, accounting for only 1% of all digital ad revenue across all media.

“Musk’s attempts to keep advertisers happy have been futile,” analyst Jasmine Enberg said in a press release. “Advertisers are pulling their ads due to brand safety concerns, as well as potential conflicts of interest with Musk’s other businesses. Musk’s management style won’t help motivate employees or comfort advertisers. Many of the employees who could have soothed advertisers’ concerns are now gone.”

Twitter advertising pause or persist? Pharmas quietly weigh options in uncertain time

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