Guess where people turn first for information?
Feb/27/2008 05:42 Filed in: Internet
& DTC Marketing
The
Internet is not a channel. Marketers are aggregators
that need to talk with customers rather than at them.
This is a new concept but DTC marketers had better
get used to it because the Internet is redefining
everything we do. Most DTC marketers don't have a
clue on how to talk to customers and when you ask
them about it you get responses like "we are a
regulated industry" or "the FDA would have a field
day with that". So they continue to ignore the Web
for the most part and as eMarketer recently reported
are stuck in Web 1.5.
It seems that a DTC managers first goal is to protect TV advertising, but once awareness has reached a certain level the effectiveness of TV ads declines dramatically. One could just look at the environment in which we market to see all the misinformation that has customers and patients confused. The media, for example, is now saying that most antidepressants don't work for a majority of people. So what is a patient supposed to do? Where do they turn to cut through all the clutter and get good credible information? Well the reality is that they are turning to each other and sharing experiences about everything from prescription drugs to cars.
It's not about the brand anymore it's about the experience and pharma marketers don't understand that. They can't understand why people don't want to wear shirts that say "I take Cialis and I like it" or "Bring me more food I take Lipitor". You would think that with TV ads becoming less effective and costs increasing that marketers in pharma would naturally turn more to the Web but from what I have heard that isn't happening at all. From my conversations with three people on the interactive agency side of the business there is no indication that more money will be flowing into the Web on any level. "It looks like more of the same old, same old from our end" one executive told me. I asked him if he had worked with the marketing people to talk about the growing importance of the Web and social media and his reply was "like talking to a brick wall". Another Director told me "I have never seen an industry so resistant to change in all my life".
One has to wonder if DTC marketers will ever learn the importance of the Web and acknowledge that customers now have more power then ever before. "It will come" said an account director that I work with, "the problem is that for most of these companies it maybe too late." "With the growing pricing pressure on prescription medications and a lot of drugs going generic it may be too late to put a stake in the ground".
It seems that a DTC managers first goal is to protect TV advertising, but once awareness has reached a certain level the effectiveness of TV ads declines dramatically. One could just look at the environment in which we market to see all the misinformation that has customers and patients confused. The media, for example, is now saying that most antidepressants don't work for a majority of people. So what is a patient supposed to do? Where do they turn to cut through all the clutter and get good credible information? Well the reality is that they are turning to each other and sharing experiences about everything from prescription drugs to cars.
It's not about the brand anymore it's about the experience and pharma marketers don't understand that. They can't understand why people don't want to wear shirts that say "I take Cialis and I like it" or "Bring me more food I take Lipitor". You would think that with TV ads becoming less effective and costs increasing that marketers in pharma would naturally turn more to the Web but from what I have heard that isn't happening at all. From my conversations with three people on the interactive agency side of the business there is no indication that more money will be flowing into the Web on any level. "It looks like more of the same old, same old from our end" one executive told me. I asked him if he had worked with the marketing people to talk about the growing importance of the Web and social media and his reply was "like talking to a brick wall". Another Director told me "I have never seen an industry so resistant to change in all my life".
One has to wonder if DTC marketers will ever learn the importance of the Web and acknowledge that customers now have more power then ever before. "It will come" said an account director that I work with, "the problem is that for most of these companies it maybe too late." "With the growing pricing pressure on prescription medications and a lot of drugs going generic it may be too late to put a stake in the ground".
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