PUBLISHER Lisa Banket EDITOR Taren Grom CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marah Walsh CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Diane Hoffman Virginia Kirk Denise Myshko Kim Ribbink Deborah Ruriani Copyright 2001 by PharmaLinx LLC, Titusville, NJ Printed in the U.S.A. Volume One, Number Two PharmaVoice is published six 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. PharmaVoice Coverage and Distribution: Domestic subscriptions are available at $84 for one year (6 i ssues). Foreign subscriptions: 6 issues US$165. Contact PharmaVoice at P.O. Box 327, Titusville, NJ 08560. Call us at 609.730.0196 or FAX your order to 609.730.0197. Contributions: PharmaVoice is not responsible for unsolicited contributions of any type. Unless other wise agreed in writing, PharmaVoice retains all rights on material published in PharmaVoice for a period of six months after publication and reprint rights after that period expires. Change of address: Please allow six to eight weeks for a change of address. Send your new address along with your subscription label to PharmaVoice, P.O. Box 327, Titusville, NJ 08560. Call us at 609.730.0196 or FAX your change to 609.730.0197. IMPORTANT NOTICE: The post office will not forward copies of this magazine. PharmaVoice is not respon sible for replacing undelivered copies due to lack of or late notification of address change. Advertising in PharmaVoice: To advertise in Pharma Voice please contact our Advertising Department at P.O.Box 327, Titusville, NJ 08560, or telephone us at 609.730.0196. Email: [email protected]. www.pharmalinx.com THE FORUM FOR THE INDUSTRY EXECUTIVE Volume 1 . Number 2 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 t’s a small, small world with big, big possibili t i es .
Packaged goods companies have success fully established worldwide recognition for their products by inundating consumers with strong brand names and messages. The pharma industry recognizes the benefits of consumer like global branding and marketing strategies and is taking steps of its own to reach patients globally. Eight major countries reportedly make up about 80% of worldwide pharmaceutical sales. Major pharmaceutical companies are developing big brands that target condi tions found in most of the world’s popu lation: arthritis, pain, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, depression, etc. It only makes sense for companies to tap into ever larger markets to sell their brands. Will the pharmaceutical industry ever achieve the success of the consumer or packagedgood industries in terms of creating memorable, instantaneously recognizable brands? The jury is still out, but many healthcare professionals believe that their version of the Nike swoosh can be achieved. The attitude of “not invented here” is waning, the export mentality toward globalization is gone. International mar keting departments realize that they must work differently. Local marketers are beginning to become more alive to the benefits of buying into a global cam paign. But this involves changing behaviors and attitudes. There can’t be a global campaign unless there is buyin from everybody involved. There is agreement that while there has to be room for flexibility in local markets, the brand identity, the brand positioning, the core message, and the core tone of voice have to be consistent — messages that resonate with diverse audiences. The challenges are numerous. Many brands don’t have the same indications around the world, they often don’t have the same brand names around the world, and occasionally they are not even mar keted by the same company around the world. There also are regulatory issues, pricing issues, and reimbursement issues. Agencies know that they can create a global brand, develop a personality for that brand, develop iconography for that brand — all the various elements that make a brand instantly recognizable to customers around the world. The chal lenge for pharma companies is to central ize operations to minimize branding and marketing variances in local country implementation. As one agency president says, if the manufacturer of the brand allows each individual country to develop that brand for its own market purposes, there is a Tower of Babel effect. The industry is a lot farther down the evolutionary path than it was five years ago, but still there is not a common notion of what true global branding is. Structures and processes and central ization on the client side are slowly being implemented. The evolutionary process of changing attitudes is moving forward, but embedding true global ide als must be adopted centrally within companies. The fallacy, according to one industry executive, is that the agen cies are going to lead clients into global ization. When in fact, the agencies can only go as far as the client structure and mandate toward globalization allow. Taren Grom Editor I Global consumer brands are everywhere. The challenge for pharmaceutical marketers is to make their products globally recognizable and relevant to diverse patient populations.
