Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - March 2008 - (Page 27)

Pharmaceutical Executive Europe March 2008 The Mix 27 No GUTS, No Global ‘Global universal truths’ are the backbone of an integrated and flexible brand plan, and will help your company optimise ROI over a product’s entire life cycle. Stephen Dunn explains. T oday’s pharmaceutical executives scrutinise every link in the value chain — from the earliest, tentative explorations into the basic science of an unmet clinical need to the latest stage in the life cycle — to wring the greatest possible return for each pound, euro or dollar invested. Maximising sales over the entire life cycle remains the best mechanism to optimise return on investment (ROI): to do this, you must persuade an increasingly diverse range of ‘stakeholders’ that your drug offers a unique ‘value proposition’ that distinguishes your brand from its competitors. A strong brand identity potentially evolves from the product’s inherent features (pharmacodynamics, clinical characteristics, etc), insights into the customers, or both. However, the strongest brand identity is little more than an intellectual exercise unless, firstly, sales and marketing effectively and efficiently communicate the proposition to the customers, patients and other stakeholders. The idea then becomes cognitively established, and clinicians’ prescribing behaviour changes. Traditionally, brand name and advertising helped communicate, establish and maintain the proposition. For example, the brand name Cozaar is a mnemonic for losartan’s mode of action (angiotensin II antagonism). In today’s crowded, competitive and complex market, a clever name or award-winning ad campaign no longer offers a sufficient point of differentiation. Marketers need to develop an integrated brand plan and multidisciplinary team, which encompasses strategy, tactics and deliverables to create successful brands and maximise ROI. The integrated brand plan The integrated plan should be both comprehensive and durable. For example, the plan should include all the mutually reinforcing strands that create the brand’s coherent, unique emotional and scientific positioning. Importantly, the fundamentals of the integrated plan should remain consistent, but adaptable, throughout the product’s life cycle. Changing core messages and excessively evolving identities can undermine the brand’s integrity and image. Many of the most successful brands — such as Viagra and Aspirin — have maintained a consistent identity over time, despite the advent of competitors, new communication media and changes in the stakeholders. Bayer originally sold Aspirin as a powder that pharmacists dispensed in sachets. Despite numerous formulation changes since, the basic proposition (effective relief of headaches, cold symptoms and other aches and pains) remains the same more than a century later. Nevertheless, the integrated plan needs to be flexible. To use a biological analogy: the ‘global universal truths’ (GUTs — see below) are the DNA. The integrated plan offers the basic body plan. The phenotype can evolve in response to the commercial, scientific and media pressures in the environment. Having the GUTs to support the brand Like DNA, the GUTs — those elements of the brand communications based on commonalities across markets, including treatment algorithms and regulatory constraints — are likely to remain relatively consistent over the life cycle of the drug (Figure 1). Sales and marketing — encouraged by immediate targets and high rates of staff turnover — often take a relatively shortterm view. Senior executives should take a longterm perspective and could stress that brands survive after the demise of patent protection. Over the life cycle, marketers must avoid weakening the brand. Distilling the GUTs, articulating the commonalities succinctly in the brand book, and integrating the truths with the brand strategy, tactics and tools should help protect the brand from eroding over time. Concerns over potential difficulties with other internal stakeholders (especially sales or medical) often results in marketers developing a brand that follows the path of least resistance or aspires to meet only the lowest common denominator. Figure 1: Developing consensus around the degree of “Globalisation” that can be achieved? Aus Disease Treatment algorithm Available options Competition (Mkt Leader) Health system influence FR GER IT BEN SP NORD UK Incidence, affected populations, global distribution Medical and health system guidelines Range of available treatments Market leaders, order of entry, competitor resources and pressure Does healthcare policy create market-to-market difference in competition? Global Universal Truths ìNo GUTs, No Global ”

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - March 2008

Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - March 2008
Contents
From the Editor
News and Analysis
Brussels Report
Calendar
The Next Wave of Pharma Talent
The New World Order
Share of Voice to Share of Care
Notes on a Meeting
The Malta Story
Motivation Across Borders
The Mix
No GUTs, No Global
Green is Good
Last Word

Pharmaceutical Executive Europe - March 2008