Robert Likoff was looking for a way to sell more drugs. No, not that kind of drug. Likoff’s Montclair, N.J., firm, Group DCA, markets medications on behalf of pharmaceutical companies.

Group DCA was pretty good at persuading physicians to try new drug therapies, but the company struggled when it came to reaching patients. Rebates, a time-honored strategy, were a hassle. Free samples didn’t always translate into paid prescriptions. Likoff, 53, needed a marketing tool that would slice through the clutter of an ad-mad world.

In early 2005 he heard about Serious, a New York City startup with a patented DVD technology called Cardz. The technology is expensive and requires major creative investment, but the results compare favorably to conventional direct mail. Likoff hired Serious to design Cardz for some of his clients, including Merck and Pfizer. He also paid $350,000 for the license to sell Cardz to other pharmaceutical firms.

While Cardz resemble ordinary rectangular plastic gift cards and can include a magnetic stripe to swipe at a cash register, they feature a DVD encoded on the back. Slip one into a DVD player or computer, and up pops a multimedia presentation offering video, text, photos, games and printable coupons.

The initial investment, which covers design, production and manufacturing of 25,000 Cardz, runs upwards of $75,000. For repeat campaigns, prices range between $1.50 and $3 a card, depending on features and packaging. Likoff spent about $100,000 on his first Cardz campaign, for a popular birth control pill, and has since launched 14 more Cardz campaigns for other drugs. He calculates that Cardz adoption has driven a 30 percent increase in revenue at Group DCA in the past two years, from roughly $16 million in 2005 to $21 million in 2006.

CNN Money