GlaxoSmithKline - Top 13 Ad Budgets

Company: GlaxoSmithKline
2007 Ad Spending: $2.457 billion
2006 Ad Spending: $2.505 billion

Breakdown

• Magazines: $387 million
• Newspaper: 13 million
• Outdoor: $900,000
• TV: $742.4 million
• Radio: $14.2 million
• Internet: $29.4 million

Where GSK is spending money: The biggest advertising price tag was attached to Advair, GSK's blockbuster asthma medication, which rung up $127M in advertising spending (photo). The company spent $107.8M on advertising for the osteoporosis med Boniva, which features celebrity spokesperson Sally Field (video). That's a 7.4 percent increase from 2006. Other big campaigns included Requip for restless leg syndrome and Parkinson's, Avodart for enlarged prostate and Valtrex for genital herpes.

On the consumer products side of things the company ramped up advertising for the OTC diet drug Alli to $90 million (the drug was not approved for OTC use in 2006). Spending on the Aquafresh brand soared 213 percent, from $19.4 million to $61 million.

Overall, GSK's sales grew 6.9 percent to $45.5 billion and earnings increased 5.6 percent to $10.6 billion.

Where GSK isn't spending money: GSK spent 1.9 percent less on advertising in 2007 than it did in 2006. And although Advair still topped the company's budget, spending on the drug dropped 34 percent, from $194 million to $127 million. The company significantally cut back on ad budgets for Imitrex (down 50 percent), Vesicare (down 42 percent) and Coreg (down 68 percent). GSK also cut its image advertising budget by almost 68 percent in 2007. Ad spending was cut in most media categories, with the exception of Spanish language media, radio spots and Internet advertising.