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Mike Myers, Palio Communications
June 2nd 2008There are some pretty basic tenets for a successful agency–client relationship: Underpromise and overdeliver with your customers (physicians, managed care organizations, etc.); Take the time to do your homework before rushing to production; Don't compare your results to the most recent market-maker; Be realistic yet aggressive in your expectations for your brand.
Michael McLinden, Mc/K Healthcare
June 2nd 2008Companies have spent a lot of money over the past 10 years on banner ads, Web sites, e-media planning and buying, but the big payoff-pens to Rx pads-hasn't been there. Companies are looking for someone to solve it. Someone to say: "This is how you build a virtual relationship with a patient." "This is how you build a virtual relationship with a physician." And finally, "This is how you make these relationships work for your brand."
Paul Harris, Stratagem, Healthcare
June 2nd 2008What clients really want is to be able to control the message. And the message is hard to control when a lot of different touchpoints are manipulating a brand. Agencies can open the door to social media, but they have to be advised on the pluses and minuses.
Randy Isaacson, Williams-Labadie
June 2nd 2008Creativity isn't just defined by the "campaign." Creativity needs to be applied holistically across all aspects of the clients' businesses. That can include improving efficiencies and coordinating sales messaging, as well as programming across an entire portfolio and ensuring new media channels are used effectively.
Scot Cotherman, Corbett Accel Healthcare Group
June 2nd 2008Evidence-based science will always trump marketing fluff. Companies should invest their resources into developing initiatives that will uncover the science. That's what truly differentiates their products. Marketing campaigns developed around evidence-based science are viewed as more credible, and the companies behind them are perceived as acting more responsibly. Pharma companies should explore tailored, one-to-one communication to introduce brands, enhance compliance, and build loyalties.
Alexandra vonPlato, Digitas Health
June 2nd 2008The industry assumption is that "DTC" means advertising, "creative" means advertising campaign-creative, and agency means advertising agency. Brands should stop viewing DTC as promotion at people and start thinking of it as engaging with people. Better to call it DFC-direct for consumer. As an industry, we need to wean ourselves off the 50-year-old advertising-centric model that was developed to sell consumer products on TV and in print. It is right to suggest to people: "Ask your doctor if brand X is right for you." But it's naive to think the first thing a person does when they have a health concern is to call a doctor. As marketers, we can no longer afford to underinvest in the Internet-the medium consumers have actively made part of their personal healthcare system-in favor of ads that consumers are actively trying to avoid most of the time.
