Tag Archives: relevant

How Pharma To Stay Relevant To Customers In The New Digital World

Posted on by
Reply

Covid-19 vaccination has commenced in India on January 16, 2021, as in several other countries of the world. A few million Indians, across the country have already received their first shot, according to media reports. But, this isn’t the endgame of pandemic by any measure. Covid-19 will get over – only when it gets over.

Interestingly, on March 07, 2021, the Union Health Minister claimed, ‘the country is in the end game of the COVID-19 pandemic. Curiously, the very next day – the Indian Medical Association IMA termed it as: ‘Unauthorized political statements on Covid-19 pandemic invokes a false sense of security.’ Moreover, vindicating the IMA statement, the Coronavirus trend report, updated as on March 05, 2021 clearly demonstrated that ‘The pandemic is far from over.’

As a fallout of this pandemic, alongside many other nations of the world, most industries in India are going through a recovery process of disruptive changes in the business processes, after a harrowing time. Pharma industry is no exception in this area. Recreating contemporary operational processes to excel in the new normal, would call for not only jettisoning many practices from the old normal by the new ones, but also the creative deployment of the precious resources, by each pharma players.

Accordingly, the need for avant-garde digital-based customer engagement services, is gathering winds on the sails of the ships of pharma marketers, signaling a ‘never before’ urgency to move in this direction. It’s a new business imperative to survive, perform, and excel in pharma. At the same time, the industry also should examine other critical changes required in its primary interfaces with customers, in today’s fast evolving scenario.

This process would involve redefining the new roles of some critical positions in the organization. Today’s article will explore how pharma will stay relevant to its customers, increasingly getting more and more involved in the new digital practices.

Some key challenges in pharma digital strategy:

One of the key challenges for a productive ‘company – physician engagement’, in the new normal, is to be available at any preferred time of customers’ choice and the way they want. This may include, both virtual and in-person F2F engagements, along with customized contents for the same. This need is universal and, by and large, remains the same for key stakeholders of all drug companies.

This point was further reinforced, in the February 22, 2021 article on capacity building in the digital space, published in Reuters Events, Pharma. It focused on demands in new era of ‘digital-first customer engagement’, where content creation and omnichannel engagement also play equally vital roles.

Besides, the paper emphasized, today’s need is investing in the type of contents that add clinical value, as opposed to overtly commercial marketing type material. The primary task for marketers is now, therefore, to use updated, high-quality, neutral content on customer engagement platforms that will offer value – the customers are looking for – and not just values from a company’s self-serving perspective. From this angle, the new content model prompts greater customer involvement for meaningful outcomes.

In tandem, company staff members – including medical representatives, need to acquire multi-tasking expertise, being equipped with – required digital knowledge, skills on using digital platforms and ascertaining individual key customers’ engagement needs. Whereas a company’s digital strategist will work on “digital initiatives, solutions, products and how those will be integrated locally.” Thus, this is not about making everyone a digital expert, as the article underscores.

Need to redefine work processes and realigning the staff members:

As the above article from Reuters Events reconfirms, the digital approach that several pharma players were taking even a year or two ago is redundant in the new normal. Amid rapid transformation in the drug business, ‘pharmaceutical industry can no longer act like ostriches. Digital is no longer a fancy add-on, it’s an integral part of everything we do,’ the study highlighted.

Thus, to move in this direction effectively, pharma companies would require redefining many work processes and realign the staff members in sync with their new roles, accordingly. Further elaborating this point, the Accenture study – ‘A digital booster dose for health care,’ identified a few such roles that will undergo a metamorphosis to meet with post Covid challenges. Following are some, where urgent transformations required are, as follows:

 A.   ‘Intelligent representatives’ – not just ‘medical representatives’: 

In the current scenario, rep’s engagement process with the medical profession calls for leveraging specific intelligence based on behavioral preferences. This is fast emerging as a key requirement. Thus, the paper underscores: “Armed with a closed-looped CRM, representatives can effectively use data insights to plan, deliver and report calls.” I also indicated earlier – to succeed in this effort, individual skill sets, such as digital awareness and analytics will be of great use. The core objective is, looking through physicians’ eyes to understand their needs and solve problems by ‘serving customers as individuals, not as numbers in a call roster,’ the study emphasized.

B.  ‘Customer experience managers’ – not just ‘brand managers’: 

While using omnichannel digital platforms, doctor-patient interactions become more content dependent. Accordingly, brand managers’ role will be pivotal to facilitate a uniform interaction experience across all channels.

Therefore, for targeted communication, better understanding of doctors and patients and how they want to be engaged, is a key requirement. Which is why, brand managers will have to acquire skills, such as content management for continuous engagement across multiple channels. This is now absolutely necessary for effective branding in fostering a new genre of ‘customer-brand relationship’ model, across the company.

C. ‘Helping doctors manage their practice and patients better’ – not just ‘brand marketing’: 

‘Think beyond the patients’ – suggests the Accenture survey. This is because, virtualization of healthcare is all about doctors making further customizations into how they operate, both clinically (teleconsultation) and commercially (payments). This is, another important area where pharma companies can further differentiate themselves, by helping doctors manage their practice and patients better. The process entails acquiring critical skills in disease awareness, identifying key gaps that impact patient experience and clinical outcomes, alongside various digital engagement tools to perform these functions.

Conclusion:

The current year is expected to witness flooring of the gas pedal, as it were, in pharma’s digital transformation process, while navigating through humongous challenges on the way. The process includes, redefining work processes and realigning the staff members to establish a new customer-brand relationship’, based on Covid triggered changes in the customer behavior.

A quantum improvement in the usage of digital tools and platforms, alongside targeted content creation will be pivotal in pharma’s customer relationship management to excel in the changing business environment. Many doctors and patients have already signaled their acceptance for digital or virtual interactions, besides some well identified F2F engagements with relevant and personalized data-driven content as they expected from each drug company.

This need arises when one considers the findings of another Accenture Survey. It reported, while 39% of doctors want all medical representative meetings to be virtual, even post pandemic, ‘around 10% of key doctors still want to go back to pre-COVID-19 norms for in-person meetings.’ Thus, the point to ponder in this area is how to structure these F2F meetings for highly productive outcomes.

However, it’s also a reality that during Covid days, doctors wanted to interact with the Medical Reps more than what they used to do in the past. This offers a huge opportunity to drug companies in leveraging pharma rep’s interaction to accurately understand their customer-insight. Consequently, the new approach will help pharma companies, not only in staying relevant to its customers in the digital world, but also, to keep themselves prepared to face similar challenges in the future, proactively.

By: Tapan J. Ray     

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.

 

Multichannel Marketing: Two Important Pharma Trends

Posted on by
Reply

On September 6, 2018, Reuters reported the announcement of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) that it would cut about 650 positions in the United States related to a global restructuring program. This includes 450 Medical (sales) Representatives (MR). Similar announcements on job cuts for MRs by other pharma companies are being made since the last several years. Last week’s GSK announcement was the continuation of the same process. This prompts me to use the aforementioned global news while focusing on two important emerging trends in the pharma industry, as we witness today.

In the rapidly digitalized world, several broader questions are often raised today. These include whether or not e-detailing in the pharma industry will eliminate the role of MRs, or for that matter will digital marketing replace the pharma print media? As the concept of ‘multichannel marketing’ (MCM) gains momentum, finding right answers to these questions or at least the right trends are assuming as much importance for business success. As I don’t have any specific answers to these queries, in this article, let me discuss just two of these emerging trends, as appears to me.

Importance of multichannel marketing in pharma:

Many pharma companies are fast realizing that their customers, such as doctors, patients and others, are showing increasing interest in getting the requisite product or treatment related information from multiple readily available channels or sources. These are accessible both in digital and print platforms, which are often of independent origin. Such behavioral preferences of pharma customers are contrary to what was mostly happening in the past, globally. However, in the pharma world of contemporary India the same old traditional path of product information flow, from drug companies through Medical Representatives to doctors, continues, by and large.

Looking ahead, ‘multichannel marketing’ for pharmaceutical and biologic products is being generally considered as the recipe for commercial success of brands. Thus, pharma players are trying to engage their customers more through multiple channels, both directly or indirectly. This is happening in many countries of the world. It is a matter of time, I reckon, that majority of large to medium Indian drug manufacturers will also follow suit.

Two interesting trends:  

As multichannel marketing in pharma catches up, I find some interesting developments. These are outcomes of different channels getting balanced, based on customer preferences. Let me underscore, these are customers’ perceptions in the real world and not what the drug companies and their associates usually think, hence are worth considering. The two emerging trends, in my view, are as follows:

1. Although, the role of Medical Representatives is still important, but not as indispensable as was in the past.

2. Despite high decibel discussion over digital media, print media is still very relevant.

1. Impact on the role of Medical Representatives (MR): 

“There is an ongoing debate about the effectiveness and impact of the traditional sales representative, with some arguing to discontinue the role while others sense an opportunity to improve both rep productivity and efficiency.” This was articulated in a McKinsey & McKinsey paper titled, “Death of a sales model or not.” The same article also says, even those who champion the role, point out that using richer analytics, better leadership and aligned incentives to deliver stellar results in many geographies.

To comprehend what is really happening in this area, I would quote below from two important global survey reports, with a sincere wish that similar surveys are carried out in India too. Although, these two surveys are different in nature, but address the same basic issue.

A. ZS’s Access Monitor 2014 survey:

According to this survey, “Representatives access to physicians continues to decline, particularly in certain specialties and areas of the country. Overall, close to half of all doctors in the United States are now considered “access restricted” to varying degrees.” It further says: “Since the initial ‘Access Monitor’survey in 2008, access has steadily fallen, with 77 percent of physicians considered “accessible” that year, compared with 65 percent in 2012, 55 percent in 2013 and 51 percent in 2014.

In another important finding the same study captured that “the pharmaceutical and biotech industry wastes approximately USD 1.4 billion in infeasible calls. (A call is considered infeasible if a best-in-class sales rep can’t deliver it.) The cost of infeasible calls appears to have plateaued, as companies have largely squeezed out sales force inefficiencies— making alternative channels the best path to improving access and customer engagement.”

B. CMI/Compas Media Vitals research 2018:

Despite such debate, doctors still value face to face interaction with MR, across the world. However, the digital tools and platforms of various types are increasingly used as the source of both new and existing product information, including updates.

According to CMI/Compas Media Vitals research 2018, as shown in the Table I below, doctors’ dependence on MR for information on new and existing products now stands at 51 percent and 46 percent, respectively. Similarly, for product updates their dependence stands at just 39 percent. The above McKinsey & McKinsey paper also predicts that the number of MR will gradually decline as the multichannel marketing initiatives pick up.

That said, in Table I – dinner meeting ranks seven and peer to peer information comes in the third place. Digital sources when put together now occupy a significant part of the doctors’ preferences for obtaining product information.This is also clear from the Table I that the doctors have started showing interest e-detailing, as well.

Table I:  How do you want to receive information from pharma companies, for:

In % New Products Existing Products Product Update
E-detailing

15

16

13
EHR

16

16

26
Reps’ Email

21

7

27
Medical Journal

22

19

12
MSL

24

23

14
Pharma Brand E-Mail

24

21

28
Direct Mail

32

29

29
Peer-to-peer

47

40

21
Dinner Meetings

49

45

24
Representatives

51

46

39

(Source CMI/Compass Media Vitals 2018)

Dinner Meetings:

As I said before, “Dinner Meetings” were rated as the second most preferred choice of the doctors for getting new and existing product information, in the above Table I. This is interesting, especially when one reads it along with the findings of the research paper, published in the August 2016 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine. The study concluded with: “The receipt of industry-sponsored meals was associated with an increased rate of prescribing the promoted brand-name medication relative to alternatives within the drug class.” The paper also clarified that “the findings represent an association, not a cause-and-effect relationship.”

2. Print media remains relevant despite digital push:

The research by CMI/Compass Media Vitals 2018 has also shown that despite the abundant availability of online versions of various medical publications, many doctors still prefer to read the print format of the same Journal, as shown below in the Table II:

Table II. How do doctors read medical Journals? 

Online/Digital format (%)

Print format (%)

47

53

(Source CMI/Compass Media Vitals 2018)

Although, the professional portals are the most used to get the requisite information by the doctors, print journals still rank number three, after peer-to-peer information.

That print media is still relevant for the doctors to know about drugs, was confirmed by another study, as shown in Table III:

Table III. Print media is still relevant:

Professional Portal Colleagues Print Journals CME Meetings Online Journals Drug Ref. App In Person Speaker program
72% 67% 66% 66% 53% 53% 53% 53%

(Source :Kantar Sources & Interactions report from September 2017)

It is noteworthy that ‘online journals’ rank number 5, after ‘CME meeting’.

Conclusion:

Despite Millennials in India mostly prefer reading news online through digital media, print media has still remained relevant and growing too. So are the television channels, regardless of easy availability of anytime streaming of all types of news, videos, TV serials and even movies.

Moreover, with increasing preference of digital media by an increasing number of populations, reliance of many industries such as Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) haven’t totally shifted from magazine and newspaper advertisements, alongside targeting their customers through digital platforms. The same is expected to happen with various print formats in multichannel pharma marketing, where the physical presence of MRs still play an important role. Thus, to create a greater impact on doctors, patients and other stakeholders, pharma marketers are expected to leverage the best of both print and digital world in the form of comprehensive MCM initiatives. It could well be more on digital platforms and less with print materials, as we move on.

The new role of MRs was epitomized in an interview of the Sales Director, Roche, UK, published in the eyeforpharma on January 26, 2018. In the words of the sales director: “For us, in our market, the traditional showing a visual aid and some messages with the HCP is dead… But the face to face meeting is certainly not. Its role, however, will be more about adding value, about finding the right patients for the right drug.” He further highlighted, “the clear challenge that stands before the pharmaceutical industry’s sales organizations; a world where access to physicians is diminishing, trust in the information the industry provides is dwindling, and having a costly sales force is increasingly hard to defend.”

Against this backdrop, regardless of MCM, the role of those MRs who will be in sync with the requisite applications of technology in their focus areas of work, will continue to remain relevant, though they will be lesser in number. A few of them will also stand out and shoulder higher and higher professional responsibilities in the industry.  Be that as it may, in my view, these two emerging trends are expected to gather a strong tailwind, at least in the medium to long term, heralding the dawn of a new era in the Indian pharma industry.

By: Tapan J. Ray   

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.

How Relevant Is A Pharma Brand Name To Patients?

Posted on by
Reply

Are brand names necessary for medicines? Well – its’s a contentious issue, at least, as on date. It becomes the subject of a raging debate when the same question is slightly modified to: – Are brand names necessary for prescription drugs?

The current reality is, almost all pharma companies believe, and have been following this practice. This has been happening for decades, regardless of the fact that unlike other branded non-pharma products, each and every drug also carries another specific name – the generic name. Which is why, questions are often raised, why can’t drugs be prescribed only in generic names by the doctors?

Before I proceed further, let me recapitulate the definition of a ‘brand’. One of the most comprehensive definitions of a brand is: Unique design, sign, symbol, words, or a combination of these that identifies a product and differentiates it from its competitors. It helps create a level of credibility, quality, and satisfaction in the consumer’s mind, by standing for certain benefits and value. And, the creative marketing practices followed in this process is termed as ‘branding’. Keeping this at the center, in this article, let me try to arrive at a relevant perspective on this subject.

The arguments in favor:

Votaries of pharma branding believe that a pharma brand helps establish an emotional connect with the consumers on various parameters, including quality, efficacy, safety and reliability. This is expected to establish a preferential advantage of a brand over its competitors. Quoting the ‘father of advertising’ David Ogilvy, some of these proponents relate the outcome of branding to offering ‘intangible sum of a product’s attributes’ to its consumers, and also prospective consumers.

Entrepreneur India puts across such favorable outcome of ‘branding’ very candidly, which is also applicable to branding medicines – both patented and generic ones. It says, “Consistent, strategic branding leads to a strong brand equity, which means the added value brought to your company’s products or services that allows you to charge more for your brand than what identical, unbranded products command.”

The general belief within the pharma industry is that, ‘branding’ facilitates doctors in choosing and prescribing medicines to patients, especially in those situations where the choices are many. Aficionados of pharma product branding argue, that to save time, doctors usually select those top of mind products, which they are familiar with and feel, can serve the purpose well. This belief prompts the necessity to go all out for ‘branding’ by the pharma companies, even when the process is an expensive one.

Where pharma ‘branding’ is necessary:

There are a few old publications of the 1980’s, which claim that studies based on human psychology have found that medicines with brand names can have a better perceived impact on the actual effectiveness of ‘Over the Counter (OTC)’ medications. One of the examples cited was of aspirin.

Be that as it may, the relevance of branding for OTC pharmaceutical products is undeniable, where a medicinal product is generally treated just as any other Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) goods. Establishing an emotional connect of OTC brands with consumers is, therefore, considered an important process to create a preferential perceived advantage over its competitors.

There is no well-laid out legal or procedural pathway, as yet, for pharma OTC brands in India. No ‘Direct to Consumer (DTC) promotion is allowed in the country for Schedule H and Schedule X drugs – the only exceptions being Ayurvedic proprietary medicines and for homeopathy drugs. That said, the question continues to haunt, how relevant is branding for prescription drugs – now?

Relevance of ‘branding’ for prescription drugs:

The juggernaut of ‘branding prescription drugs’, riding mostly the wave of vested interests – of many hues and color, has been made to be perceived as necessary to ensure drug quality and safety for patients. It continues to move on, up until today, even for highly specialized prescription drugs. Nonetheless, some initiatives are visible from some Governments to gradually shift this contentious paradigm.

This move has been catalyzed by a blend of changing times with changing expectations of a large number of patients. They want to be an integral part in their treatment decisions, receive more personalized healthcare from both doctors and pharma companies. Patients, ultimately, want to feel confident that they’re receiving the best treatment – says a fresh study.

A number of other research papers also confirm that, a virtually static bar of patients’ expectations, in the disease treatment process – either for themselves or their near and dear ones, is slowly but surely gaining height, measurably. For better outcomes, patients have started expecting new types of services both from their doctors and the drug manufacturers. This process begins, even before a final decision is taken in the treatment process. As this paradigm shifts, pharma players would be significantly impacted – in several parameters.

Fast expanding digital empowerment options for all, across the world, is expediting this process further, including India. Placing oneself in the midst of it, one may ponder – how relevant is pharma branding today, as is being highlighted by many, since long.

In my view, a part of the answer to the above question arguably lies in a study titled, “Product Launch: The Patient Has Spoken”. The Key findings from the survey that covered 8,000 patients from three generations in the US, the UK, Germany and France, were published by ‘Accenture Life Sciences’ in January 2018. The research reveals how these patients evaluate and select new treatments in eight therapeutic areas (immune system, heart, lungs, brain, cancer, hormone/ metabolism and eye disease) across three generations, spanning across – Baby boomers, Generation X and Millennials.

Brands don’t matter to most patients…outcomes do:

69 percent of patients said, the benefits of the product are more important to them than the brand of the product. The four top factors influencing patients’ while making decisions about their healthcare are listed in the report as:

  • The doctor/ physician relationship: 66 percent
  • The patient’s ability to maintain their current lifestyle: 55 percent
  • Patients’ ease of access to health care they’ll need: 53 percent
  • Patients’ financial situation / ability to pay: 51 percent. When this is read with another finding where, 48 percent of patients believe that their doctors discuss the whole range of product options with them, a more interesting scenario emerges.

Further, lack of knowledge about the treatments available, as expressed by 42 percent of patients obviously indicate, pharma players’ intent to better inform patients by educating the doctors through brand promotion is not working. Interestingly, brand loyalty or popularity appeared relatively unimportant, ranking twelfth out of 14 influencing factors. Just 25 percent of patients characterized themselves as having a strong affinity with brands in a healthcare setting – the above report revealed.

Could there be an alternative approach?

An effective ‘branding’ exercise should lead to creating a ‘brand loyalty’ for any product. For pharma companies, doctors’ brand loyalty should lead to more number of its brand prescriptions. This expectation emanates from the idea that the prescription brand will represent something, such as quality, trust, assured relief, or may well be anything else. That means pharma product ‘branding’ is primarily aimed at the medical profession.

In an alternative approach to the current practice, an article titled, “From Managing Pills to Managing Brands”, published sometime back in the March-April 2000 issue of the Harvard Business Review (HBR), finds its great relevance, even today. It says, pharma companies can retain the loyalty of customers by building a franchise around specific therapeutic areas based on a focused approach to R&D. In other words, their corporate brand can replace individual drug brands. For example, a doctor looking for a treatment for – say asthma, would look for the latest GlaxoSmithKline medicines. Let me hasten to add, I used this example just to illustrate a point. This may appear as a long shot to some. Nonetheless, it would significantly reduce the cost of marketing, and subsequently the cost of a drug to patients. Incidentally, I also wrote about the relevance of ‘Corporate Branding’ in this Blog on June 15, 2015.

Conclusion:

With this fast-emerging backdrop, the Accenture Study raises an important issue to this effect. It wonders, whether the expenses incurred towards branding medicines, especially, during product launch be significantly reduced and be made more productive?

Illustrating the point, the report says, in 2016, the US pharmaceutical and healthcare industry alone spent US$ 15.2 billion in marketing. To earn a better business return, could a substantial part of this expenditure be reallocated to other programs that matter more to patients, such as access to patient service programs, and creating ‘Real-World Evidence (RWE)’ data that can document improved health outcomes, particularly those that matter to patients?

Well-crafted pharma branding and other associated initiatives, targeted predominantly to the medical profession, may make a doctor emotionally obligated to prescribe any company’s specific brands, for now. However, in the gradually firming-up ‘patient outcomes’-oriented environment, where patients want to participate in the treatment decision making process, will it remain so?

Dispassionately thinking, to most patients, a brand is as good or bad as the perceived value it delivers to them in the form of outcomes. Or, in other words, prescription pharma brands may not even matter to most of them, at all, but the outcomes will be. Hopefully, before it is too late pharma players would realize that, especially the well-informed patients are becoming co-decision makers in choosing the drug that a doctor will prescribe to them. If not, the current targeted process of pharma prescription drug branding, may lose its practical relevance, over a period of time.

By: Tapan J. Ray  

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.