In pharma strategy, product benefits are just a start

Unlike the challenge in most other categories, the emotional response to a pharma product’s benefits is baked in, because it can improve – or save – the life of a patient. Therefore, the challenge for pharma strategists is different.

Why it matters

As healthcare marketing becomes more competitive in coming years – with a rash of new drug approvals expected from the US Food & Drug Administration – pharma strategists will need to pay ever more attention to meaningful distinctiveness to get brands noticed.

Takeaways

• The pharma industry’s constant innovation shows the limitations of traditional marketing concepts, but the challenges for pharma strategists are still significant.
• Big pharma companies are managing large portfolios of treatments, each of which is approved for multiple indications, across multiple conditions, and all of which face more and more competitors, increasing the need for medical breakthroughs to stand out.
• This, in turn, enhances the need to develop distinctive brand assets that ensure brands are easily recognized.

The big idea

Strategists need to realize that the common focus in pharma on communicating product efficacy can overshadow the more fundamental task of being noticed and remembered.