Have you noticed that I am clearly not alone in my criticism of Pharma’s engagement with and execution of digital marketing?
If there the vaguest possibility that this broad condemnation of Pharma’s efforts in the digital domain is correct and has been for at least the last seven or eight years?
If so, is one then not left with the question:
“Why is Pharma bothering with digital marketing, communication and sales at all?”
Is the answer actually – They Aren’t?
Over the years I have been involved with Pharma I have heard many reasons for a lack of senior management endorsement of digital communication:
- It doesn’t work – show me the results
- It’s not cost-effective
- Sales Reps are the answer
- The legal constraints are too onerous for effective communication
- Senior management are not supportive
- We have a brand web site - ‘we’ve ticked that box’
I am not going to try and debunk these excuses. This exercise has been far more comprehensively completed by others.
However, one or three recent thoughts led me to ……
However, one or three recent thoughts led me to revisit Pharma’s reticence.
The Thoughts – 1
Are the legal constraints really that onerous?
Thinking Pharma was recently engaged by a small, but extremely interesting, pharmaceutical company to plan and execute their marketing – in particular their digital marketing.
They have a range of products that are Rx in their own country. As the country has a federated system of government they found themselves in a position where they could sell their product in their home state/province but were required to complete further clinical tests to sell to a national market.
Basically, if they kept a low profile in terms of marketing outside of home-base no governmental instrumentality was going to trouble them
The case became even more interesting when Thinking Pharma learnt that the relevant national regulator had granted them an export license.
Therefore, anyone in the main western markets could purchase the product legally anywhere in the world by eMail order and snail-mail delivery!
Now, legal loop holes are a well known business phenomena. So why are the legal departments in big Pharma not diligent, brave, resourceful, laterally-thinking, etc, etc, enough to act in the same way?
Is this a case of “No one ever got fired for buying IBM – or was it for prescribing Lipitor”
Alternatively, is this a case of Pharma being fine and upstanding corporate citizens by playing strictly by the rules?
If it is, then perhaps someone should point out to Pharma that the rules are changing so fast that the big game has changed and they are being left to ‘hunt the thimble’.
The Thoughts -2
This same, relatively tiny, pharmaceutical company has a range of products that are clear competition for one of the multi-hundreds of million of dollars main stays of the pharmaceutical industry.
Their product has the clinical tests to show that their product is arguably superior.
The point – circumstance is forcing them to approach the market using no sales force only a diverse range of digital communications strategies and tactics and it is proving extremely cost-effective.
The Thoughts - 3
What relationships has Pharma developed with third-party sites? There are now information, advisory, collaborative, expert, data, etc, web sites servicing all sectors of the pharmaceutical industry.
Even governments, for example NHS Direct, are in the ether servicing of healthcare stakeholders.
These suppliers do not seem to be constrained by an invisible hand of conservatism.
Was it an Epiphany?
Has Pharma shown that it is able to grasp the ever changing global health communication landscape?
Has Pharma shown prowess or success in employing a variety of digital communication strategies?
Why, when there is such a clear alternative in the shape-of third-party providers, does Pharma continue to fail at communicating in today’s world to serve its own self-interest?
Basically, why is Pharma bothering with it’s own digital communications?
(Tomorrow’s Blog: I do like Talking to Folks who Share my Understanding of the World)
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