Pharma waiting for the trail to be blazed....
Oct/21/06 06:45 | DTC Environment
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One of the challenges of being a pioneer is you are the first in line to catch the arrows. The only way companies are going to learn what not to do is by someone else making the mistake first. Of course the other side to this is that you could be the first and only one to discover a gold mine and have it all to yourself



The Word of Mouth Marketing Association's code of ethics states: "Honesty of identity: You never obscure your identity. Too bad that a PR firm hired by Wal*Mart didn't know that when they created some BLOGS in support of Wal*Mart and failed to disclose their identity and association with Wal*Mart. On the Web this is called "sock pupating" and when you get caught, and you will get caught, it can cause a lot of damage.


I have written on this site many times about consumer generated media. As the Internet goes through the life-cycle and the technology user interfaces become more friendly more and more BLOGS are going to spring up. We are a nation that likes reality and we like to hear and snoop on everyday people we meet online. The other side to this wired nation of course is the that consumers can share their experiences with your product or brand. One person has a BLOG dedicated to the side effects of Lipitor, he claims that he had chronic leg pain, and is trying to warn people about the side effects. There are a whole bunch of BLOGS dedicated to antidepressants and their use, or in this case their abuse. All these can persuade people to stay away from treatment of potentially life threatening diseases.


When I launched Sarafem online, a re-branding of Prozaz for severe PMS, we allowed women to send us their stories, and post them, regarding their experiences with PMS and PMDD. I was surprised when the first week of going live we had over 200 stories. Sure some were obnoxious and rude but that percentage was very small. Most were honest and open stories about women who turned into a combination of witches & monsters when they were PMS and how it effected their spouses. Although he posts had to go through our medical, regulatory and legal review (there was a disclaimer on the website to inform people of such) we were able to post their stories and it became a very high trafficked page.
I took this step because research had shown that women like to relate to each other and share their stories. In this case it worked although Sarafem's life was short lived because of the expiration of the Prozac patent.


Pharma DTC has a real opportunity to be a pioneer in the marketing of pharmaceutical products but in order to head into the wilderness they need the support of senior management who, unfortunately, does not have or come from a marketing background. Too bad....



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