Marketing Success

In order to garner a greater understanding of the marketing landscape in pharma. NGP spoke with Neil W Matheson, CEO of AXIS Healthcare Communications LLC; Peter Gannon, Hyphen’s Senior Vice President responsible for Client Services and Business Development; and Tracy Doyle, President and CEO of Phoenix Group Holdings.

NGP. As competition increases alongside consumer spending, how is the marketing landscape changing to deliver more diverse, targeted brand awareness?
TD. The pharmaceutical marketing landscape has evolved to one of fierce competition, making it survival of the fittest. With this fierce competition, consumers are being given more choices than ever, with large growth in non-personal channels (e.g. – the web). While this competition creates a lot of ‘noise’ it also demands excellence, or else you face extinction. So, customers and Pharma alike are constantly trying to get through this noise and deliver.

The most recent change in this paradigm is in delivering a more highly focused message. Companies are leveraging data in new and creative ways to uncover smaller and smaller segments of customers and then producing communication and educational programs focused on them. This process entails uncovering the segment, devising a means or channel in which to reach them and then closely monitoring the results.

Unless a marketing plan leverages highly focused data to develop its physician communications and patient education programs, it is simply going to be competing on who can spend the most, instead of who is spending the wisest.

PG. This is a very important trend that marketers need to consider. DTC pharmaceutical marketing is driving the need for more relevant marketing initiatives to the HCP audience. Companies are relying on more savvy and innovative ways to deliver messaging, measure effectiveness, and tailor those messages based on insights to the healthcare professional community. Given the noise in the market, programs and campaigns delivered through segmented solutions have more appeal to marketers and more relevance to the audiences. Marketers that utilize data and insights to customize messaging to the needs of their audiences are apt to see more uptake and receptivity than mass marketing may yield.

We see customization in messaging more today than ever before and in everything being done from a communications perspective. User-generated content, whether it is on MySpace or Medscape, is changing the landscape. This is because audiences respond more to germane relevant messaging than they do mass-marketed ones. Technology has enabled hardware devices (PDAs, phones, iPods, etc.) to receive more information from marketers than ever before. The healthcare professional community overall are adopters of technology but fickle with content. It is our job to tailor content to their needs, deliver it via an easy mechanism, and make it engaging and valuable so they will ultimately use and respond to it.

NM. The pharmaceutical marketplace is changing dramatically. The drivers of this rapid change are the aging baby boomer population, the demand from this generation for more information and involvement in their own healthcare decisions, the perceived high price of medicines, and the public perception of the industry. In response to all of these market drivers, the pharmaceutical industry has to develop brands that physicians, patients, and consumers equate with value. The brand has to deliver the promise of better care, improved quality of life, and a significant advantage over present agents. If the pharma industry can build iconic brands (Viagra is an example) that in turn generate patient loyalty they may well be able to significantly lengthen the life of the brand by reducing price and competing as a branded generic when the patent expires.

NGP. How would you define a successful brand marketing strategy and what do you see as the vital components, both from a people and technology perspective?
NM. The most successful pharmaceutical brands have been built on a ‘big idea’ that becomes the foundation of the brand strategy and drives all tactics to all target audience. One of the best examples of a very successful big idea is the ‘purple pill’ concept used by Nexium to extend the lifecycle of the first proton pump inhibitor- Prilosec. In fact, Prilosec was also marketed on the back of a big idea – instead of calling the drug a proton pump inhibitor they described it as an acid pump inhibitor and went about reclassifying diseases as acid-related (acid-related reflux instead of GERD). Once the big idea is in place it drives the communications messages. Selection of appropriate media (including online and digital media) is then the key to successful tactical execution.

TD. Success in a brand marketing strategy is measured in how well your customer can understand your message and relate to it – the clearer and simpler, the better – with each and every tactic in harmony with the overall strategy.

The cornerstone element of success lies in developing a message that easily resonates and adds value to the consumer. With this in mind, the vital component of a successful strategy is one that constantly ensures that the strategy delivers on these elements. This takes form in terms of people and technology making sure that this essence is not lost downstream along the various communication channels and tactics.

Executional excellence is often referred to as a means of conveying that all efforts are aligned and done flawlessly. In terms of people, the speakers used in training, the detail aids used by reps, the slide deck used in field promotion and the Web page experience all must be in harmony with the main strategy and each other. If they are not in harmony, the consumer will start to hear different messages and result in being confused with identifying with the brand.

Technology now offers the pharmaceutical marketer the ability and power of getting to its customers at an almost 1:1 level. So, the successful strategy is one that leverages the data that are available to reach each of its customers and in terms that they desire.

PG. Of course brand marketing strategies are rooted in the objectives of the brand, the strengths of the product, and the opportunities in the market. The more successful ones account for changing dynamics in the market, trends, audience behaviors, and thorough competitive analysis. It is not enough to simply have the strategy to move from “where you are now to where you want to be”; you must account for “how will the market change as I am trying to get there” and “where should I go next to stay ahead” of the competition, market, or even trends. Successful brand strategies are cognizant of scalability, versatility, and adaptability. Brands capacity to act, react, and evolve with the dynamics of the market and trends/behaviors of the audiences give them a significant advantage over those who cannot and those who cannot do so quickly and nimbly.

We value technology so much because it provides the platform through which to gather insights on audiences, trends, competitive analysis, and brand activities to yield a refined, tailored, customized, and sometimes even personalized message for each member of the intended audience. By empowering sales representatives with this type of messaging enhances their value proposition to the HCP community and strengthens relationships with their audiences. If technology is the machine that can fine-tune our communications than people are the diplomats to deliver it. Synergistically enabling the two is the ideal scenario through which you can appropriately balance your variables (market dynamics, competitors, data, trends, behaviors) and accurately deliver your message. We see this as a trend that will continue and recognize elements in the market that reflect it, i.e. Tablet PC Mobile eDetailing and Direct to Desktop Programs to name a few.

NGP. What tools and training have you implemented to strengthen your workforce and achieve these goals?
PG. Well, our workforce is comprised of marketers and technologists, creating the ideal confluence of disciplines to ensure our client-partners accomplish their goals when implementing the formerly prescribed successful strategic marketing plan. However, what is critical for success is that our clients recognize the importance of this. Therefore our toolbox of technology platforms (eDrenalin, Hyphen DTD, Hyphen Brand Central, and our Hyphen Speaker Bureau Application) are user-friendly applications to enable marketers, partners, sales representatives and healthcare professionals to view and interact with content and data within environments that are measurable and reportable. We feel digital platforms that provide robust data and metric sets are critical for marketers to truly unleash the potential of their brands. By enabling brands to continually evaluate performance metrics and audience interactions with content, they are empowered to capitalize on these insights and quickly refine content to re-engage audiences and reinforce behaviour.

NM. We have started a new interactive agency to specifically address the rapidly increasing need for online marketing solutions. The internet will play a vital role in connecting the pharmaceutical industry with both physicians and patients and improving physician-patient communication and information flow.

We have also hired a number of people with multimedia skills so that we can provide innovative solutions to increasingly complex market problems.

TD. The Phoenix key to ensuring alignment with the brand strategy is in fully leveraging the data available in today’s market. Leveraging data ensures on point medical education tactical recommendations thereby ensuring a focused and targeted plan. Phoenix has invested heavily in information management tools to strengthen our service offerings.

NGP. In which areas in particular do you believe you have the edge over competitors when it comes to boosting a company’s revenues and reputation? How are you looking to improve on these moving forward?
NM. The focus of all AXIS agencies is on high quality science and the way the science drives and supports strategy. Even the most creative/innovative 'big ideas' require solid scientific evidence to implement them successfully.

Our clients are being forced to develop more sophisticated products and effectively differentiate them based on superior science. With more than 100 PhD, PharmD, and MD qualified individuals across our group, we have the ability to drive scientifically credible, clinically relevant, and strategically successful programs to support brand positioning.

We continue to add high quality people who think strategically, understand how the science underpins the strategy, and can apply the evidence to make the 'big idea' a reality.

PG. Hyphen’s edge lies in our dual expertise in interactive solutions and healthcare communications. This optimal blend of expertise, industry experience, and technology drives a process grounded in message delivery innovation, feedback mechanism integration, and refinement of messaging to suit specific audience needs.

The relationship of technology and healthcare marketing continuously evolves, yielding an ever-changing and dynamic environment. Hyphen’s comprehensive experience and insight into this relationship permits us to rapidly establish, develop, launch, and refine interactive solutions targeted to individual physicians and patients. Furthermore, our solutions themselves are geared to enable our clients to quickly and appropriately tailor messaging and create a more engaging value proposition for their target audiences. We believe in “relevance” marketing meaning that the more your content can be refined based on the insights and behaviours of your audience, the more apt they will be to engage with it. Of course, delivering through a measurable mechanism is best for this; hence all of our solutions are digital.

When companies begin communicating with audiences on more relevant terms, the value proposition is increased. This creates demand for more content, more information, and ultimately a higher visibility for your message and your brand. This translates to more product sales and more measurable programs creating a cost-savings on communications activities. Hyphen’s approach and tools help establish a credible reputation in the market for companies that seek to communicate on an individualized basis, with their valued customers outside of the norms and constructs of mass marketing.

TD. Simply, Phoenix delivers excellence. Phoenix has the unique ability to apply data to its promotional education tactical recommendations, identify Opinion Leaders, and leverage them to create highly focused and successful programs. Phoenix is aligned with the core strategy of the brand and everything we do reflects the strategy.

The value can be seen in the success of the programs and materials we deliver and is constantly being recognized by opinion leaders, brand members and sales representatives.

Our goal is to continue to deliver on the reputation we have built and constantly improve on the processes we use. We continue to find new ways to reach the end user and yield more focused efforts.

Neil W Matheson, CEO AXIS Healthcare Communications LLC
In September 1999, Neil teamed up with Larry Lesser to establish ApotheCom Associates LLC. The company experienced rapid growth and is now a member of a larger organization known as AXIS Healthcare Communications LLC. AXIS provides a full spectrum of healthcare communications services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries through its strategic consulting, medical communications, medical education, healthcare advertising, and sales training agencies. AXIS employs more than 265 people worldwide.

Peter Gannon, Senior Vice President responsible for Client Services and Business Development, Hyphen
Gannon has been serving in this capacity since 2004. He joined Hyphen when it was founded in 2001, from tenures at Torre Lazur and Adient. Peter’s 10-plus years experience are comprised of traditional healthcare communications and technology solutions within this vertical market. His knowledge of these two select disciplines has yielded unique robust interactive solutions for his clients and innovative application products for Hyphen.

Tracy Doyle, President and CEO Phoenix Group Holdings
Doyle founded Phoenix Marketing Solutions, a full service medical education company, in 2002 with two other women. She has overcome obstacles in the industry with innovative solutions that ultimately resulted in the formation of a medical education group holding company and three subsidiaries. In a short time, she has led Phoenix into profitability by recognizing and seizing the right opportunities and encouraging out-of-the box solutions and services.

Tracy is the 2005 NJ winner of the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year Award in the Healthcare Solutions and Services category. Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Tracy and her team number 21 in the HOT 100 fastest growing US companies in 2005 and number 31 in 2006.