Mals Musings: Wheres the passion for pharma?
*Why the pharma industry needs an emotional connection with end users* Recently, I witnessed a discussion at a dinner party in which a gentleman
By on Oct 4, 2010Why the pharma industry needs an emotional connection with end users
Recently, I witnessed a discussion at a dinner party in which a gentleman demonstrated his passion for an organization that was so strong it left me feeling envious.
The organization was BMW, and I could not help being moved by the way this individual illustrated what passion for a brand looks like.
His eyes lit up as he explained to a captivated audience the joy he gets from driving his newly acquired BMW.
The ultimate driving machine had created a moment of self-actualization for him.
I had a moment of reflection as I considered how well our industry manages to achieve similar levels of passion and joy.
The joy of living
There is no questioning the fact that we do bring joy to millions of people, either by enhancing their lives or by saving them.
Nonetheless, I rarely witness this kind of passion for a pharmaceutical company.
We are all aware of Maslows hierarchy of needs, which moves gradually up from the basic necessities until it reaches self-actualization.
It appears that BMW successfully connects its proposition to the top of Maslows hierarchy.
Why are we not as successful in doing this?
Surely, there is nothing more self-actualizing than what we do.
Yet somehow, our impact and connection appear further down the rank.
Forget about the joy of driving; what about the joy of living?!
Emotional connection
Perhaps its the bad press the industry often suffers that has dampened the good work we do.
While this might go some way toward explaining the problem, the issue is more likely our inability to articulate what we do in self-actualizing rather than functional terms.
So much effort is exerted in making the necessary scientific claims we need to promote our products to physicians that we often forget that the connection with the end user is paramount.
We need to connect with end users not just to sell more but also to ensure that we move from a functional, scientific connection to an emotional one.
We have all we need to serve up a masterpiece; we just need to do it.
The assumption that our end users will figure it out for themselves is a mistake.
I long for the day when our industry has an emotional connection with end users.
We get the profits our efforts deserve, but this is not a substitute for an emotional connection with our stakeholders.