Sales & Marketing

Between the constant push for more government regulation of drug marketing and the conservative nature of the industry, the fast-paced world of pharmaceutical advertising doesn't seem too glamorous. But for one night every year, dozens of agencies and pharma companies take a walk down the red carpet to honor their peers at the annual PhAME Awards. Pharm Exec talked to some of the winners and industry insiders to take the current pulse of consumer advertising and find out what it takes to make an award-winning DTC ad.

Or: No news is good news--for everyone but us reporters

Blockbuster antidepressants linked to bone loss in seniors

Track down standout healthcare agencies using legal means. Your purpose: to assist prospective clients in choosing the right agency for their brands. Find out what makes agencies tick. See what's in their toolboxes. Go behind closed doors. Observe agencies' physical environment, note how they work. Take stock of the company's internal culture. Are the employees engaged, happy? Gather whatever information (i.e., facts, gossip, samples of work) and/or anything else that might be helpful to prospective clients. Take pictures of key principals at work and at play (if possible). Deconstruct the agency's proprietary approaches and strategic processes. Translate them into language an eighth-grader can understand.

Everyone knows someone who knows everything about restaurants in a given city. Not just the best restaurants, but the restaurants best suited for whatever the occasion.

OK, a parent company is a holding company that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors. In other words, it maximizes shareholder value. Still, what does it mean for an agency and, in turn, a client to be under a big top? To find out AGENCY CONFIDENTIAL brazenly elbowed its way into the executive offices of two men who should know: Nick Colucci, recently named president and CEO of Publicis Healthcare Communications Group, one of the largest healthcare groups in the world; and Scott Cotherman, CEO of Corbett Accel Healthcare Group, a parent company for eight business units and a member of the Omnicom Group.

Scott Cotherman has a thing for companies. He flat out loves them. Most of all, he loves making them into something bigger and better. He worked his magic on Chicago's Corbett Agency in the late '90s when, as COO, he transformed it from a regional agency into a global medical-communications company serving mega-brands. And in 2004, he was the brains behind the merging of the Corbett and Accel agencies that transformed them into the Corbett Accel Healthcare Group (a member of the Omnicom Group, the world's largest advertising holding company). Under his leadership, as CEO, the combined entity has since doubled in size. It now includes Accel Health, Corbett, Surge, Iris, and Kinect. Cotherman, who combines Midwestern warmth with CEO sophistication, describes himself as being passionate about organizations, transformational change, leadership development, and the future. AGENCY CONFIDENTIAL met with him recently over a lunch of chicken sandwiches, potato chips, and Diet Cokes. An engaging story-teller, he has..

It's easy to imagine a collective gasp from independent healthcare agencies everywhere last March on hearing the that news Dorland Global was bought by London-based Huntsworth. Dorland was one of the oldest independent healthcare agencies in the world. Is it right, then, to view the acquisition as significant, a sign perhaps of things to come? And what was it like for the Sweeneys to let go of their baby after all these years?

It was like the end of the arms race last November when Pfizer announced it was slashing its national sales force by 20 percent. Coolly downplayed as cost-cutting by new CEO Jeffrey Kindler, the stunning move was met by industry insiders, Wall Street analysts, and the media with one humongous collective sigh of relief. Big Pharma was seen as having grown dangerously addicted to the detailing game over the past decade, with the top firms plowing more and more of their blockbuster profits into trying to keep up with Pfizer's "flood the zone" strategy and with less and less to show for it.

Advertorials were shown to be more effective than branded ads in terms of generating interest, providing valuable info, and provoking follow-up discussions

Direct-to-consumer advertising officially becomes a "tweenager" this August-and, oh my, how it has grown. DTC was officially born in 1997 when FDA gave the green light to companies to advertise their drugs to consumers. In the first year, pharmaceutical marketers bounded onto the scene and spent more than $1 billion. Years passed. Debates ensued. Patients learned more about drugs. And, yes, spending grew. The latest available figures for 2006 show that the industry spent $4.8 billion on DTC advertising, a 13 percent increase over 2005 and the second year of double-digit growth.

When it comes to corporate reputations, it's clear the pharmaceutical industry doesn't quite get it. (Just pick up any newspaper.) But here's the latest newsflash when it comes to managing a bad rap: You get what you pay for.

When it comes to direct-mail marketing, tiny envelopes and wordy letters just don't cut it. But for a fraction of the cost of a sales call, you can create an eye-catching mailer that will land on physicians' desks rather than in the circular file.

Have the confidence to step outside the norm. A targeted, humorous campaign will attract attention more quickly.

The pharmaceutical industry is abuzz with discussion: What will "tomorrow's" sales force look like? How will the job profile and competencies for sales reps change to better serve customers? How do we recruit and hire this new breed of sales reps? Steve DeMorro, president of Publicis Healthcare Recruiting, identified several key characteristics of the new biopharma representative, and how he believes these will become a standard part of the job profile for recruiting-and developing-sales reps in the future.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act-or SOX, as it is dubbed (not always so affectionately)-requires companies to provide greater control and quality assurance across a vast spectrum of business processes. In practice, SOX plays out differently industry by industry and even company by company. But for pharma, one of the most pressing consequences is the need to improve the accuracy of revenue recognition.

McCann HumanCare will launch Pfizer anti-smoking drug Chantix.

Let's face it: no brand manager wants their drug listed on the third or fourth formulary tier. But the reality is that brands often do wind up with low coverage, making them more expensive for consumers.

Pharma companies today are focused on driving prescriptions. But just because physicians are prescribing a brand doesn't mean that they are committed to it. Who's to say a doctor won't jump ship the moment a flashier new drug comes on the scene?

Gardasil embodies the kind of links between science, commercialization, and humanity that typify great pharma breakthroughs. It turned a medical success story into a campaign of empowerment. Merck used visionary science to produce a vaccine with the potential to eradicate the third-most-common cause of cancer worldwide, and taught girls how to talk about sensitive issues.

Pharma can receive twice as much revenue from detailing than from DTC. For every dollar spent detailing, firms should expect about $10 in revenues. The return from DTC advertising is more in the range of $5 to $6.

One fortunate consequence of a slower job market is that tenure levels are increasing: 80 percent of sales managers now have at least two years experience under their belt.

Pharma companies today are focused on driving prescriptions. But just because physicians are prescribing a brand doesn't mean that they are committed to it. Who's to say a doctor won't jump ship the moment a flashier new drug comes on the scene?

How hard is it to spot an emerging threat or opportunity in time to actually do something about it? Is it as hard as spotting a scud missile in the deserts of Iraq? As hard as identifying an underwater threat to a submarine using only sonar? As hard as spotting a consumer trend in a vast and complex business like financial services?

Doctors like direct mail as long as the message is concise and to the point. The minute you ask the doctor to actually do something with the direct mail, that's when your effectiveness starts to go downhill.

From hedge clippers to balancing elephants, the 20th annual Rx Club Awards honored a display of ads featuring the most creative concepts from around the world.

Long turnaround on ad reviews adds new complications to the process of developing marketing plans.

Noncompliance causes 125,000 deaths and more than $100 billion in increased healthcare expenses.

Marketing effectively to physicians in today's pharmaceutical industry is more important than ever. No longer can companies rely solely on DTC and sales force efforts to increase drug and therapeutics revenue.

Cost-shifting is still one of the favorite tools in almost all employers' cost-cutting toolboxes. But many fear that shifting too many costs to workers will backfire. Low co-pays keep people healthy and on the job: a big return on investment.