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Accelerating Footfalls In Less Charted Pharma Marketing Frontiers

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Having experienced unprecedented disruptions, especially in the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical business, many global and local drug majors, are rethinking their marketing strategies. These have, no doubt, been prompted by the challenges of change, which are sometimes stark, but more often than not - nuanced.

Many of them are now, therefore, charting into less charted or even uncharted frontiers of pharma marketing warfare. Most companies had no choice, though, but to embrace new approaches, at least as a stopgap, to reach their target audience – hoping to revert to pre-pandemic practices, ultimately.

Interestingly, some pharma majors could envisage that long-term focus on many of these new and innovative areas – more effectively than even the pandemic lockdown time, could be a game-changer in the business. Accordingly, they tried to adapt, several of these approaches, quickly and effectively – for sustained excellence in the post-COVID paradigm.

In this article, I shall focus with several global and local, publicly available examples, of innovative pharma marketing approaches that are now being tried by several top drug companies in the post-COVID period.

I. Continuation of pandemic induced innovative approaches – global examples: 

  • Virtual Conferences and Events: Experiencing success with virtual events and conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic, many pharma companies are leveraging this digital space to reach out to healthcare professionals and patients. These events now include webinars, selected virtual conferences, and online workshops.

Pfizer, reportedly, held its first virtual investor day in September 2020, which was attended by thousands of participants from around the world. The company also organized several virtual events to educate healthcare professionals about its vaccine.

  • Social Media Marketing: The use of social media marketing is also increasing in the pharmaceutical industry. Companies are using platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to reach out to their customers and engage with them on a regular basis to build long-term relationships.

For example, Novartis, among a few others, is using social media to promote core values of its products and engage with customers. The company has built a strong presence on social media platforms where it shares news and updates about its products and research, as well.

  • Influencer Marketing: Many companies are partnering with influencers in the healthcare industry to promote their products. These influencers can be doctors, nurses, patient advocates, or even celebrities who are passionate about health and wellness. Influencer marketing can help companies reach a wider audience and build trust with their customers.

The French pharma major – Sanofi, has partnered with celebrity chef and diabetes advocate Charles Mattocks who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2011. The objective is to raise awareness about diabetes and promote the company’s diabetes products through social media and other channels.

  • Patient Education Programs: Companies are investing more on patient education programs to educate patients about their health conditions and treatment options. These programs can include online resources, mobile apps, and support groups. By providing patients with accurate and reliable information, companies can improve patient outcomes and build brand loyalty.

Merck, another global player, developed an online resource called MerckEngage to educate patients about their health conditions and treatment options. The platform provides patients with information about various health topics, including diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

II. Continuation of pandemic induced innovative approaches – Indian examples: 

Some Indian pharma players are also not far behind in several innovative areas for business excellence in the post pandemic paradigm. Following are some of those examples from Indian pharma companies, as available in the public domains. These seem to have attracted greater focus in the pandemic period, and are continuing even today, with undiluted focus:

Virtual Conferences and Events: Illustratively, Lupin has been using virtual events to promote its products in the post-COVID period. The company is organizing virtual conferences and webinars to reach out to healthcare professionals and other customers. Similarly, Sun Pharma launched a virtual conference for healthcare professionals to discuss the latest developments in the field of dermatology.

Digital and Social Media Marketing:  Several Indian pharma companies are increasingly adopting digital marketing “strategies to reach out to their customers. Companies are using social media, online ads, email marketing, and other digital channels to promote their products and services.

For example, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories continue using social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to engage with healthcare professionals and consumers. Even, Cadila Healthcare, reportedly, has been using search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and social media marketing to reach out to its customers.

Telemedicine: With the rise of telemedicine during the pandemic, pharma companies are partnering with Telehealth/Telemedicine platforms to reach out to patients. Companies like Cipla have partnered with telemedicine platforms to offer online consultations and delivery of medicines to patients’ doorsteps. Sun Pharma has also been using telemedicine to reach out to its customers and has partnered with telemedicine providers to offer its products to patients who cannot visit a doctor in person.

  • Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) advertising: DTC advertising is gaining popularity among Indian pharma companies. With the rise of online pharmacies, companies like Abbott and Pfizer are launching DTC campaigns to increase disease and treatment awareness programs directly to consumers.
  • Collaborations and partnerships: Indian pharma companies are increasingly collaborating with other players in the healthcare ecosystem to provide integrated solutions. For example, as mentioned above, Lupin has partnered with a health-tech firm to offer a platform for online consultations and home delivery of medicines.
  • Greater patient-centric approaches: Some Indian pharma companies are adopting more patient-centric approaches for more effective omnichannel patient engagement initiatives. For example, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories have launched an initiative to educate patients on the proper use of medicines and the importance of adherence to treatment.

As the industry continues to evolve, we can expect to see more companies adopting newer and more innovative marketing strategies to engage with their customers.

Summary:

Many of the above examples are pandemic triggered innovative approaches to keep the neck above water during unprecedented business disruptions in the pharma industry. Interestingly, some companies are not just continuing but further sharpening these initiatives in the post pandemic days. Moreover, it’s good to note that these are now being implemented by the concerned sales and marketing teams with greater gusto and zeal.

The point to ponder, therefore, is pharma industry ready now to excel amid start and more often nuanced – the challenge of change? To respond to these challenges effectively, more companies now need to seriously evaluate and consider adapting such strategic footsteps, first as pilot studies and then gradually scale up, for business excellence in the contemporary period.

Let me hasten to add, in this ball game pharma leadership mindset change to act decisively, after accurately studying – based on data-science, to ascertain where and how to change could well be a win-lose situation. However, the good news is, recent data vindicate the accelerating footfalls in many these less or even un- charted pharma marketing frontiers, both globally and locally.

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.

Deliver The Best Patient Outcomes With Right High-Tech-High-Touch Combo

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Healthcare is regarded as an industry where high-quality technology and high-quality human touch can’t possibly be separated from each other, ever. Since long, this is considered essential in delivering better treatment outcomes – the core value most patients desire, and buy – directly or indirectly.

Why high-quality technology helps make treatment of various diseases increasingly more effective, is no-brainer. However, amid high decibel ‘digital’ buzz during Covid-19 pandemic, some may also wonder how does ‘high-touch’ help improve treatment outcomes? Against this new backdrop, I shall explore in today’s article: why high-touch is so important for most patients alongside high-tech, and the critical need of striking a right balance between high-tech and high-touch in most areas of healthcare delivery. Let me start with a brief recap of the same in the pharma industry perspective. 

Balancing high-tech and high-touch in pharma – a brief recap:

In a similar context – against the  contemporary market dynamics, I discussed about Pharma’s new and still evolving pathway for digital and F2F customer engagement on February 15, 2021. This is primarily because, today’s patient-centric marketing model has to be on Omnichannel platforms to deliver patient-expected value, effectively – and more.

In this mix, F2F customer engagement process is just one among several channels – but a critical brand demand generation tool, though – giving a feel of ‘high-touch’ – in-person interactions to many key customers. Many studies show, alongside acceptance of ‘high-tech’ digital channels, customer expectations for ‘high-touch’, by and large, continue to exist, even today. Thus, one of the key responsibilities of pharma marketers is to arrive at the optimal combination of in-person F2F engagement channel, and high-tech digital channels for remote engagement.

However, this isn’t the unique need of the new normal. On April 29, 2019, I wrote about the evolving new pathway is a hybrid business model. It is customer-centric and helps create a right blend of high-tech and high-touch approaches. Striking an optimal balance between the two is critical to successful business outcomes. This brings me to the point of the relevance of ‘high-touch’ in healthcare.

The relevance of ‘high touch’ in healthcare:

Since time immemorial, a strong bond of trust-based doctor-patient relationship has remained pivotal in the disease treatment process, across the world. This still exists regardless of the socio-economic status, and degree of patient literacy, including digital – particularly for moderate to severe ailments.

A recent article – ‘High-Touch Telemedicine’, published by CFHA on June 04, 2020, also highlighted, “Touch has been central to the physician-patient relationship for as long as there have been physicians. Patients allow their doctors to touch them in places and in ways that they would allow to no one else.  The gentleness and the carefulness that doctors are trained to use on this touch is a bonding experience that supports healing.  If this trust is violated, if a doctor is unduly forceful or disrespectful, this can be a cause for grievance and even litigation.”

The scientific pertinence of physicians’ high touch for patients:

This point was lucidly elaborated in the above paper. It said, the doctor’s comforting physical touch, and interactional touch, have impacts on the Neuroendocrinology of the patients involved. Thus, physicians’ high touch when used in a benevolent conversation, releases the neuropeptide oxytocin in the brains of both participants. This, among others, helps to improve recognition of emotions, increase mutual trust, so compliments and the recognition of a person’s efforts and successes.

Covid-19 propelled ‘high tech’ in healthcare to a new high sans ‘high touch’:

The Covid-19 pandemic, undoubtedly, propelled healthcare into a virtual world. It triggered the development of a plethora of ‘high tech’ innovations to deliver prompt healthcare to patients suffering from various ailments, even from remote locations. One such example is telehealth. Many healthcare providers, including the Government of India realized that leveraging the potential of ‘Telemedicine’ can effectively address the healthcare needs of a large population, across the world.

That said, I reckon, although, healthcare can’t survive without high tech. But, a high-tech-healthcare, like telemedicine, can’t totally replace high touch, at least, in the treatment process of several moderate to severe ailments.

The Best and the worst-case scenario for only high-tech healthcare:

As studies indicate, only high-technology based healthcare sans high-touch, in the best case scenario, would facilitate affordable access to treatment for more patients, bringing down administrative time and cost, in tandem. Which is why, when Covid-19 pandemic posed unique challenges to providing health care, India’s health policy makers revised the nation’s Telemedicine Practice Guidelines on March 25, 2020. They acknowledged in the manual, high-tech Telemedicine ‘increases timely accessto appropriate interventions, including faster access and access to services that may not otherwise be available’.

Whereas, in a worst-case scenario, only digital access to healthcare may create some barrier to direct physical examination of the patient by the doctor, and their interaction. This may impact patient emotion – so important in the disease treatment process. Thus, although high-tech is essential for the advancement of healthcare, but can’t totally replace a patient’s need for high touch care.

High tech is essential, but can’t replace high touch-based trust:

Several recent papers deliberated this point with umpteen evidences. One such paper was published in the Harvard Business Review on October 30, 2019. The article is titled, ‘AI Can Outperform Doctors. So Why Don’t Patients Trust It?

The research points out, ‘patients are reluctant to use health care provided by medical artificial intelligence, even when it outperforms human doctors. This is because, patients believe that their medical needs are unique and cannot be adequately addressed by algorithms. To realize the many advantages and cost savings that medical AI promises, care providers must find ways to overcome these misgivings.’

The study also found that when health care was provided by AI rather than by a human care provider, patients were less likely to utilize the service and wanted to pay less for it. They also preferred having a human provider perform the service even if that meant there would be a greater risk of an inaccurate diagnosis or a surgical complication.

Given a choice – ‘patients will always highly value and seek out human touch’:

This point was also deliberated in another study, published in the MedCity News on January 14, 2021. Acknowledging: ‘Effective, modern medicine cannot survive without technology,’ it brought to the fore an important finding: ‘Regardless of how intuitive the software – or how advanced the technology – patients will always highly value and seek out human touch’ because of several reasons. Some of which are as follows:

  • Patients believe that their medical needs are unique and cannot be adequately addressed by algorithms. Patient experiences aren’t meant to be 100% digital. And despite the accuracy of computers, humans prefer to seek care from other human beings.
  • Different patients have different emotional needs. Life-altering diagnoses and unforeseen outcomes are best delivered by a living, breathing, feeling individual who can fully understand and address these needs.
  • Physical examinations by a doctor are more reassuring and restorative for patients.

The author concluded, high tech is absolutely necessary for the progress of health care, in general. However, in the foreseeable future, high touch would remain an instrumental part of patients’ healthcare experience.

I believe, one can even experience it as the Covid-19 safety restrictions will start easing, or even now – to some extent. Therefore, ‘healthcare professionals must find a way to blend the sophistication of technology with the power of touch in order to continue improving patient experiences, care, and outcomes’, the paper underscores.

Conclusion:

Just as in the pharma business, a right-mix of high-tech and high-touch is also necessary in overall healthcare space, to deliver the best health outcomes to patients. After initial disruptions, a similar trend is emerging even in the new normal. No doubt, usage of high-tech digital platforms is here to stay, and further improve in the years ahead. But, digitalization alone in the healthcare space, should not be construed as something that can make high-touch totally irrelevant or redundant in a patient’s journey for disease treatment.

The mindset of mutual exclusiveness of high-tech and high-touch, if any, either during patient-treatment or in the customer engagement process needs a revisit. As it appears, it is neither desirable in customer engagement, nor in patient treatment processes – akin to one approach suits all. This is because, healthcare is very personal to patients – more than most other areas. A lot of individual feelings and emotions are involved in patients’ end-to-end journey for treatment, where only high tech-based solutions may not meet all patient expectations – sans high-touch of physicians, as I deliberated above.

Thus, effective integration of high-tech-healthcare with high-touch of physicians, nurses, and some technicians, is evolving as the right way to deliver patient expected values, for better health outcomes. From this perspective, alongside most other stakeholders, astute marketers are realizing that high-tech digitalization isn’t a panacea for effective pharma marketing. Delivering the best patient outcomes with the right high-tech-high-touch combo, is the name of the game.

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.

 

What Have And Haven’t Changed In Pharma’s New Normal?

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While navigating through the challenge of disruptive changes, several pharma marketers are now focusing more on creating, connecting, and leveraging all market and customer related data, across the organization. Astute ones are using state-of-the-art tools, platforms, and techniques to gain actionable insights on new demands of pharma markets. I wrote about it in my article - ‘Data: the new ‘Magic Wand’ For Pharma Business Excellence,’ published in this blog on October 01, 2018.

This process is helping them to fathom what areas the pandemic has changed and what it hasn’t. Their aim is to draw cutting-edge strategies accordingly for market effectiveness – outperforming competition. This article will explore that space with contemporary examples. Let me start with a few illustrations of some hits and misses for the treatment of Covid – as the world started learning to live with this menacing virus. This was enviable, as the requisite scientific date wasn’t readily available at that moment of truth. But the time has changed now.

Some hits and misses:

As the pandemic overwhelmed the world, and no well-documented treatment for infection caused by the brand new virus – Covid-19 was available, many drug players were given quick emergency approval by country regulators for some repurposed drugs. But most of those weren’t found effective as fresh clinical data started pouring in. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO), have, reportedly, indicated that remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir and interferon regimens appeared to have little or no effect on 28-day mortality or the in-hospital course of COVID-19 among hospitalized patients.

More recently, Gilead Sciences Veklury – a failed Ebola drug, repurposed for hospitalized Covid-19 patients, suddenly became a blockbuster drug, according to a September 17, 2021 report. However, in less than a year, alongside more research data - a study from Europe, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, showed that Veklury has no real benefit. The report also highlights: ‘Aided by a ringing endorsement from then-president Donald Trump, Veklury rang up sales of $2.8 billion in 2020, including $1.9 billion in the final quarter. But those sales slid this year to $1.5 billion in the first quarter followed by $829 million in the second quarter.’

Similarly, there are several areas that are seemingly getting transformed, triggered by the pandemic and the time for resorting to a hit or miss approach, is now virtually over. From pharma marketers’ point of interest, it will now be at one’s own peril for not challenging the pre-Covid business traditions, rules, and well-tried strategies on customer relationships and brand building models. This brings us to the question on what specifically have changed in the new normal as the pharma industry navigates thorough the Covid pandemic – for close to two years now.  

Pandemic-triggered changes in the pharma marketing area:

Changes are many and are being studied across the world. One such recent analysis, articulating how the pandemic triggered changes have redefined marketing, was published by the Harvard Business Review (HBR), on March 10, 2021. This paper came more than a year after the pandemic overwhelmed the world. This article listed some interesting macro-level changes, including the following:

  • Old normal: You are competing with your competitors.
  • New normal: You are competing with the last best experience your customer had.
  • Old normal: Customers hope you have what they want.
  • New normall: Customers expect you to have exactly what they want.
  • Old normal: Courting customers is just like dating.
  • New normal: Courting customers is just like online dating.
  • Old normal: Customers must sit at the heart of your marketing strategy.
  • New normal: Customers must sit at the heart of your customer journey.
  • Old normal: Agility is a technology process.
  • New normal: Agility is a modern marketing approach.
  • Old normal: Your brand should stand behind great products.
  • New normal: Your brand should stand behind great values.

To illustrate the point, let me now give a few examples of some micro-level changes in the same space.

Some transformation trends:

I am citing a few examples related to pharma’s traditional sales and marketing models. One such area is, quite a few companies are adopting connected data based and analytics-supported Omnichannel approach for customer engagement. The key objective is to deliver coherent and high-quality customer experience.

The need for new commercial models for the changing life sciences market, was also highlighted in an interesting article, published in the Pharmaceutical Executive on September 16, 2021. The authors identified six health care macro trends, demonstrating the value of transforming care delivery and shifting market behavior that prompt to reframe customer value propositions.

Taking a cue from this paper, I am listing below some of the current trends – as I see these and wrote before in this blog. Each one of these calls for well-connected data with analytics support:

  • Fostering a new genre of ‘customer-brand relationship’ to drive more targeted go‑to‑market strategies, enhanced agility/mobility of resources and highly personalized customer interactions.
  • Meeting the growing demand for value‑based care with novel risk‑adjusted and outcome‑based Price-Value-Models, supported by ongoing innovation in this area and sophisticated approach to value, affordability and outcomes.

Interestingly, despite Herculean constraints, many pharma players continued creating and delivering value, as the customers were expecting with changing situations.  

Drug-price sensitivity is increasing:

In the new normal, drug price sensitivity of customers is increasing manifold, for various reasons. A June 18, 2020 study, flags: ‘Nine in 10 Concerned About Rising Drug Costs Due to COVID-19.’ Although, this particular study (Gallup Poll) was conducted in the United States, general public apprehension is no different in other parts of the world, including India.

In my article of September 14, 2020, I also wrote that the concept of ‘fair pricing a drug’ is being deliberated by many experts around the world, since quite some time, till today. But it continues. Most recently, as reported on September 22, 2021, for different reasons related to its new Alzheimer’s drug - Aduhelm, including its hefty price tag of $56,000 annually per patient, ‘Biogen reps banned from D.C.-area neurology clinics.’

Regardless of such customer reactions, the pharma industry, as reported on September 17, 2021, continues to advocate – drug pricing pressure will stifle innovation, blocking patient access to needed medicines and dry up investment in important R&D on new therapies. Curiously, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), is spending more than $1 million on TV ads as part of a massive lobbying and communications campaign emphasizing the potential harm to patients seeking cures for deadly diseases, as the report highlights.

Innovation – remained mostly unhindered from old to new normal:

Customers’ expectations can’t be ignored indefinitely. Interestingly, the world has also witnessed it with Covid drug and vaccine innovation continuing even during the most trying times during the pandemic, even in India. It is, therefore, quite understandable why unfettered access to drug innovation is considered an oxymoron, by many.

The good news is, despite shrill voices over pricing measures, the quest for adding meaningful value to the healthcare space continues unhindered. As reported on September 19, 2021, both Pfizer and Merck are advancing oral antiviral candidates targeting Covid-19 into late-stage testing. Thus, I reckon, regardless of jarring noise from pharma lobbyists, drug innovation, willy-nilly, has to satisfy the diverse demand of health care customers.

Innovation needs to satisfy demands of diverse healthcare customers:

That, increasingly, drug innovations will need to be based on their ability to satisfy the demands of life sciences companies’ diverse customer-perceived value-based, was also echoed by the Pharmaceutical Executive article of September 16, 2021.

While doing so, companies will need to structure innovation in terms of health outcomes, affordability, and personalization, as the paper emphasized. It further added, ‘broader definition of innovation means products are no longer the central driver of value.’ Instead, innovation will be powered by an increasingly diverse stream of data that resides outside the confines of the traditional health ecosystem.

Covid pandemic accelerated the transition of this process of innovation, drawing its new focus on providing a seamless and holistic customer experience in the disease treatment process – supported by advanced analytics and this deeper understanding of customer segments.

Conclusion:

Many pharma marketers have possibly undertaken a sophisticated and credible market scanning exercise in the new normal, to assess by themselves what have or haven’t changed in their customer preferences and market dynamics. If not, I would encourage them to initiate it, at least, now.

Equally noteworthy, as the above HBR article wrote, in the post pandemic period: ‘Beyond geography, marketing messages need to be personally relevant, aligned to an individual’s situation and values, as opposed to demographics, such as age and gender.’

The objective is to create a personal connection between the customer and the brand promotional content, aiming to influence the prescribing and purchasing behavior, based on their psychographic to attitudinal characteristics. This process would require creating and screening lots of customized data, supported by sophisticated analytics.

From the above perspective, I reckon, deep insight on what have or haven’t changed in the healthcare environment alongside its customers, would be of fundamental importance for pharma marketers, in the new normal.

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.

Leverage AI For Competitive Edge With Omnichannel Pharma Marketing

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With the requirements of strict compliance to ‘Covid appropriate behavior’ becoming critical for all, pharma reps’ physical access to physicians for F2F calls got severely restricted, across the world.

A paper from IQVIA of May 14, 2021, reported: ‘As patient visits shifted to digital in 2020, pharma was pushed to digital customer engagement at the same time.’ It further added, ‘there was a 75% decrease in promotional activity worldwide, and up to a 500% increase in engagement via remote channels. In my article dated October 19, 2020, I also wrote that the pandemic propels healthcare into a new and the virtual world, creating a new growth driver for pharma.

Looking ahead the above IQVIA paper envisaged – post pandemic, when the medical profession will get ‘busy with a backlog of patients returning to in-office visits, providers may prefer to continue engaging remotely with pharmaceutical reps via email or video conference.’ As this trend gains traction with greater application of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it may prove to be a blessing in disguise, to excel in pharma business with greater cost-effectiveness and overall business productivity than the pre-Covid era.

I deliberated some of these issues in my article of April 05, 2021. However, my today’s deliberation would focus on the relevance of leveraging AI to gain a competitive edge in the changing dynamics with Omnichannel pharma marketing.

Let me start with a basic question – would Omnichannel marketing significantly help to achieve greater cost-effectiveness in pharma business as compared to the old normal?

Would digital transformations yield greater cost-effectiveness?

This point was also deliberated by the JAMA Health Forum on September 08, 2020. It found: “The switch to video meetings and online presentations has made drug promotion far less costly for companies – no travel expenses for sales reps and doctors, no fine dining events, and low fixed costs of producing video content that can reach a large audience. History and economics tell us that the lower the costs of doing something, the more firms will engage in it.”

The article further reiterated – now that remote working has dissolved the boundaries between home and office, sales reps can reach doctors in their homes, at all hours, ratcheting up the intensity of exposure to product messaging. Having validated greater cost effectiveness of the digital shift of the pharma business operations, including marketing, let me get back to some key findings of the above IQVIA report dated May 14, 2021.

The new customer engagement model will expand to remote and digital:

The above IQVIA research captured the following worldwide trends, vindicating the above:

  • The trend of customer engagement preferences and behavior is shifting toward virtual and in favor of remote channels.
  • Relationships won’t go away, but reps will need to shift their focus from relationship management to more scientific engagement to ensure that detailing adds value to the doctors.
  • Remote detailing is here to stay with in-person detailing remains at an all-time low.
  • Depending on the therapeutic area, telehealth visits will increase anywhere from 50% to 200% from pre-COVID-19 numbers, with both patients and doctors appreciating their value.
  • To stay competitive in this new reality, pharma companies will have to adopt new models of customer engagement across their entire organization with more agility than ever before.
  • Companies will need to quickly understand different customer preferred channels, types of engagements with them, and shift investments based on the new information they’re receiving.
  • Flawless integration of such information for precise execution is critical for remote Omnichannel engagement capabilities – to deliver the right content and services to customers, while measuring impact.

A few years ago in the old normal, on December 18, 2018, I emphasized that: “Pioneering ‘Omnichannel’ engagement is pivotal” in the pharma business. Let’s have a quick recap of this area.

Relevance of Omnichannel marketing in pharma: 

For the last several years, pharma companies have tried to go beyond its traditional F2F interactions of sales reps with its customers, especially the physicians. However, Covid pandemic triggered a paradigm change in this area with a rapid increase in the use of multiple digital channels to offer remote interactive, and mostly live platforms to them. The channels, nature of content for each, time, and place of such personalized interactions, are selected according to specific customer preferences and are generally made available 24×7. The key objectives include, building customer loyalty towards pharma brands/services of the company and make them feel valued.

According to ‘Prognos Health’ - an Omnichannel approach in pharma includes a cross-channel strategy that seamlessly integrates content – both online and offline – to provide consistency across multiple end-to-end touch points

during the customer’s journey. This approach is especially important in pharma marketing where physicians tend to be short on time and are under pressure to make treatment decisions quickly for their patients.

A well-researched and innovative Omnichannel campaign when meticulously executed, is expected to be more effective, as it helps pharma players to reach the right customers, at a right time with the right content. Besides, it is more cost-effective, as by leveraging AI, it can help optimize the nature and quantum of promotional spend – based on previous outcomes and other measurable impacts.

According to Prognos Health, an Omnichannel approach in pharma includes a cross-channel strategy that seamlessly integrates content – both online and offline – to provide consistency across multiple touch points during the customer’s journey. That said, this approach comes with a challenge – clarity of mind for pharma marketers while taking each major strategic step in this endeavor.

Omnichannel marketing isn’t another name of Multichannel engagement:

It is important to note that ‘Omnichannel (all-channel)’ pharma marketing isn’t just another name of ‘Multichannel (many-channel)’ engagement. However, both will be able to deliver targeted contents to patients through several interactive digital platforms. These include smartphone-based Apps, specially formatted websites, social media community and the likes. But the difference is - ‘Omnichannel approach connects these channels, bridging technology-communication gaps that may exist in multichannel solutions.’

An article on why pharma marketers are embracing Omnichannel marketing, published in the Pharmaceutical Executive  on June 30, 2021, highlighted: ‘An integrated strategy based on Omnichannel marketing is now increasingly replacing multichannel marketing.’ Nonetheless, any change from the fragmented and siloed multichannel approach to Omnichannel marketing would entail ‘simultaneous orchestration of channels across personal, non-personal, and media.’ This is essential to address the integrated needs of multiple stakeholders –consumers/patients, healthcare professionals, and payers. ‘Bringing the channels and stakeholders together in a truly integrated manner is the pivotal shift required to break through today’s noisy and crowded pharmaceutical marketplace,’ the article said. No wonder, why Omnichannel pharma marketing is considered by many as ‘‘The Cinderella of marketing activities,’ as it were.

Omnichannel approach – ‘The Cinderella of marketing activities’:

The pharma players’ confidence in juggling traditional channels with digital means is certainly increasing since the onset of Covid pandemic. Interestingly, the L.E.K Consulting article on this subject, published on May 24, 2021, also articulated, why only an astute pharma marketer can handle it the way it should be.

It said, ‘true Omnichannel engagement — the integration, orchestration and tailoring of customer interactions across multiple channels to match HCPs’ profile-specific needs — has been the Cinderella of marketing activities. Although, multichannel engagement — the use of two or more channels that run relatively independently from one another — is increasingly in use, ‘the Omnichannel engagement model is altogether more dynamic and complex.’

Let me take this thread to flag, how dynamic and complex Omnichannel marketing is, to reap a rich harvest in the pharma business. Application of AI will be necessary to facilitate this process.

The role of AI in Omnichannel pharma marketing:

Although, drug companies have now the requisite tools for stakeholder engagement across several channels – Omnichannel marketing will prompt their marketers to clearly know – from relevant data analysis – the answers to some critical questions. These queries include – which channels to choose for the specific customers? In what frequency? What should be the right content for each?

Yet another article from the Pharmaceutical Executive, published on July 15, 2021, underscored: ‘The answers to these questions at scale – can only be achieved using AI.’ It further reiterated that in this process, AI creates a more personalized engagement. Ironically, in this scenario, “the artificial intelligence enables a natural experience – infusing humanity back into marketing and sales.” 

Conclusion:

In the hindsight, many experts interviewed in the above article, feel that historically, pharma’s traditional product-driven marketing model has fallen short of delivering coherent and high-quality customer experience. This is sometimes due to internal competition between brands, besides lack of customer listening, and frequent employee turnover. Following this model – for a long time, alienated pharma companies, their customers, the patients, the public at large, and also the regulating authorities.

In the new normal, when Covid-19 pushes pharma to walk the talk of ‘Patient-Centricity’, the companies need to jettison its product-driven marketing model. ‘No matter how many apps and brand portals a company offers, the model was doomed to failure because it centered on the brand, not on the customer,’ as several hands-on global pharma leaders believe.

In this scenario, as I wrote on August 10, 2020, the drug players need to shift from disease centered care to patient-goals directed care in the new normal where Omnichannel marketing – backed by AI, will play a game changing role for excellence. AI will help pharma marketers use real time – unbiased data, to know what exactly a customer’s expectations are from the company, and deliver the deliverables accordingly, to delight them. From this perspective, I reckon, leveraging AI to gain a competitive edge through Omnichannel marketing, could be a game changer to win a pharma marketing warfare.

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.

 

Pharma Marketing: The New Normal: Challenges of Change

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A lot has changed in healthcare marketing prompted by the Covid pandemic. Apace with these, lots of old problems continue to remain very much the same. The aforesaid was observed in a recent article, published by WARC, on May 21, 2021. Although, this analysis was done in the United States, it has a global footprint, as the disruptions are broadly similar, with a varying degree from country to country.

Healthcare marketing leadership, including the pharma industry in India, presumably, is taking notes of these critical changes, along with their degree of impact. These are the basics for required responses in India, while managing its snowballing effect, both global and local.

Today’s article will provide a bird’s eye view of this area, to encourage marketers continue with their ongoing deep-dive data gathering exercise. Then, comes sieving the ‘catch’ with cerebral power – before using modern analytics to draw meaningful inferences for strategy making.

Some macro-changes stand out:

Some of these widely visible changes, also captured in the above WARC article, include the following:

  • An emerging trend of re-orientation of the healthcare industry around patient outcomes.
  • Need to realize that health and safety are the currency that can be used to rebuild consumer trust across categories.
  • Increasing need to build deeper emotional connections with customers, going beyond product-oriented features, benefits, and intrinsic brand values.
  • Providing healthcare consumers more data and behavioral science-driven, personalized solutions to their problems – to drive better outcomes.

More people are realizing that: ‘Healthcare, after all, is about life and death, and those stakes have been tragically reaffirmed during the pandemic,’ as the above paper underscores. Thus, affordable “health and safety will continue to be a currency that brands can use to re-establish trust with anxious consumers,” the author reiterates. To steer a company in that direction the marketers need to create a pathway for success by joining several emerging dots in the new normal. Let give just a flavor of these emerging dots with three examples, as below.

‘The end point – the price point’ - re-emerging as a core value expectation: 

Interestingly, ‘The end point – the price point’ for quality treatment outcomes is re-emerging as one of the core values and expectations of the consumers, especially facing an uncertain future that everybody is witnessing today. The health system is also transitioning from ‘pay for healthcare product and services’ – to ‘pay for integrated value-based care offerings.’ In the changing environment, many pharma players seem to have realized that customers are no longer interested in paying for brand values that serve mostly self-serving interests of the respective companies.

More healthcare customers are digitally savvy now:

Today’s brand values need to be in sync with what the perceived value of the customers, enhancing their end-to-end experience of the disease treatment process, more than ever before. For example, increasing number of patients are now choosing between F2F – in-clinic consultations and remote or virtual consultations, for non-life-threatening ailments. Some often do data-driven online assessment for different treatment value offerings, against what these would cost to them.

Purpose driven corporate branding is making better impact:

Pharma industry’s purpose-driven branding initiatives, in tandem with creating robust corporate brands, are drawing much greater public attention amid the pandemic. The list includes both the original product developers and their contract manufacturers. Even in India, many held with esteem – Corporates, such as, AstraZeneca and Serum Institute of India (SII) for Covishield, or Bharat Biotech for Covaxin.

The same thing has happened world-wide with many other Covid vaccine and drug manufacturers, such as, Pfizer, Johnson &Johnson, Moderna, Eli-Lilly, Roche, and others. Interestingly, from the available data in the cyberspace or from word-of-mouth, several people have also inferred about comparative value offerings of each. At least 4 Covid vaccine manufacturers are showing-up in this year’s ‘Conscious Brands 100’ list of 2021. This is, apparently, unprecedented.

Demonstration of ‘patients’-problem solving skill’ with resilience pays: 

As we all know by now, the drug industry as such – across the world, instead getting overwhelmed by the problem, pulled up socks and rolled the sleeves to find out scientific means of saving as many lives as possible, soonest.

Almost overnight, repurposing old drugs for Covid treatment and development Covid vaccines, racing against time, were initiated. The entire healthcare industry including, Medical Diagnostic and Devices companies and others, did not fall behind to offer reliable tests for Covid diagnosis, and other life support systems and equipment.

Alongside, Omnichannel digital campaigns of many companies, and favorable news reports amid the pandemic, made people realize the stellar role of the industry in saving lives and livelihoods – from the Covid menace.

Such examples include Pfizer’s What to know About Coronavirus webpage; Merck Inc’s Podcast: How Merck is looking at past epidemics and science to respond to the coronavirus outbreak; and India’s Mankind Pharma’s Mask My India digital campaign. It captures the stories of heroes, who are setting examples and doing more than their call of duty during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The campaign also spreads the message that ‘together we can all fight with deadly Coronavirus.’

Some pandemic-triggered India-specific challenges:

According to the April 2021 KPMG paper, Covid pandemic has brought to the fore some of the following challenges for the India pharma industry, some due to years of neglect:

  • Fragile public health care system and laboratory testing infrastructure and supplies of life support items. This primarily due to one of the lowest Government spend (1.56% of the GDP) on health. As a result, India currently ranks 155th out of 167 countries, in terms of hospital bed availability (Human Development Report 2020) with just 5 beds availability per 10, 000 Indians.
  • Changes in health care consumption pattern – especially with the increasing use of e-health or telehealth, besides, online ordering of medicines through e-pharmacies.

Apart from these, it’s also noteworthy – how pharma demonstrated its healthcare ‘problem solving’ skill to save billions of lives from deadly Covid-19 and its mutants, attracting unprecedented kudos from all corners. To keep this initiative going – meeting customers’ core expectations, in my view, could indeed be yet another challenge of change.

Conclusion:

There won’t be any ‘one size fits all’ sort of solution to address such challenges of change. Neither is all company’s challenges the same, in a relative yardstick. Each company would, therefore, need to understand what the pandemic triggered changes in market dynamics and customer expectations mean to them to pursue sustainable business excellence.

Thus, each player would require to elaborately make data-based assessment and analysis, to figure out where they currently stand, so far are the pandemic-triggered changes are concerned. With similar analysis, they should also try to fathom what are their customers’ specific value expectations, which may now go beyond the value that their brands can deliver, but critical for branding success.

Accordingly, a value delivery strategy to be worked out, taking all concerned on-board – with a carefully crafted employee and customer engagement blueprint – and mostly Omnichannel digital platforms.

To successfully navigate through the challenges of change, pharma marketers need to wear a different thinking cap. They would also need to realize that treating pharma marketing as an intrinsic product value delivery system, and by just doing digitally whatever traditionally used to be done manually, may not help generate an adequate return in the new normal. From this perspective, giving shape to a robust, comprehensive, integrated and Omnichannel digital strategic game plan for the organization, is the need of the hour.

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.

Appears On Radar New L&D Needs For Pharma’s New e-Environment

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As drug companies were desperately trying to navigate through the operational disruptions due to Covid crisis, the Learning and Development (LD) plans of most organizations, considered so important for employees, got badly impacted. This was ably captured in the article – ‘Adapting workplace learning in the time of Coronavirus’, appeared in the March 2020 issue of McKinsey Accelerate.

It highlighted, as businesses around the world postpone and cancel in-person meetings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, “workplace learning is emerging as one of the earliest and hardest-hit business activities.” The paper further elucidated: “Based on our observations as of early March, roughly one-half of in-person programs through June 30, 2020, have been postponed or canceled in North America. Whereas “in parts of Asia and Europe, the figure is closer to 100 percent.”

Interestingly, no one is talking much about it as much as the need for quick digitalization in the pharma industry, to respond to the challenge of disruptive changes. A quick return to employee L&D initiatives in the new normal, I reckon, would encourage, particularly the hands-on staff members on e-marketing to come out with more innovative digital solutions to reap a rich harvest from remote engagement with customers, on an ongoing basis.

In this article, I shall explore this area from the perspective of increasing employee productivity in the digital work environment of the new normal.

Why is L&D more relevant to pharma employees, now?

To effectively respond to post-Covid changes in customer behavior – aspirations – expectations – other market dynamics, alongside a different genre of competition, new learnings in the digital space, is critical for all employees. Which is why, it is so important for pharma players to quickly refocus on this process, just as digitalization. Without requisite digital skill development, corporate performance may look lackluster, eventually.

It is important for all to recognize that just digital transformation of business isn’t a panacea. For example, e-marketing is certainly a powerful contemporary marketing tool that a company must go for. But, it is no less important to know how making effective use of this versatile technology would appeal to individual customer emotions, with personalized content. Medical Representatives of pre-Covid days may not be generally well-versed in this area, at least, as much as they ought to – now.

Some pace-setting Indian examples in this area:

According to an article, published in leading Indian business daily on June 17, 2020, the Indian pharma major – Lupin, reportedly, used the lockdown as an opportunity to train its sales teams on medical acumen, soft skills, disease knowledge, effective communication etc. They conducted over 200 sessions using Microsoft Teams. In some sessions, the attendance count reached 8000 people.

As the article points out, using digital tools and platforms, the company reps were enabled to record a video of brand detailing and share it with the doctors who can view it as per his or her convenience. It also says, ‘Lupin team reached out to more than 1 lakh doctors through live webinars, ECMEs, e-mailers, webinars to update them with the latest medical and therapeutic advancements.’

The core idea of this initiative is undoubtedly worth imbibing, although, it is still not clear to many, how effective were those digital marketing strategies in the form as it has been described.

The new e-environment needs new sets of L&D models:

From the above perspective, the take home message, I reckon, is - in pharma’s new normal, digitalization isn’t just about a modern and contemporary technology. It is much more profound – signifies the criticality of credible data-based, novel decision-making process, offering high yield solutions to complex sets of disruptive problems in business.  Consequently, now appears on the radar a new set of L&D needs for the new e-environment of the pharma industry.

Ramifications of e-environment changes in pharma business: 

Many studies have pointed out to a number of changes in pharma industry’s e-environment, in the new normal. Just to give a sense of such mega changes, let me quote another recent paper in this regard. The paper on ‘Telehealth’, published by McKinsey & Company on May 29, 2020, writes: “Our claims-based analysis suggests that approximately 20 percent of all emergency room visits could potentially be avoided via virtual urgent care offerings, 24 percent of health care office visits and outpatient volume could be delivered virtually, and an additional 9 percent “near-virtually.”

The paper further adds, ‘up to 35 percent of regular home health attendant services could be virtualized, and 2 percent of all outpatient volume could be shifted to the home setting, with tech-enabled medication administration.’ These changes will overall add up to US$250 billion in healthcare spend in 2020 that could be shifted to virtual or near-virtual care, or 20 percent of all office, outpatient, and home health-spend across all types of health care, the paper highlights.

Although, this article was written against the US pharma industry backdrop, considering the current Indian government’s strong push on telemedicine – as a facilitator, one may envisage similar changes in India too, over a period of time.  

Covid-19 could still be a long-haul battle, pharma should be prepared for it:

Echoing this sentiment, ‘The Washington Post’ flashed a headline in its February 10, 2021: ‘Variants mean the coronavirus is here to stay — but perhaps as a lesser threat.’ Elaborating the point, it said: ‘In early December, the end of the pandemic glimmered on the horizon. Blockbuster vaccine results suggested a clear path forward.’ However, thereafter, ‘the euphoria dissipated,’ as mutation-ridden variants of Covid-19 with concerning new characteristics were detected. ‘The path forward is still hopeful, but longer and more labyrinthine’, the news report added.

It is now becoming increasingly clear that Covid-19 variants can slip past some of the immunity generated by vaccines and prior infections.  Vaccines may have to be updated, perhaps regularly. And the world will have to prepare for the possibility, even the likelihood, that over the long term, the novel coronavirus will become a persistent disease threat.

The World Health Organization (W.H.O) also confirmed this point on January 21, 2021. It said, ‘Yes, this is a very important point that vaccine developers keep in mind. Covid-19 vaccines could possibly be like vaccines against the influenza virus, where ‘scientists have to change the structure of the vaccine every year, based on the circulating strains and WHO coordinates this global network that actually identifies which strain should be used every year.’

Conclusion:

The bottom line, therefore, is, no one can vouch with any degree of certainty, as on date, when exactly Covid crisis will get over completely, despite Covid-19 vaccines being available now. At the same time, even after several disruptive covid related changes in business, the need for rapid adjustment to further changes of similar in nature and scale, may continue to exist.

To properly understand these changes, their implications on business, impact on customers, re-engineering needs of marketing strategies and then thrive, are of fundamental importance. Thus, along with on-the-job learning, contemporary e-learning of employees – is a critical success ingredient for both individual and organizational development, especially in the dynamic digital environment.

It is worth noting that digital initiatives are not confined to modern tech-based apps and platforms. The basic prerequisite of any digital marketing strategy is to understand the versatility of its power and core values. This is essential to effectively influence customer behavior and their expectations, for creating a sustainable ‘doctor-patient- brand or corporate relationship. That’s why L&D remains a critical tool for capacity building, even for e-marketing. It will help ensure, employees are able to deliver expected deliverables by successfully meeting newer challenges in the digital space, in sync with the organizational expectations and goals, in the new normal.

Today, when digitalization has become a buzz word for pharma’ success – occupying virtually everybody’s entire mind space, also appears on the radar today new L&D needs for the new e-environment to make digitalization work, paying rich dividend to the business.

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.

 

2020: Learnings From A Yearlong Catastrophic Disruption And Crystal-Gazing 2021

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 Wishing All My Readers A Very Happy, Healthy, Peaceful and Prosperous 2021

Just a few days left for the year 2020 to merge with history. It will be remembered by all – as a year of all-round catastrophic global disruption. With unprecedented impact on human lives, livelihoods, economy, and ways of doing things – sparing virtually nothing. The sole cause of which is an unprecedented single event – Covid-19 pandemic. As of December 27, 2020 morning, India recorded a staggering figure of 10,118,392 new Coronavirus cases with 147,659 deaths. The threat of subsequent waves for further infection of Covid-19 infection continues.

In this article, I shall focus on some critical lessons learnt from the 2020 health crisis, while crystal-gazing 2021. I’ll do this purely from the health care perspective, in general, and the pharmaceutical industry, in particular. Keeping this in view, some of the lessons learnt during the pandemic are as follows:

A. Never allow a sense of hubris setting in:

This is easier said than done. Nonetheless, before the Covid pandemic played havocs with all, many top pharma leaders were, apparently, in a hubris. It was often laced with excessive confidence, if not arrogance. The predominant belief was nothing can go so wrong sans unfavorable policy decisions by the governments. This was against a much-known management dictum for all – always anticipate future probabilities that may impact the business and keep prepared for the worst, while hoping for the best. On a hindsight, this was, obviously jettisoned – lock, stock and barrel. No one was prepared for any biological threats, such as, Covid pandemic, till the deadly virus caught the humanity off-guard around December 2019, as we see below:

The pandemic was expected, but struck unexpectedly:

A pandemic wasn’t totally unexpected either. Therefore, they question that surfaces - Experts warned of a pandemic decades ago. Why weren’t we ready? Just in 2015, even Bill Gates, during a Ted talk titled, “The next outbreak? We’re not ready,” also predicted - based on available facts that an epidemic would kill millions in the future.

He further added: “If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it’s more likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war – not missiles, but microbes.” Gates further emphasized: “We have invested a huge amount in nuclear deterrents, but we’ve actually invested very little in a system to stop an epidemic. We’re not ready for the next epidemic.”

B. Research on anti-infective drugs shouldn’t be pushed to the back burner: 

These warnings were, apparently, ignored by the pharma industry. For example, as reported in the first quarter of 2020, many research-based pharma companies shifted ‘resources away from emerging infectious diseases into more lucrative areas like cancer treatment. Their business decisions risk leaving gaping holes in the fight against epidemics, such as the one caused by the novel Coronavirus.’

Let’s now take a pause for pharma players to ponder. Are they ready, at least now, with a robust plan – based on almost a year’s experience of an unprecedented agony along with its customers, specifically to counter any future biological threat? Be that as it may, there have also been some good outcomes out of the Covid crisis, both for the pharma industry and also for the health care customers.

C. The pandemic hastened pharma’s digital transformation process:

As is known, compared to many other industries, pharma industry was a late learner in the digitalization process of organizations. The new realities of disruptions caused by the pandemic had significantly expedited this process to keep the business going. There were no other effective options available, either, but to move beyond business stabilization and redefine how they do business. The IQVIA article, ‘Digital transformation in a post-Covid-19 world,’ published in the Pharmaceutical Technology, on August 31, 2020, also reiterated this point.

Elaborating the point further, the article pointed out: ‘As a result, acceleration of three key capabilities is occurring to create sustainable competitive advantage,’ as follows:

  • Digital capabilities with modern technology are enabling companies doing the right things during the pandemic and accelerating the process.
  • Providing access to granular data to support the extraction of precise insights into the needs of patients and physicians.
  • Ensuring capabilities for sustaining relationships. While face-to-face interaction has been dramatically reduced, relationships with HCPs and patients are taking new shapes and are of more importance than ever before.

D. Telemedicine came under mainstream care, supported by Government:

Finding no other viable alternatives during the Covid lockdown period and the need to stringently follow prescribed health measures, many patients were pushed to search for a robust digital solution for health care needs. Just as many of them were already using online platforms to meet other regular needs. In that sense, Covid propelled health care into a virtual world, bringing telehealth or telemedicine toward mainstream care, supported by the Government with a policy, for the first time, ever.

E. Quality of pharma response to pandemic enhanced industry image:

As I had discussed before in this blog, Consumer centric communications, driven by the  ‘hope and confidence as companies rushed to come up with COVID-19 vaccines and treatments’ of all, helped to significantly enhance the industry’s image during the year. In my view, pharma shouldn’t let go this opportunity to reposition itself, to reap a rich harvest in the years ahead.

Crystal-gazing 2021: 

A. A lurking fear will keep haunting:

Moving away from the outgoing year – 2020, if one crystal gazes the incoming – yet another brand-new year – 2021, a lurking fear still haunts most peoples’ minds. Will the all-round disruptions of 2020 be the new normal in 2021 – with no further escalation of the current situation?

B. Vaccine rollout will reduce rapid spread, but not eliminate Covid-19:

Gradual rolling out of vaccines may reduce the rapid spread of pandemic, provided Covid-19 doesn’t throw more surprises, such as, complicated mutation, blunting this initiative. However, currently available evidence indicates, the new variant could be more transmissible, yet vaccines may work very well against it.

 C. Masking, physical distancing, hand washing, etc., will continue:

Besides, many yet unknown side effects, the duration of immunity following coronavirus vaccination is still largely unknown due to the simple lack of time we’ve had to study such immune responses. Moreover, the trials do not tell us if the vaccines can block the transmission of the disease from those who are asymptomatic and have been vaccinated. Thus, masking, physical distancing, hand washing, testing, treating and contact tracing, reportedly, will continue to be important in the global campaign against COVID-19, even after vaccine rollout.

D. NDDS for Covid drugs and vaccines may come: 

New formulations, new Covid drug delivery systems, newer methods to bring Covid vaccines, like nasal sprays, in a powder form for easy transportation and to reach more people around the world, are expected to commence in 2021.

E. Waiting for going back to pre-Covid game plan is a losing strategy:

Vaccines are unlikely to take us back to pre-Covid time, any time soon. Even McKinsey & Companypredicted the same in its article: ‘‘How COVID-19 is redefining the next-normal operating model,’ published on December 10, 2020. It emphasized: “With everything disrupted, going back to the same old thing is a losing strategy. The strongest companies are reinventing themselves by embracing pandemic- driven change.”

Many pharma majors are also echoing the same, even as Covid-19 vaccines have started rolling out for public in different parts of the world. After weighing-in the pros and cons of waiting, many of them have articulated: ‘We will not return to the old ways of working.’ They believe, it’s too early to put a specific timeline on turning that page now. Hence, the year 2021, working of the pharma companies is unlikely to be significantly different from the year 2020.

F. Need to capture and respond fast to changing customer behaviors:

Covid-19 pandemic is fast changing many human attitudes and behaviors, forcing organizations to respond. ‘However, the need to respond won’t end when the virus’s immediate threat eventually recedes,’ reaffirmed the Accenture article ‘COVID-19: 5 new human truths that experiences need to address.’ The massive behavior changes of key pharma stakeholders, at a never before scale and speed, will continue to prompt many leading drug companies to respond to them with well thought through digital tools, to gain competitive advantages.

G. Virtual meetings with reps, doctors and others will continue:

As witnessed in 2020, often for the first time – virtual meeting of sales reps, key opinion leaders and others will continue in 2021, even after ‘live’ ones return, but with more innovative structure and content. Pharma marketing’s long awaited and comprehensive digital foray will continue gaining a strong foothold, entering into new areas, without glancing back over the shoulder, in 2021.

H. More new drug launches will move entirely digital:

It began in 2020. For example, dozens of new drug launches moved entirely to digital, for the first time in 2020. As a pharma leader remarked, with the traditional launch framework gone during the pandemic, “we had to throw out the playbook and really embed into people’s heads that playbook is no longer meaningful. It no longer works, and we have to think outside the box.” She further added: “There’s truly no bigger place for a marketer right now. This is the new world.” None can deny this fact as we enter into the new year.

I. Success requirements of pharma professionals will be different:

With significant transformation of pharma’s operational strategies, success requirements of pharma professionals will also be significantly different in the new normal. Quick capturing and fast adaptation to the changing customer behavior for multi-channel engagement digital platforms, will be fundamentally important – not just for business excellence, but for its long-term sustainability, as well. This is a totally new and highly cerebral strategic ballgame, where obsolescence of cutting-edge technology is much faster than anything in the tradition driven old normal.

J. More pharma companies will explore inorganic growth opportunities:

More pharma companies will look for acquisitions to bridge the strategic gaps, as AstraZeneca did in 2020.

Conclusion:

In 2021, Covid Mayhem may possibly be over with a gradual rollout of vaccines. But, the impact of utter disruptions that the pandemic has caused in multiple areas of businesses in 2020, especially within the pharma industry, would continue, as we step into 2021. As the drug industry overwhelmed by Covid-19, reset themselves with the digital transformation in the new normal -for growth beyond Coronavirus, one may also view this much awaited metamorphosis, as a blessing in disguise, as it were.

Overall, as the W.H.O observed very rightly on December 27, 2020: “We throw money at an outbreak, and when it’s over, we forget about it and do nothing to prevent the next one. This is dangerously short-sighted, and frankly difficult to understand.” He further added: “History tells us that this will not be the last pandemic, and epidemics are a fact of life.” I hope, all concerned will realize this point in 2021. Alternatively, we may need to keep ourselves prepared to move, in a similar way, from the current new normal to yet unknown next normal.

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.

 


Creative Pharma Marketers To Unshackle Covid Fetters

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Pharma industry, just as most others, has started recognizing that the business needs to be brought back to normal, despite Covid fetters. Some early evidences suggest, a new breed of pharma marketers is refusing to get confined to Covid triggered operational limits, without breaching any prescribed safety norms.

These pacesetters no longer grapple with finding right answers to the question – when and how the brand building activities can be brought back to the old normal? Truly speaking, none has its answer, as yet. Covid has the power to strike back, anytime – anywhere, in waves, when the guards are even slightly down. Moreover, as and when vaccines will come, these may not be ‘silver bullets’ for many – throughout a lifetime, at least, in the foreseeable future.

Accordingly, these forerunners are effectively leveraging the art of turning challenges into opportunities. They are conceptualizing new business models for making path-breaking progress in contemporary purpose driven branding exercises. For all pharma marketers, I reckon, this is the moment of truth, when what you do reflects what you really are, in this area. Thus, in this article. I shall deliberate, with examples, how these creative new age pharma marketers are trying to unshackle Covid fetters.

Today’s reality on the ground: 

A number of global surveys on how patients’ have reacted to Covid-19 pandemic with reasons behind the same, are now available. One such study was conducted by Medisafe, during March and April, 2020. Some of its key findings are as follows:

  • More than half of the respondents, especially those with comorbidities, worry about getting Covid infected while accessing to in-person treatments.
  • Over 9 out of 10 respondents were practicing social distancing, as a remedial measure.
  • Consequently, they are missing doctors’ appointments, and many are opting for telehealth wherever appropriate and necessary.

In many situations, such as,  common and repetitive health issues, including some mental health conditions, virtual health care are more convenient. It has also been established during the pandemic that telehealth can deliver similar outcomes at a lower cost, than in-person visits. In addition, remote monitoring of some key health parameters, like heart rhythm, blood sugar, weight, respiratory rate, also help people control their chronic conditions better, and assist clinicians with diagnosis and treatment.

More doctors prefer telehealth, but the majority wants some in-person visits too: 

An interesting study – ‘Want Both In-Person and Virtual Visits with Sales Reps,’ published by Bain & Company on June 02, 2020, ferreted out today’s reality, in this space. It found, prior to Covid, about three-fourths of physicians preferred face-to-face engagement with sales reps. In contrast, today more of them are asking for a reduction in Rep visit frequency and more remote support or virtual approaches. Curiously, a majority still prefers, at least some in-person interaction ‘once the pandemic passes.’

Interestingly, no one seems to know, just yet, when exactly will this pandemic get over. Besides, whether or not Covid will keep coming back in waves, for an indefinite period. Or, any similar or even worse global health crisis, in future, could bring greater disruption for the industry.

Driven by such apprehensions, it is possible that more and more patients will prefer telehealth, expanding access to health care for an increasing number of people. Nonetheless, one should also take into consideration that virtual health care has also some significant limitations, especially those which may lead to serious or life-threatening conditions.

Some key limitations to overcome:

Alongside multiple advantages of telehealth, it has some significant limitations, which can’t be wished away, either. This point was also well articulated in the article – ‘Where Telemedicine Falls Short,’ published in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) on June 30, 2020. The author, who is also a primary care physician gave a number of examples in this regard. For example, in one place he wrote:

‘I have found treatable cancers multiple times in routine exams that would be impossible to replicate in the virtual world. Could a Zoom visit detect a lymph node too firm, a spleen or liver too large, or an unexpected prostate nodule (with a normal PSA)?’ The paper also emphasized: ‘Trust and face-to-face encounters are even more important for patients with complex and intertwined problems.’

Be that as it may, the task to encourage patients, even with serious ailments, for in-person consultation and examination by doctors’ in their clinics, won’t be ‘a piece of cake’ too. On the contrary, it will be rather a colossal exercise.

Why will this task be colossal?

One can get a sense of tough challenges involved in this effort from the IQVIA report titled, ‘COVID-19 Pandemic and the Impact on SEA Healthcare Market.’ Along with other areas, the study captured several details of the above area, specifically for the South East Asia (SEA), as follows:

  • Decrease in patient visits (Out-Patient): 2 out of 3 hospital doctors are experiencing >60% decrease in patient visits.
  • Extended period of time before patient load resumes to normal: ~50% of doctors think that it will take 4 to 6 months to resume normal operations.
  • Increase in prescription duration: ~25% of doctors have 2x their standard prescription duration to reduce patient visits.

The study also observed, ‘in order to reduce the risk of getting infected, patients are reducing their visits to the HCPs.’ Such an unusual situation is unlikely to be mitigated, soon, with any traditional or ‘one size-fits all’ type strategy. Particularly when Covid threat still looms large on the population. As is happening today, even after signs of waning, Covid may return in waves – for an indefinite period. Thus, innovative marketing interventions, backed by actionable insights, are essential to help overcome the fear of getting Covid infected, by both patients and doctors.

How to respond to this situation in a creative way?

The creative marketing response to overcoming the possible barriers on the way, would call for predictive rather than reactive pharma strategies. The game plan not only needs to be purpose drivenfor the marketers, but should also be perceived that way by all concerned. For example, the core purpose of marketing in this scenario, will be to provide a life-saving patient ‘service’, with win-win outcomes.

And the additional ‘service’ in this case is encouragement in-person physician visits during early symptoms of life-threatening health conditions – taking all safety precautions and overcoming ‘paranoia’ of getting infected. The win-win outcomes will include – saving lives, preventing deterioration of the disease condition, and of course, facilitation of the brand demand. The good news is some global pharma majors have already started making progress in this direction.

Promoting doctor visits during the pandemic – an example:

Leaving footprints to follow, some pharma marketers have already started creatively working on it. Let me cite a recent example of this unique initiative. This was reported by Fierce Pharma in its November 02, 2020 issue. The marketing process carries all the required ingredients for excellence, as mentioned above.

It wrote, ‘Pfizer and Bristol Myers Squibb are the latest drugmakers to join the swell of campaigns promoting doctor visits during the pandemic.’ This decision was based on data, showing many people haven’t been going to their primary care appointments for symptoms that may lead to potentially serious conditions.

This initiative is focused on three critical health conditions, namely, atrial fibrillation, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. The rationale for selecting these three indications is, these are all treated by the partners’ anticoagulant Eliquis.

Accordingly, the BMS-Pfizer Alliance launched a campaign to raise awareness and encourage people to seek prompt medical attention. The American campaign was built around the theme – ‘Your symptoms could mean something serious, so this is no time to wait.’ In tandem, the companies also widely communicated through multiple channels that ‘Decreases in Americans’ Primary Care Visits May Lead to Late Diagnoses of Potentially Serious Conditions.’

According to reports, the net result of this creative marketing, so far, is no less than outstanding, as compared to many other pharma players operating in similar situations. ‘Eliquis’ brand sales for the first six months of 2020 topped $4.8 billion, a 21% increase over the same time period last year. Doesn’t this initiative demonstrate that creative pharma marketers can unshackle even Covid fetters?

Conclusion:

Meanwhile, as on November 08, 2020 morning, India recorded a staggering figure of 8,507,754 of Coronavirus cases with 126,162 deaths. The average number of daily new cases appeared to have slowed down in the last few weeks. But, the threat of further spread of Covid infection, in waves, still looms large in the country.

Most scientists agree – while effective vaccines offer the best chance of reaching zero COVID-19 – eliminating the virus across much of the world, while not unthinkable, could take a significant number of years. Thus, it may be realistic for some time to focus on flattening the curve with stringent control measures, involving efficient contact tracing, testing and isolation, together with social distancing and mask wearing – till it happens, ultimately.

Meanwhile, the business must flourish, even amid a new normal. And this is, in no way, a pipe dream, but a proven reality, as we have seen above. No doubt, this calls for most pharma marketers wearing a fresh thinking cap, equipped with more cerebral power, as it were, to unshackle Covid fetters on their way – effectively.

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.