Mobile Marketing The May article “At the End of the Day, Mobile Marketing Is On Its Way. Are You Ready?” focused on mobile marketing to consumers. Based on our experience at Epocrates, we’d like to share some of the lessons learned by those already doing mobile messaging to physicians. Brands marketing to consumers can learn key lessons from the established practice of mobile messaging to physicians: make it relevant — content needs to be succinct and applicable to their daily activities (e.g., cardiologists want news about beta blockers); disclose source — transparency is vital; it eliminates fear of hidden agendas and builds trust; measure results — the personal nature of mobile devices gives marketers richer data to measure ROI and personalize messaging; don’t spam — control the frequency of messages to avoid numbing your audience. We anticipate an explosion of mobile marketing over the coming years, and we applaud marketers embracing this powerful, brand building tool. Jeff Tangney EXECUTIVE VP, SALES AND MARKETING EPOCRATES INC. Ambassadors Wanted I read with great interest the article “The Man, The Mission, The Message” in your September issue. All of us involved in the pharma world should be positive ambassadors for the industry, and it sounds like Mr. Pucci has developed a road map for just that! Just this past weekend a friend of mine was complaining about the cost of drugs, then I asked her how much she spent each month on manicures and how that compared with the out of pocket costs of her medicines. That seemed to put things in perspective for her. Kathleen A. Bonetti VP, MARKETING LEVERAGE POINT MEDIA/RX EDGE Editor’s Note: The supporting Whitepapers to the Michael Pucci bio from the September issue can be found at: http://www.pharmavoice.com/whitepapers. You can also watch a video excerpt from the interview at: http://www.pharmavoice.com/webcasts/editorstake/2008Video_PucciQT.mov. Providing Tangible Proof I was very impressed to learn of the magnitude and nature of Mike Pucci’s advocacy journey. There is no doubt that in Mike the industry has a powerful voice and guide to help us better understand and represent the positive face of pharma, in hopes of transforming all too common negative perceptions. However, by the end of the article, I found myself wondering if we shouldn’t be doing more to avoid those misconceptions about the value of our products and the changes that they can bring to people’s lives occurring in the first place. Let us be quite clear, the reason that Mike is out there doing what he is doing is that our industry has been zealous to the point of perhaps being careless in marketing our products, especially through DTC, at the expense of public opinion. It is the “leaky bucket syndrome” on steroids: as long as we had a constant stream of new products coming to market, we could grow our businesses and meet business expectations even though patients and physicians became increasingly skeptical about our business motives and marketing practices. Mike’s point is that there is a bigger story and I couldn’t agree more. My question is: “Why are we not doing more at the brand marketing level to support this effort?” It would be much more productive if our internal efforts were not creating such a large hurdle for Mike and his messages to combat. I believe that it is not only possible, but certainly more impactful in the long term, to develop a more positive industry perception while at the same time increasing brand loyalty by: understanding and supporting each patient’s journey on our medications; accelerating the development of the medication profile through improved patient education and physician communication; tapping into the power of positive patient feedback. We have seen tremendous results in physician perception, brand prescribing and patient adherence when we apply these basic principals. This is not a trivial exercise on an industry level, but we must understand that the negative perceptions out there were developed one remorseless step at a time. Likewise positive perceptions should be nurtured with the same unwavering dedication. Mike, I think we can do better at providing you and your growing army of advocates with more tangible proof of our intent to improve lives, and if ever there was ever a time to rethink some basic marketing values I would suggest now is that time. Michael R Ball, Ph.D. VP, MARKETING AND PRODUCT MANAGEMENT INFOMEDICS INC. We anticipate an explosion of mobile marketing over the coming years, and we applaud marketers embracing this powerful, brand building tool. — Jeff Tangney, EPOCRATES INC. A Global Perspective What’s Your Opinion? In March 2009, PharmaVOICE will be taking on the world — so to speak. This special issue will track and address the myriad factors influencing the global lifesciences industry. We will also track global business models and explore best practices on managing on a global scale. We want to know what’s on your global agenda and or what global forces you believe will have the greatest impact on your business in the coming years. The deadline for submissions is Oct. 20, 2008. To submit your hot topics, please e mail [email protected], subject: Global Perspective. RAISE your voice Pfizer did it. Bayer is doing it. So are J&J, Novartis, and others. There is evidence that use of mobile marketing is slowly taking hold in the industry. As texting grows within the United States from teens BFFing and ^5ing to baby boomers using short codes to respond to ads, pharma is slowly SU2P (stepping up to the plate). THE TEXT TIDE IS TURNING Several factors have converged recently to create more robust environment for mobile marketing pharma pioneers. One, while the United States has been behind other countries — such as the United Kingdom and many countries in Asia — in its use of text messaging, it beginning to show growth, racking up more than 240.8 billion texts year in 2007, an increase from 57.2 billion in 2005, according to CTIA The Wireless Association, an international nonprofit membership organization. According to recent eMarketer report, U.S. mobile spending is projected to almost double to $1.7 billion this year. (Please see chart on page 30 for more information.) BY ROBIN ROBINSON (At the end of the day, MOBILE MARKETING is on its way. ARE YOU READY?) Mobile marketing is gaining ground in pharma @TEOTD, MM is OIW. RU RD? LETTERS Mobile Marketing Ready to Explode
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