Pharmaceutical Marketing – Strategies and Practices in India (2 Case Studies) are explained below:
Case Study 1
The leading global, research-driven pharmaceutical products and services company discovers, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of healthcare products. They created a website to provide visitors with important information about one of their cholesterol- reducing drugs that included safety guidelines, prescribing instructions and facts about the medication.
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As the site was presented to the “Think Medicine” team, it offered prescribing information, patient product information and one press release. Shortly thereafter, a health care provider section and consumer content was added, bringing the total page count to about 50.
The client’s goals for their search engine marketing campaign were to maximize the website’s visibility across the major search properties and develop brand awareness.
Image Source: cambridgeconsultants.com
Challenges:
Pharmaceutical companies must be extremely careful about the specific information they present on their websites. A product site cannot be launched until final approval by the FDA is given. This can hamper search engine marketing efforts because there is a limit to the content am! Keywords that can appear within the site.
All content that is to be viewed by the public, (e.g. everything from visible copy to title tags, directory listings and link targets) has to be reviewed and subsequently approved by the FDA. Furthermore, all content must be communicated in a “consumer-friendly” language. This creates an additional challenge for pharmaceutical marketers because problems arise if a site is to be quickly redesigned and launched.
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In addition to complying with FDA regulations, the site faced other obstacles. Much of it was designed with Flash technology. Most search engines cannot read and index pages that utilize Flash because the content is embedded within Flash files instead of within HTML code. Although this client did create alternative HTML pages for each page that contained Flash, they were not linked to from any other pages.
Finally, in the initial design of the site, an entire section contained a mandatory cookie. This also hinders search engine visibility in that spider-based properties cannot index pages that require a cookie. As a result, only half of the site had the ability to become accessible within the major search properties.
Questions:
1. Provide the best for this marketing campaign
2. How the prospects of the solution providing company will change with the strategic view.
Case Study 2
A targeted effort that supported the 2001 launch of AstraZeneca’s gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) treatment Nexium (esomeprazole) in international market struck a fine balance in building brand equity while encouraging appropriate use of the new medication. Nexium succeeded Prilosec (omeprazole), the long-time market-leading proton pump inhibitor (PP1) that achieved US sales of $3.7 billion in 2001. Research showed that patients could benefit from another treatment alternative. Nexium was launched to the medical community on the strength of data comparing it with Prilosec.
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Nexium hit the market with support befitting a potential megabrand-extensive direct-to- consumer television and print campaigns, along with direct communication with self-iden- tified frequent heartburn sufferers who previously requested information from AstraZeneca about treatment options. To accelerate long-term growth, the marketing team sought to build a documented brand presence among others who may suffer from GERD and collaborated with Reader’s Digest to reach 380,000 US households whose residents meet that criterion.
The goal was to give a concentrated group of chronic heartburn sufferers an early introduction to Nexium and imprint them with a favorable image of the brand. It was significant that recipients had requested those communications from a trusted publication, “Viewpoints on Health,” a custom information source that Reader’s Digest sends to subscribers who have requested specific information-diagnosis, treatment, products-about ailments suffered by a member of their household. The magazine’s database includes subscriber households reporting more than 30 ailments, with total ailments ranging from 250,000 to more than 1.5 million.
Trustworthy consumer ‘information is the cornerstone of pharma marketing. Judging from the substantial consumer feedback, a helpful booklet helped connect credible content with Nexium as a treatment option for acid reflux disease. Astra-Zeneca’s collaboration with a respected publication enhanced the brand’s reputation with heartburn sufferers. That’s the essence of all successful advertising.
Questions:
1. Discuss the factor involved in success of Nexium in international market
2. Evaluate the marketing strategies for Nexium with critics