PUBLISHER Lisa Banket EDITOR Taren Grom CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marah Walsh MANAGING EDITOR Denise Myshko DIRECTOR OF SALES Darlene Kwiatkowski Copyright 2004 by PharmaLinx LLC, Titusville, NJ Printed in the U.S.A. Volume Two, Number One VIEW is published as a supporting publication to PharmaVOICE, which is published 12 times per year by PharmaLinx LLC, P.O. Box 327, Titusville, NJ 08560. Postmaster: Send address changes to PharmaVOICE, P.O. Box 327, Titusville, NJ 08560. VIEW and PharmaVOICE Coverage and Distribution: Domestic subscriptions are available at $190 for one year (12 issues plus VIEWs). Foreign subscriptions: 12 issues plus VIEWs US$360. Contact PharmaLinx at P.O. Box 327, Titusville, NJ 08560. Call us at 609.730.0196 or FAX your order to 609.730.0197. Contributions: The VIEW and PharmaVOICE are not responsible for unsolicited contributions of any type. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, The VIEW and PharmaVOICE retain all rights on material published in The VIEW and PharmaVOICE for a period of six months after publication and reprint rights after that period expires. Email: [email protected]. Change of address: Please allow six weeks for achange of address. Send your new address along with your sub scription label to PharmaLinx LLC, P.O. Box 327, Titusville, NJ 08560. Call us at 609.730.0196 or FAX your change to 609.730.0197. Email: [email protected]. IMPORTANT NOTICE: The post office will not forward copies of this magazine. The VIEW and PharmaVOICE are not responsible for replacing undelivered copies due to lack of or late notification of address change. Advertising in VIEW or PharmaVOICE: To advertise in VIEW or PharmaVOICE please contact our Advertising Department at P.O. Box 327, Titusville, NJ 08560, or telephone 609.730.0196. Email: [email protected]. www.pharmavoice.com Volume 2 . Number 1 Send your letters to feedback@pharma linx.com. Please include your name, title, company, and business phone number. Let ters chosen for publication may be edited for length and clarity. All submissions become the property of PharmaLinx LLC. Letters According to Deborah DickRath, executive director of global advertising at Novartis Phar maceuticals, it’s important that clients recognize that agencies provide an incredible service. “One of things we try to do at Novartis is make sure the agencies can be profitable so they can attract the talent who is going to help our businesses,” she says.“At the same time, we have to be profitable too. So there has to be a business relationship where both sides `win’ and can attract the type of people who can do the best work possible.” It’s this business relationship that is key to a mutually beneficial clientagency partnership. Agencies have tremendous access to informa tion and data that their clients don’t, including environmental assessments, industry dynamics, and competition within a therapeutic space. According to Raul A. Trillo, M.D., MBA, senior director of marketing at Baxter Health care Corp., when seniorlevel agency executives can provide insight into the various industry dynamics on a more macro level rather than at a brand level, they forge a more meaningful partnership and bring added value to the table. “This is more than what’s happening on the brandtobrand daily battle; it’s about what’s going on in a particular therapeutic space or what’s going on within a particular environ ment,” he says PharmaLinx hopes this VIEW sparks dis cussion and provides insight into the dynamic world of advertising within the lifesciences industry. Best regards, Marah Walsh Creative Director Marah Walsh Creative Director The Business of Advertising LETTER FROMTHE CREATIVE DIRECTOR VIEW ON ADVERTISING A SUPPORTING PUBLICATIONTO PHARMAVOICE 3 VIEW on Advertising Ma r ch 20 04 dvertising: to make public announcement of, especially to proclaim the qualities or advan tages of (a product or business) so as to increase sales. Pretty straightforward, right? In reality, the complexities involved with advertising healthcare products, in particular prescription pharmaceuticals, are many.Thoughtpieces con tributed by leading advertising agency execu tives address these myriad challenges in this second supporting publication to Phar maVOICE — VIEW on Advertising. These contributed VIEWs are grouped by subject matter as they relate to the agency process, agency services, agency structures, the creative process, global branding, and the pro motional mix. Each contributed VIEW communicates the passion of these individuals, who constantly face the challenge of balancing the needs of their organizations and those of their client partners while operating in a dynamic environment. The advertising landscape is constantly changing. Market pressures — fewer block buster drugs, crowded therapeutic categories, stagnant pipelines — require agencies to come up with innovative solutions and, at times, quantifiable metrics. At the same time, agencies are being asked to provide more for less from their clients. Clients still want toplevel strategic counseling, but within margins that are accept able to their organizations. According to Ted Lawrence, CEO of Lawrence & Company, the biggest challenge to the agencies, especially those with sharehold ers, is how to continue to provide topflight marketing and creative talent at a time when their client’s cost containment efforts are increasingly focused on reducing overall agency expenditures. Furthermore, Mr. Lawrence says the irony is that the more that the agency’s profitability is compromised — by the client’s efforts to achieve a bottomline improvement — the less talent the agency can afford to deploy to help the client improve its topline with improved brand performance. “It’s a vicious cycle: the less talent applied, the less a product is successfully differentiated and the less the client is willing or able to pay their agency,” he says. This is not true of all clients, however. A
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Letter from the Creative Director
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Commercialization