NEW JERSEY, August 5, 2002: You've come a long way, Viagra.

Pfizer is airing a commercial for Viagra that is so clever, it's a far cry from the days when Bob Dole was the spokesperson. Funny, surprising, intimate and deep, the spot must have had a lot of research behind it. Or an extremely talented creative team. Likely, it was a lot of both.

No, we're not talking about the one featuring baseball's Rafael Palmiero. True, it's also a clever spot. Palmiero links his excellent performance as a fielder and hitter to taking fielding practice, and taking batting practice. Left open for interpretation is the link between his taking Viagra and his performance off the field. The spot works on many levels. One, it humanizes the problem of ED in a way that hadn't been done before. Two, it makes a connection to the athlete in all of us -- and that sometimes performance can be enhanced by "taking" something. Lastly, you gotta like the guy, after all, what's more American than baseball?

But the spot we'd like to spotlight is the one where the guy walks through the office and gets lots of backhanded compliments. "Been working out?" "Nope." "New haircut?" "No." His colleagues are intrigued with some undefinable quality in his appearance or outlook. Of course, he says no to all the positive questions coming his way. Then after the announcer reveals that the spot is about Viagra, the audience is both surprised and informed -- that the added benefits of Viagra go far beyond the indicated use. At least that is what the spot implies.

Finally, the spot ends with the guy on his cell phone, who smiles, knowingly, and then happily admits to the annonymous caller, "Yes!" Ostensibly, someone on the other end of the line finally asked him the right question...

We salute the marketing team at Pfizer for approving the spot -- while we don't know the agency responsible, we'd sure like to find out. If you or someone you know created that spot, drop us a line. Our readers would love to hear the "behind the scenes" story about how the spot was created.

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