FDA Hearings and eMarketing Conferences
Nov/05/2009 07:39 Filed in: FDA Social
Media
There are many ideas on how to develop a Power Point presentation. Some will tell you to "tell a story" while others say use as few bullets as possible. This works in a general business setting but let's remember that you're talking to the government who has their own way to listen to and present data.
Still it is obvious that the people presenting get it but that a lot of people within the industry don't get it. The last three conferences that I have attended via Twitter had some great information but they were probably preaching to the quire. I would like to see a road show of maybe 3-4 people (no agency people please) go to the top 10 drug companies and present the realities of new marketing including empowered patients & social media's use in health marketing. The people we need to reach, legal, regulatory, classic MBA marketers, are the ones who are the biggest barriers to implementing new marketing , including the use of new media.
As I said earlier we are currently doing some quant research to try and measure the effectiveness & credibility of social media as applied to health. Initial results indicate that the FDA itself if not seen as a credible source of health information that drug websites are also ranked low in overall credibility. No surprises so far but one bit of data has us taking notice and that is that consumers/patients are more skeptical and less likely to ask for newly approved drugs because of safety concerns. With 40% of parents refusing to allow Swine flu vaccinations for their children in New York because of safety fears I guess we should have thought this might be the case but still it is worth noting.
Some other initial findings are that people are often overwhelmed with health information on the Internet. They first have to find the information they need and then determine if it's credible. Time is the new currency and people may be feel they just don't have the time to "sort through it all".
Keep in mind these are initial findings from 200 people we still want to hear from at least another 400 people before we cut off the research.
I would like to seen a lot more consumer health groups or consumers themselves present at the FDA hearing rather than have it 75% agencies. I would have also like the FDA to take a step back and ask the basic question "how are consumers using the Internet for health information and what effect is it having on health overall"? There are a lot of smart people who share insights via Twitter who work for pharma and who are probably frustrated by not being allowed to truly leverage Internet marketing for their companies. I share their frustration because I know what is happening and sometimes want to yell at DTC marketers who continue to waste money on TV. With all the layoffs at agencies I can see why their people are consistently presenting at conferences and seem to be everywhere on the Web; they see new media as a potential for more business.
The real test as to whether all the presentations were worth it will be the FDA itself. Will they do what is in the consumers best interests or will they blow with the political winds and delay issuing guidelines? Who knows, but when you still classify product websites as labeling you have a long long way to go.
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