How to add credibility back to pharma awards

Oct/05/2007 05:45 Filed in: DUH !
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Pharma awards sometimes can be handed out like Halloween candy with marketers using the awards to get ahead in their organizations. I have seen this first hand while at Lilly as some DTC people used the influence over their agency to submit them for awards and get them on panels as "experts". There is a way however to bring credibility back to these awards but of course it will be met with resistance from the people in the industry because for the first time they may be graded on performance and creativity rather than "who knows who".



First let me say that I believe it's important to recognize marketers who truly understand that patients have more power over their healthcare choices than ever before. Marketers should also be recognized for taking risks and trying new things to encourage more risk taking in an industry that is risk adverse. So here is what I would do to add credibility back to DTC awards:


-Use marketers from outside the industry to vote on the awards. We need people with a fresh perspective to determine if DTC campaigns are worth being nominated and win awards. People from within the industry are too stale.


-Metrics: What was the objective of the DTC (i.e.e generate awareness/drive RX's) and how was it measured. DTC marketers who spend $100 million to generate awareness only to have sales reach $80-$90 million should not be recognized.


-Do not allow ad agency people to vote on awards if they have DTC business: To much back scratching going on here with self interest at heart.


-Best integrated campaign: Who did the best job in the integration of the campaign. Media agencies should be used to vote on this.


See a trend here? People OUTSIDE the industry are needed to bring fresh ideas and a breath of freshness to stale campaigns that often lack creativity and insight. Marketers can manipulate data (believe me I saw this a lot at Lilly) so the data should be verified by more than one person. DTC Marketers should not be rewarded for campaigns that cost more money and bring in less revenue and should be rewarded for taking risks. It's time to send a message to management that we are going to need to get DTC more in line with what other world class marketers are doing in order to make it more effective.
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