Category Archives: Prescription drug DTC marketing

Healthcare is changing but DTC marketing still stuck in the past

Posted on November 15, 2011 | 1 Comment

Healthcare in America is changing. Hospitals are scrambling to buy hospitals. Doctors are leaving small private practices. Large insurance companies are becoming more dominant as smaller ones disappear because they cannot stay competitive. States are simplifying decades of Medicaid rules and planning new ways for poor and rich alike to buy policies more easily and less patients are going to see their doctor, spending more time online researching health and getting more involved in wellness.  Where are most DTC marketers ?  On the sideline watching it all happen. Continue reading →

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Posted in Focus on patients, Prescription drug DTC marketing

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Digital marketing more effective than TV. So why doesn’t pharma spend more online ?

Posted on November 1, 2011 | 2 Comments

Information Resources has reported an average 8% lift in sales of consumer packaged- goods brands retail sales over the course of a year, as a result of TV advertising. This matches the sales lift comScore has observed from digital advertising over a three-month period. The faster sales lift from digital traces to a greater use of price and promotion messaging when compared to TV, but it is also caused by digital’s superior targeting ability, which allows more ad impressions to be delivered against a target audience in a given period of time.  So why hasn’t pharma gotten the message ? Continue reading →

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Survey: DTC not effective in majority of consumers

Posted on October 13, 2011 | 12 Comments

Each year, the Thomson Reuters Pulse Healthcare Survey collects information about health behavior, attitudes, and utilization from more than 100,000 U.S. households.  Nearly 8% of those seeing, hearing, or receiving ads were influenced to ask their doctor about a specific medication. This percentage decreases as respondents’ age and income rise. Continue reading →

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When market research trumps common sense

Posted on October 11, 2011 | 4 Comments

Let’s say that a pre-launch brand spends $2-$4 million in market research.  Based on the research you expect your brand to be a blockbuster but two to three years after launch sales are nowhere near forecast ?  Was it execution or the market research ?  More and more it’s proving to be the market research because too many marketers are afraid to say what they feel when it comes to gaining an understanding of how people think about healthcare choices. Continue reading →

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Huh? Really bad online advertising

Posted on October 11, 2011 | 5 Comments

I came across this online ad for Vyvanse and thought frankly that it was really bad.  First you don’t need fair balance because the product does not mention what it treats but beyond that what the hell is this ad supposed to convey to people?  Do the think that people are going to click on an ad when they have no idea what the hell the product is for ? Continue reading →

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How Pharma Marketing Can Improve (Guest Post)

Posted on August 25, 2011 | 3 Comments

This is a guest post by Brian Shields: Reading through blog posts and tweetchats over the last year, it is obvious that there is a growing angst among the professional marketers within the healthcare space.  Perhaps this is a biased sample, since I’m utilizing social media as the major information source and there are obvious frustrations for Pharma in this space.   However, a biased sample or not, it is difficult to argue with the data being presented.  Pharma marketers are on a path toward extinction and right now, their agency partners are the Paul Reveres ringing the warning bell. Continue reading →

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Uloric does DTC the right way but can a new drug overcome price barriers ?

Posted on August 1, 2011 | 2 Comments

OK, so there isn’t a lot of innovation in DTC marketing but before you can innovate you still need to let people know that new treatments are on the market and are available via mass media (mass media = awareness, Internet=conversion).  I really like the new Uloric DTC marketing because it does a great job or informing and education with the great use of imagery. Continue reading →

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Why is there so much lack of innovation in DTC marketing ?

Posted on July 31, 2011 | 7 Comments

Where’s the innovation in DTC marketing ?  Where are all the good ideas ? It’s clear that the problem — as is almost always the case — isn’t a lack of raw ideas or innovation. Instead, there is a problem with the process that an idea generator has to go through before they stand in front of senior leadership. In most cases, within big biopharma companies anything makes it onto the agenda of a top  management’s meeting, it  is vetted, wordsmithed screened until the there is little left of  a great idea or innovation. Continue reading →

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Why pharma doesn’t know rules of engagement on social media

Posted on June 22, 2011 | 1 Comment

Interesting post on Twitter this morning “morning polling session shows pharma doesn’t engage/doesn’t know rules of engagement. Awaiting FDA guidance”.   And this is a surprise how ?  First with so many layoffs there has been a revolving door of DTC managers, second there is a lot of debate within the organization as to the actual value, in ROI, of social media that goes right to the heart of the current state of DTC marketing: they don’t understand empowered patients and how they are making healthcare choices. Continue reading →

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Posted in Prescription drug DTC marketing, Social media and healthcare

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The current model of DTC marketing is unsustainable, time for a new DTC model

Posted on June 21, 2011 | 2 Comments

The current model of DTC marketing is unsustainable.  Please read that sentence again.   If DTC marketers continue to use the current outdated model and spend most of their budgets on TV/Print they are going to be spending more time trying to justify marketing dollars while business objectives may or may not be met.   The reality of marketing today, especially prescription drugs, is that patients are becoming very knowledgeable consumers of healthcare and what goes in their bodies. Continue reading →

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Posted in Prescription drug DTC marketing

The challenges facing DTC marketing

Posted on June 15, 2011 | 2 Comments

Evolve or perish ?  Could that be applied to direct to consumer marketing of prescription drugs ?  Acknowledging change is never easy and having it forced on your organization without leadership is even worse.  There are a many challenges facing DTC marketing today here are some of them.  Please let me know if I missed anything. Continue reading →

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