Back in Healthcare RM with Crossix

After a hiatus of a few years doing CPG analytics with IRI, I am working again in Healthcare with Crossix Solutions

I am now VP of Product Strategy, leading development of targeting and measurement solutions for healthcare manufacturers and their agencies.

Looking forward to continuing the dialogue with you all.

Lessons from the ePharma summit

It was a pleasure to participate this month in the ePharma summit in New York, giving a lecture entitled, "Transform Your Organization through Interactive Selling." The messages of gearing your whole organization for iPad selling, segmented messaging and measurement were quite resonant.
Please feel free to contact me for a copy of this presentation.

There were other lessons as well.

* Mobile pharma applications are increasingly common, and vary from text messaging to full scale applications.

* Social media presence in pharma remains predominantly corporate, but content is reaching out to consumer submissions.

* Professional non-personal and multi-channel promotion has become manstream, and solutions are proliferating.

All in all, a dynamic marketplace for sure. Keep reading here for the latest. Or read The Bloc's latest on Convergent Times.

Lessons from Industry Conference on "Next Generation"

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Several lessons were learned at last week's Next Generation Pharmaceutical Sales and Marketing conference in Philadelphia, at which The CementBloc had a panel and a booth.

The predominance of analytics and accountability was quite apparent, as several presentations discussed the need to measure effectiveness of initiatives. There was a start up company bringing dashboards across mobile applications. Another innovative vendor promoted multichannel analytics for "software as a service."

Representatives from BMS and sanofi-aventis discussed centralizing their closed loop marketing practices across categories.

Others emphasized the increased complexity of the pharmaceutical customer base, such as integrated delivery networks, and a resulting need for Strategic Account Management.

At The CementBloc, we emphasized our Convergent Branding across channels and in a panel marked by lively feedback. It was a pleasure participating.

IMS acquires SDI: the data firm nesting continues

The news that IMS Health is acquiring SDI (see IMS press release here) is a jolt to those of us who have worked in the pharmaceutical data industry for ten years or more.

Both companies declined to discuss the acquisition beyond a joint statement released last Friday afternoon. Unnamed company sources told Ed Silverman, who first reported the deal on his Pharmalot blog, that as much as 15% of SDI's staff could lose their jobs as a result of the acquisition.

Gary Gatyas, an IMS Health spokesperson, declined to speculate on timing for the completion of the deal, citing pre-merger notification requirements with respect to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.

SDI itself was made larger by the acquisition of Verispan in 2008. Verispan was in fact a conglomerate formed by the 2002 combination of multiple data vendors like Scott-Levin, SMG, and Kelly Waldron. This reminds me of the Russian nested doll pictured here, the matryoshka.

Why have there been so many combinations in the data, and informatics consulting business? Driven in part by profitability issues, intense competition, adn the mergers of the pharmaceutical manufacturers themselves,

If this deal goes through, With this latest IMS acquisition there will come a short term hassle for major pharmceutical clients in 2011 as the landscape gets sorted out. Then longer term, there will be less competition for information sources, and perhaps slow down the rate of innovation.

Pharma media schedules for public view - wither violence?

It's remarkable to notice how a public advocacy group like the Parents Television Council can influence ED drug makers to publish their television media schedule for Viagra and Cialis. One can see how the two firms Pfizer and Lilly are focused on late night, sports, and news programs, essentially all in the evenings.

As a parent, I can empathize with other parents who may want to avoid certain content. However, personally, I feel more strongly about the rampant violence of commericals during afternoon broadcasts; even for actual network shows. Those seem impossible to avoid.

Blogging on the plane -- abrupt Tysabri landing by AdChoices

OK, while using wireless at 35,000 (first time, thanks Delta), I surfed my personal Yahoo Email and noticed a banner ad at right for Tysabri, a multiple sclerosis medication. Out of place for me given my personal situation. Not sure how I was behaviorally targeted. Learn more about such targeting from Adchoices, click here.


Definitely this was a CRM consumer acquisition media buy. However,
the banner ad brought be abruptly to this landing page. This was a bumpy user experience, I never really learned much about what the drug was, or what the condition was. Just brought me right to the registration form without further explanation.

Lesson learned here? Think about the user experience, and test it in research.

Adherence Hardware

As reported in MMM, there is a very interesting development by a startup firm called Vitality, which is an adherence designed pill bottle called Glowcaps. We have seen a demostration and it is quite an interesting device, which has a cellular connection that can communicate adherence status, and in a closed loop system can lead to SMS,emails, or call reminders. Also and intersting business model: funded by PBMs like Express Scripts who have a vested interest in keeping patients adherent, from a financial and a health outcomes perspective. Pharmaceutical companies piloting this sdevice are also asked to pay performance of sales lifts, though no specific companies are disclosed in the article.

In principle, this has benefits of reducing the false positives of typical adherence "reminder" programs. An alert is sent out only when the bottle is not opened for over a day, or two days, as set. More importantly, there has been a documented adherence lift.

Read more, and ask what else the future brings, with wireless, mobile, and microelectronics, we may be seeing more of this adherence hardware in the future.

Boomers and Conversion to Product

Medical Marketing and Media cited an interesting study by agency GSW Worldwide's Pink Tank unit about how 44% of female baby boomers do further research before going to the pharmacy to fill a medication already prescribed. Various sources are enumerated, including online drug background, cost, and consultation with friends.

The background cited refers to the begrudging attitude of these "KaBoomer" women who are indeed taking more medication than their parents did at this age, yet they are not pleased with taking so much medication, and are skeptical.

This added need to perform research presents a potential risk that patients in this demographic will not fill the medications they are prescribed by their physicians. It is another hurdle that could lower the conversion rate, and health outcomes.

What does this mean in terms of consumer relationship marketing? An extra critical step must be planned for between physicians writing Rx and the Rx getting filled. Manufacturers must provide the right information, across multiple forums: in-office materials, online websites, search engines, and social media. Trusted medical portals, associations and consumer advocacy groups should also clearly explain the benefits of medications as prescribed.

How about a patient starter kit directing to these sources to answer any questions? Could there be opportunities to test call centers supplying information, especially after new product launches to baby boomer categories.

The channels can be tested as part of CRM roll-out for response rate and utilization. But no question, the conversion step needs to be a bit more complex here.

Fish Where the Fish Are -- Not Only Digital IQ

Previously in this Blog I mentioned the Digital IQ report and rankings compiled by L2 (Luxury Lab) and PhD Media . Yesterday our company, the CementBloc had an in-depth discussion group, and we realized that some of these findings must be taken with a grain of salt.

While use of innovative digital channels is admirable, the ultimate goal of media (the report notes 4% of Pharma DTC spend is online) is to reach your target segment, and to acquire qualified leads that can drive conversion to prescriptions.

It is not surprising that the highest scoring brands in the report where aimed at youth (18 to 30) markets, most notably female contraceptives -- for that audience you need to be on mobile, social, and web. Many of these products also have years left on their product life cycle as well.

Also not too surprising that cardiovascular drugs are generally challenged. The target age range is consumers in their 50s and 60s, and many of the drugs have gone generic or are nearing their loss of exclusivity.

Digital IQ is a good concept, but ranking within your category of peers (same target, similar therapies) may make more sense than a global ranking.

We also need to consider specialty products: oncology comes to mind as a very active online category that has its own special digital needs.
So, in considering consumer awareness and acquisition media, consider your target. Do research into the channels and media that your target really consumes. For some therapeutic categories, don't give up on focused print, or focused demographically matched DRTV, or even targeted direct mail or email lists. Digital is one important arrow in your quiver, but not the whole arsenal. Your digital investment and innovation should align to your brand's needs and your target.

Thus, as my friend Jason Ruebel of Bridge Worldwide taught me, when we were working on StrongMoms together, in relationship marketing you have to "fish where the fish are."

Pharma Digital IQ: CRM Perspective

I highly recommend reading the just-released in-depth study of 51 Pharmaceutical Digital presences , a research report compiled by L2 (Luxury Lab) and PhD Media.


The review is quite well done in having a range of principled dimensions on which to rank a pharmaceutical brand’s online presence. These include:
• Website platform (brand translation, site functional elements)
• Off platform messaging (online advertising, mobile, email)
• Search engine optimization (keywords, search architecture, authority)
• Social media (dabbling in facebook, twitter, youtube, user generated content)


Within the study, products are reviewed by therapeutic category for meaningful comparisons.Note that the emphasis of this study is consumers and patients, rather than resources for healthcare professionals.

Brands are scored numerically, and given competence categories having catchy names like "genius," "gifted," or "challenged." To me, the rankings and categories are secondary, for each brand may change over time. What is important is a systematic process for taking into account the overall consumer pharmaceutical digital experience.

For a CRM perspective, this framework is valuable in that it recognizes that patients seeking healthcare information online are navigating through a broad array of digital channels. This matrix of channels: mobile, search, email, social media, and website must be integrated into an overall experience that provides health education, encourages consultation with licensed healthcare professionals and leads to better medical outcomes.

Professional Value and Multi-Channel Marketing.

At this week's PMSA conference in Savannah, new models of professional promotion were featured prominently.

Angela Bakker-Lee of ZS Associates described the success of "Value Based Selling" where representatives listen to physician clinical and practice needs, and helping to achieve these ends up within the rep's goals too. She cited positive examples from technology, airlines, and healthcare.

Richard Greenburg of Inventiv Health gave a thoughtful overview of multi-channel marketing, He noted the challenges of analytics from multiple-channels, requiring data integration, and faster speed of analysis required to be responsive and adapt.

We at The CementBloc had a poster presentation of design and measurement of Professional Relationship Marketing, which really tied the above two concepts together. Physician value can be actually be enhanced and measured through deployment of a PRM system offering a range of services that go with the product information. Furthermore, through online surveys and click stream data from registrants, professional goals can be better assessed, and even brought back to the healthcare company or the sales rep in a feedback loop.

As two examples of this approach to PRM value in the marketplace,
consider Bayer's new Simple Wins Professional as well as J & J Vistakon's Partners in Practice On these company portfolio portals, healthcare professionals can find practice resources as well as product information.

With these portals, healthcare professionals are receiving more value from healthcare firms, who can measure, gather feedback, and be more responsive over time.

Reinventing Web Analytics on the Sales Tablet

Brand and business goals remain the best way to measure impact of a promotional tactic. However, this truism is not always applied with new technologies

Many pharmaceutical companies are now selling with digital tablets, where almost every click the sales representative makes can be measured, and time tabulated. These tablets generate sequential data streams, which are sometimes measured with basic KPIs like time spent, and the order of tablet slides used.

This is reminiscent of the early days of website analytics ten years ago, where the metrics often cited were page views and time on website. Back then, those were used as KPIs because they were reportable in the elementary "web log" systems.

However, whether it's websites or sales tablets, the objective of engagement within a channel is to achieve a business goal. Therefore on websites, we now measure funnels to goal pages like CRM registrations, and consumption of segmented content areas.

The same should hold for sales force tablets. Think about your brand goals,and what particular sections of the tablet presentations are most aligned toward achieving those goals. Measure consumption of those sections as a valuable indicator of success.

Pharma DTC Spending Holds, and Digital Rises

Recent posts in Medical Marketing and Media notes that Pharmaceutical DTC spending has held firm in 2009, rising 1.9% to $4.5 billion over 2008 spend. Data is from the Nielsen Company. Considering reductions in sales force sizing, that means a relative rise in the percentage of spending in DTC in pharmaceuticals.

A closer look at these numbers brings insights by channel. Television spending is shifting from networks to cable, and magazine spending is down.

A note worthy trend is a rise in Internet ad spending of 31%, to $117 million. Of course, Internet spending is still small in the relative DTC marketing mix (less than a tenth of overall print or overall TV).

Still the rise shows that increasing numbers of pharmaceutical marketers are seeing these benefits of digital advertising:

Targeting: Online media can be targeted to consumers' behaviors, and their searches. It can also be placed within content areas geared toward disease education vs. specific products.

Direct response efficiency: On a cost per lead basis, search and direct response banners are very efficient.

Faster and Easier Measurement: Data on impressions, click throughs, and landing site activity comes in within hours and days after the campaign launches. This enables marketers to understand what their audiences really need and how well they respond to alternative offers.

Testing and Learning: In a related note, setting up parallel test cells for search or banner campaigns is straightforward using platforms like Omniture or Google Analytics. The rapid results noted above help you see which offer or creative is yielding the biggest response or most website traffic.

Rapid Media Optimization: One corollary to rapid data within a test and learn environment is enabling of rapid media optimization. Decisions can continually be made of what media changes to make.

These benefits should continue to make digital an ever increasing channel for consumer advertising and relationship marketing in pharmaceuticals in the future.

Feedback Loop in Pharmaceutical Sales

Increasing numbers of pharmaceutical companies are investing in tablet PCs for their sales forces. The motivations are multiple, including regulatory as described in a recent Wall St Journal article.

See this link from MedAdNews by Steven Niles on the Feedback Loop enabled by electronic sales tablets. The by-line is somewhat ambitious: "New technology is making closed-loop marketing more effective and creating a stronger connection between sales and marketing through real-time feedback from physicians."

However, an incremental phased approach should be taken to develop a feedback loop. Think about what types of information can be shared with sales representatives without distracting them.

Plan quarter by quarter as to what can be achieved. Feedback may be partly manual at the start. Develop a measurement plan, and continually optimize and improve each quarter.