The Year Behind, The Year Ahead
Tis the season to wax poetic about the year behind us, and to make bold predictions about the year ahead. What would this newsletter be without both? Below are some highlights from 2008, and what some predict to see for pharma marketers in 2009.
What We Saw in 2008
1. FDA Issues Warning Letters for Online Activity. From a silly Viagra game to a YouTube video for Shires Adderall XR, warning letters for digital marketing increased in 2008 in the US. However, it was the careless implementation not the channel that deserved the slap on the wrist. And now we know: it seems FDA watches YouTube, too.
2. Wheres the ROI? As the cry for ROI resounded from CEOs across the industry, pharmaceutical marketers got smarter about measuring the effectiveness of their campaigns. Companies like Crossix (www.Crossix.com) emerged and flourished. Hooray for accountability!
3. The Economy. Those of us in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors were happy to be in pharma, and not in the volatile financial industry. (That said, see # 1 below.)
4. Online TV. Pharma marketers became more visible in online TV and other new Web venues as online advertisers began offering ad formats that allowed for the presentation of fair balance language.
5. Google Galore. In case you didnt hear about it, Google continued its bid to take over the world by launching Google Lively (www.lively.com), Google Chrome (www.google.com/chrome), and even a Google phone.
6. Patients Get Social. Shhhh do you hear that buzz? Its patients talking about their health online. We saw emerging social sites such as PatientsLikeMe (www.patientslikeme.com), DailyStrength (www.dailystrength.com), and Sermo (www.sermo.com - for docs) thrive. User-generated content became the new gold standard destination for people seeking information about diseases and drugs online. According to Manhattan Researchs Cybercitizen Health v8.0, in 2008 the Internet surpassed physicians as the top source for obtaining health and medical information. Scary, but wow!
7. Pharma Gets Social, too. Capitalizing (albeit a bit late) on this trend, we were thrilled to see more and more pharmaceutical companies testing the waters of social media. For example, we saw GSK, J&J, Abbott, and Roche all launch various commitments to YouTube channels.
8. Apps All Around. Custom applications have in truth been around for years, but thanks to Google, Yahoo, iTunes, and Facebook, apps have become uber-cool. Whether its called a widget, a gadget, or something else, most people who spend any time online now know what apps are, and they just might even use a few.
What to Expect in 2009
1. The Economy. Unfortunately, the global economy will make a major impact on the way physicians prescribe and consumers convert and comply. Patients will fill fewer prescriptions. Their interest will be piqued by advertisements for clinical trial participants. And the age-old coupon, voucher, co-pay coverage, or free trial may be more powerful than ever before.
2. Legislation and Regulation. Especially in the U.S., legislation and regulation will become more of a factor for pharma. We predict longer approval timelines and more warning letters across all channels. And, if Rep. Henry Waxman gets his way (see http://www.mmm-online.com/Rep-Waxman-DTC-ban-a-priority/article/122639/ ), we may see tightened restrictions on DTC advertising especially television. In a recent AAF Smartbrief poll, restrictions on DTC drug ads was the #1 response among readers who were asked what new ad industry initiatives they thought would be proposed by the Obama administration.
3. Social Baby Steps. Pharma will naturally still be somewhat risk-averse to social and other emerging media. Challenged by tightened marketing budgets, theyll be looking for creative ideas that are inexpensive but proven. Social media will definitely still be around, and user ages will creep upwards. But we predict social media will be different, and more consolidated. Perhaps pharma will even collectively leverage the power of social media to improve industry reputation as a whole. One suggestion: Using social media, pharma could publicize its payment assistance programs to help patients in need pay for their medications.
For a white paper on how pharma can get involved in social media, contact Wendy Blackburn at Intouch Solutions, at wendy.blackburn@intouchsol.com or 913.956.4328.
4. The Web Goes Mobile. This trend will continue: More and more consumers will use their mobile phones to view the Web. A recent Pew survey of thought leaders predicts the mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the Internet by 2020. Are your Web sites mobile-friendly? 2009 might be the year to take note.
5. Not So Twitterific. Twitter will lose its luster, and something newer, and shinier will come along. Cant wait!
6. Search is (Still) King. For consumers seeking healthcare information, search continues to be the default doorway to all the Internet has to offer, and we see no slowdown anytime soon. Competition for keywords will continue to rise, and as a result, probably so will prices. And it will be interesting to watch the shifts in search results as social sites let in more crawlers.
7. Budgets Shift to Online. Continuing with the trend from recent years, pharma marketing budgets will continue to shift even more from offline channels such as TV, print, and direct mail to digital media such as the Web and mobile. These budget shifts are in line with shifts in consumer and HCP behavior.
8. Consumers in Control. Consumers attention spans will continue to get shorter and shorter, and multitasking will increase. Consumers as a whole will expect more transparency, dialogue, and value from the companies with which they do business (and yes, that includes pharmaceutical companies). Consumers will continue to be in control of how they spend their time, their money, and to which messages they choose to pay attention.
If there is one thing can be said for sure about pharma marketing in 2009, it definitely will not be the same ole, same ole. Whatever your plans and predictions for the year ahead, we wish all of our friends around the globe a prosperous, happy, and healthy New Year!