Thinking Pharma: Blue Ocean Strategies – Do They Work in Pharmaland?

Paraphrasing the immortal words of the 2008 US Presidential campaign:

“Yes They Do!”

But Blue Ocean Strategies don’t happen “Just Like That”, as the great comedian Tommy Cooper would have us believe.

It’s all too to easy be xth to market, in a limited indication, and think “oh well, we can’t do much until we get the front-line approval…” or whatever the excuse might be for a less than optimal approach to entering the market.

That’s a fatal mistake many make.

And it dooms the brand to join the marketplace ‘also rans’ because of internal limits and short sighted thinking.

Blue Ocean Thoughtware

Blue Ocean Strategies require an entirely different approach, a bold departure from the normal traditional marketing practices.

I love the pithy synopsis by Gabor George Burt who said:

“In most industries, all the fundamental strategic differences among customers are captured by a small number of clusters called “strategic groups.” Most companies focus on improving their competitive position within an existing strategic group. But why not create your own strategic group which can draw customers away from several of the traditional groups simultaneously?”

That has always been my approach to marketing and one to which Thinking Pharma is also strongly committed.

Where do you stand on the Thoughtware of Blue Ocean Strategies?

Where do you stand in terms of ‘follow the crowd’ thinking?

Do you assess the alternatives?

Do you create a new place you can really ‘own’ based upon listening to customers and understanding the insights that are available?

Having listened do you create communication that will resonate with the target audience?

A Fight for Survival

As more products enter a market the ‘sharks in a kill’ mentality spreads quickly, frenzy style.

The waters turn bloody and it becomes a struggle for survival. You could easily end-up just snapping up the scraps.

By understanding the market and customer needs, you can carve out a new place, one that has real value and differentiates starkly form the competition.

It reminds me of the old adage of the woodman too busy chopping down trees to stop and sharpen his saw or even look-up and check whether he was chopping down the right trees.

How acceptable would that be in today’s green ‘politically correct’ society?

Well ignoring the reality of the marketplace is just as naïve. Isn’t it?

Sometimes we need to stop and think carefully – how can we best utilise the wealth of data we have to understand out customers better and segment more carefully?