22 Ma r ch 20 08 VIEW on Advertising MARKET RESEARCH F or many years, pharmaceutical companies had to rely on physicians and patients to tell them what was said behind closed doors in the exam room. Marketers would spend time conducting research “behind the glass,” listening for how these parties talked about the moment of truth, when decisions surrounding medication were made.There was no way of knowing what was really happening during dia logue surrounding diagnosis, medication initiation, side effect management and longterm adherence. Not only were marketers missing the moment of truth — they were missing many different, important moments of truth! Pharmaceutical marketers had another problem as well, and in some ways this was bigger than the problem of not really being there. Physicians and patients often don’t accurately — or fully — report how they behave. In other words, there is a disconnect between what they do, and what they say they do. They are not untruthful, but unmediated observation of what people say is always very different than what they report it to be. Creating the Language of the Brand It was because of this extreme disadvantage — not knowing how physi cians and patients actually speak to one another in the office — that new methods have been created to understand physicianpatient dialogue. It became clear that understanding the physicianpatient interaction would result in better advertising because the language of the office could then become the language of the brand. Now, video cameras are used to capture realworld dialogue in physi cians’ offices — targeting practices based on brands’ calledon lists so that the dialogues are exactly those that brand managers hope to affect. Afterward, both physicians and patients are interviewed to figure out what language has pulled through and what has not.Tools from the field of linguistics pro vide ways of analyzing the language.These not only help to make sense of the patterns, but can also be leveraged to provide recommendations for how to improve communication and outcomes. The result is that pharmaceutical marketers can now answer that age old question: “What are physicians and patients really saying about my cat egory, my competition, and my brand?” Better yet, they can improve their strategies with this information.They can create advertising campaigns that truly resonate with physicians and patients because they reflect how they actually speak to one another and make decisions. Improving the Dialogue This work has influenced communication plans in a variety of categories ranging from breast cancer to depression to allergy. One of the ways that this research can specifically change marketing communications is through the creation and implementation of new language to better explain difficult healthcare concepts.Whether it is a better description of seizures in epilep sy, or an easytounderstand metaphor in cholesterol, creating and dissemi nating these ideas can make brand discussion more successful. In addition, using this work to affect both professional and patient cam paigns simultaneously can help physicians and patients speak the same lan guage and understand one another better. For example, professional com munications might prompt physicians to ask one key question. At the same time, consumer campaigns might encourage patients to raise the topic of a particular symptom. With both strategies in play, the majority of conversa tions will contain language crucial to brand success, with a positive impact on brand performance. Finally, these methods can be employed to measure the impact of train ing physicians and/or patients on better communication techniques, which results in better patient outcomes and increased effectiveness.These inter ventions are scalable, and can even help practitioners be more efficient in how they practice medicine — so the brands that offer these solutions are looked upon very favorably. Putting Insights To Action Pharmaceutical marketers should consider what they know about physi cianpatient dialogue and how they can put these insights into action. If this is an untapped area, they should think about employing this type of research to learn more.This could make the difference between a mediocre ad and one that makes physicians and patients think “they really speak my language.” # MBS/Vox, part of CommonHealth MBS/VOX, Parsippany, N.J., is the CommonHealth researchbased consultancy specializing in the physicianpatient dialogue. For more information, visit commonhealth.com/mbsvox. Dialogue Research Can Create Better Advertising Campaigns Meaghan Nelson General Manager Wellexecuted educational materials are so rare and so important that branding often becomes a lesser issue. 0308 PVV VIEW Layout FINAL 3/18/08 4:18 PM Page 22
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Dialogue Research Can Create Better Advertising Campaigns
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