DTC "defunkafied"

Aug/14/2008 10:13

I don’t think there was ever an industry that is going through such a funk as the pharma and health industries. This week we learned that in fact exercise does not help people who are depressed and that there actually maybe something to the Atkins diet after all. Is it any wonder that consumers are confused about what they should do to take better care of themselves and what medications are actually safe with the least amount of side effects?

You call it a business, we call it patient health. .you call it patient health we call it a business. People, like this author, who have worked in DTC groups can appreciate the irony of that statement. We all want to help patients and do what is best for our customers, but the reality is that pharmaceutical companies are in business to make money not necessarily help patients. That statement is pretty bold but it is a reality of working for big pharma. How many people who are reading this BLOG have had to justify and re-justify marketing dollars? We spend more time getting internal buy-in about what we want to do rather than executing what should be done.

Agency people are, of course, aware of this. There are the early flights to meet with clients, the final touches on Power Point slides, the presentations and then the take two steps forward and three steps back feedback. Often senior managers, who control the dollars, come from the field and as thus have a blind allegiance to salespeople. When marketing people ask for money, they often are asked the dreaded “ROI” scenarios upon which we have to go back and work with market research to show that programs work and can help meet business objectives.

There is a place for DTC in today’s market environment but to be successful DTC marketing has to evolve. TV is great for building awareness of new products but, with higher costs and diminishing effectiveness, marketers have to think as prospects and overcome barriers to treatment through integrated programs. Online is only one piece of the puzzle. There are so many other channels rights now but to make these channels effective marketers need to rethink segmentation strategy. It’s getting harder and harder to segment audiences today and rather than develop one or two messages for prospects marketers need to develop a lot more. They also need to learn how to engage consumers within regulatory guidelines and talk to current customers through a great CRM program.

Pharma cannot hide behind science and data in an era of immediate transparency. Lilly found this out the hard way with its new blood thinning product. Even before FDA approval the Street was already downgrading Lilly stock on rumors and innuendos leading to billions of dollars in market capitalization loss for Lilly.

Pharma executives also need to keep good DTC marketers within DTC marketing. Why in hell would you move someone who did a great job in DTC marketing to a market research of DTP position with the company to get “rounded” company experience. Good marketers are a dime a dozen, but passionate great marketers are really hard to find and should be kept in areas doing what they love to do.

Believe it or not pharma will bounce back from this dip. There are some new drugs that show a lot of promise but in order to get to the next level in DTC ads DTC in general will need to evolve. This means thinking outside the box and keeping the accounting people happy while also getting intimate with your customers. It means an eMarketing and CRM department rather than one person doing both jobs for the brand. It means that there is an understanding that what we do we do for patients and as thus it is also good for business.