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| September 2007 | ||||||||
 A Unified Approach to Pricing Research
By Marite Talbergs, Senior Vice President,
GfK
Strategic Marketing, and Doug Willson, Ph.D.,
Senior
Vice President, Marketing Science, GfK Strategic
Marketing
Conducted during the product commercialization
phase prior to launch of a new product, pricing
research in the pharmaceutical industry is
both an art
and a science. In the U.S. pharmaceutical
market,
managed care makes early decisions on formulary
placement of the product, assessing price,
product
characteristics and other factors. Managed
care in
effect sets the amount the covered patient
will pay in
terms of co-pay, but physicians still choose
(or choose not) to prescribe the brand for the
patients, and the
patients still choose (or choose not) to
fulfill the
prescription.
Good pricing research is therefore complex
because
the actions of multiple stakeholders directly
impact a
new product's uptake curve. Statistically solid
forecasts can be built based upon data
collected from
interviews among physicians, patients and
managed
care, yet success in correctly pricing a new
product
depends upon both using input from the right
people
as well as putting the pieces of the puzzle
together
and analyzing the result appropriately.
One quantitative approach to pricing and demand
forecasting is to take into account input
from each
customer stakeholder group, examine each group
separately, and then model a united forecast.
 The Future of Pharmaceutical Marketing Research
In recent months we have proffered and belabored
details of how by 2020 the global pharmaceutical
marketplace will double in value, with growth resulting
primarily from improved economies in the developing
countries, and demographic and epidemiological
trends worldwide. But with the target date of 2020 still
13
years on the horizon, what can we, as marketing
researchers, do today to prepare for what many
industry experts have predicted will be massive
change between now and then? We strongly believe
that marketing researchers must begin now to
think
and conduct "research for tomorrow" rather
than "research for yesterday" if they are to be prepared
to provide guidance and direction when it is needed by
pharmaceutical marketers working in the new era of
pharmaceutical marketing.
In this month's published document for The
Orange Pages we examine the implications of
these changes as they relate to the activities of
pharmaceutical marketing researchers. What will the
future of pharmaceutical marketing research look
like? Points of discussion will include the increasing
importance of forecasting as a key tool, major shifts in
key activities (hint: much of the work we currently focus
on will become obsolete) and treatment areas, a keen
focus on payers and patients and an increase in
conducting marketing research in support of
compliance and persistence programs as well as
guiding and assisting the efforts of those in the public
relations and research and development
functions.
Back to School: September Sessions Start With GfK at PBIRG and PMRG and Continue With Tailored Training Programs
It's September and that means "back to school" -
even for us marketing researchers! Get a
jump-start
on your knowledge-building plans for the
coming year
by attending the fall educational offerings
of the
Pharmaceutical Business Intelligence and
Research
Group (PBIRG) and the Pharmaceutical Marketing
Research Group (PMRG) - both occurring this
month.
Details on GfK's workshop offerings at these
events
and links to the full conference agendas follow.
If you can't attend PBIRG or PMRG but are
interested
in these topics - or potentially a more
comprehensive,
tailored training program for your marketing
research department - we encourage you to get
in touch
with
us. We work with clients to develop an
internal training
curriculum that best meets their department's
specific
needs. Typically, this takes place as regularly
scheduled on-site (client facility) "lunch
and learns" or
full day off-site (remote location) training
and group
exercises. We can conduct training in
virtually any area
of research in which our clients have an
interest or
need, including knowledge sharing on specific
research methodologies and therapeutic areas as
well as larger issues exploration and
consciousness-raising topics.
PBIRG Fall Education Series, Sept. 10,
Bridgewater, N.J.
Best Practices for Global Marketing Research in the Key Markets Presented by: Bart Weiner, President, GfK V2, and Marite Talbergs, Senior Vice President, GfK Strategic Marketing PBIRG Fall Networking Reception, Sept. 10, Bridgewater, N.J. What Does the Ideal Sales Rep Look Like? Presented by: Raj Kuchibhatla, Director of Sales Force Effectiveness, GfK Market Measures The First Annual PMRG Institute, Sept.
16-18, Philadelphia
From Play Room to Front Room: Role Playing,
Drawing & Coloring as Keys to Emotional
Drivers and
Barriers Research
Presented by: Bart Weiner, President, GfK V2,
and
Andrea Alfonsi, Senior
Vice President, GfK V2
Portrait of a Valued Rep: What Features Distinguish Your Sales Reps From the Masses?
Free Educational Teleconference:
October 3, 2:00 - 3:15 p.m. EST Save the Date! Health care professionals help paint a
picture and share views on the key selling attributes of
those who have mastered the art of becoming a
valued rep. These insights will be revealed at the
upcoming teleconference, Portrait of a Valued Rep,
where findings from GfK Market Measures' proprietary
2007 Sales Force Effectiveness Study will be
presented.
Valued reps make a memorable mark in a health care
professional's mind because they don't just meet
standard needs or deliver on routine requests; they
stand apart from the average sales rep because they
go above and beyond to provide true value to the
customer.
Gain a better perspective on the key selling qualities
of valued reps that can drive change and improve
performance, thereby optimizing your sales force in
these dynamic times.
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 The GfK U.S. Healthcare Companies' Vision for the Next Five Years As I look back at the 35 years or so that I have been involved in pharmaceutical marketing research, I note with great interest the kinds of research on which I, and the companies I have headed, have focused. In the 1970s and 1980s, my colleagues at The Vanderveer Group (now TVG) and I spent most of our time developing the product positioning, or story, that would be used to describe beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, low dose oral contraceptives and myriad other genuinely new products to physicians. The therapeutic advances were significant, and physicians would take time to listen to what we had to tell them about the products. As we moved into the 1990s, we found ourselves focused on micromarketing, i.e., using the newly available Individual Physician Level prescribing data (IPLRx) to serve as the basis for: Targeting particular physicians based on their prescribing activity and style; Tailoring the story to meet their information needs; and adjusting the Tactical Implementation to match the individual physician's preference in terms of information consumption media. The bottom line of all of this, the fourth "T" in micromarketing, was Total Customer Satisfaction, based on the assumption that all the other Ts were simply customizing devices aimed at leaving us with a happy customer. As we moved into the current decade, several new foci emerged for our marketing research attention. These included a multitude of research projects surrounding the new e-media and dot-com communications channels, most of which turned out to be busts, and increasing amounts of work in foreign countries as the pharmaceutical industry finally became global. Fewer new products were being introduced, and thus work related to product positioning, etc., was less of a focus. Many blockbuster products went, or were about to go, generic, and marketing research focused on how to promote these products has understandably dried up rather substantially. Because GfK has more than 500 people worldwide doing pharmaceutical marketing research, with 275 in the GfK U.S. Healthcare Companies alone, we are often asked about our vision for pharmaceutical marketing for the balance of the decade. By way of shorthand response, we offer that...  Richard B. Vanderveer, Ph.D. Group Chief Executive Officer GfK U.S. Healthcare Companies   Did You Miss the August Issue of Topline?  Click
here to read the
issue, which includes:
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