April 2008

The Science of Creative: Using Marketing Research to Create Effective Ads
An effective pharmaceutical advertisement is one that is instantly appealing to a physician and that visually embodies the promise of the brand over time.

Beyond excellent planning and promotional development groundwork, crafting an advertisement that successfully infuses the right message requires a blend of creativity from the advertising agency and analytical techniques from the marketing research vendor.

In an article authored for Medical Marketing & Media, Noah Pines, Executive Vice President, GfK V2, and Cathy Su, Senior Manager, Market Research, Gilead Sciences, focus on ways to involve physicians in the process of developing an advertisement, specifically discussing the qualitative marketing research methodologies that can be used to systematically gather and channel physician input.


Diabetes: Perspectives From
Three Patient Segments
By Dave Jacobson, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, GfK Market Measures

According to recent Roper U.S. Diabetes Patient Market Study findings, diabetes today has a new, younger face across all ethnicities and is emerging fast from all demographics. In 2007, as in prior years, 97 percent of the newly diagnosed were Type 2 diabetes patients.

As a result of these findings, several questions come to mind: Where are these patients coming from? How many have been living with conditions that put them on the road to diabetes? How can we reach Latino diabetes patients or those of African-American heritage who are undiagnosed?

To provide answers, GfK Market Measures' Roper Global Diabetes Group examined the patient dynamics of three critical U.S. diabetes market segments - pre-diabetes patients, Latino diabetes patients and African-American diabetes patients. This article identifies key findings from each patient market perspective.

Latin America as a Prototype of Global Pharmaceutical Marketing Research - Part II
This month's published document for The Orange Pages continues the analysis of the Latin American pharmaceutical marketplace begun last month. While the previous discussion focused on findings uncovered through an Internet search, this document humanizes the discovery process by providing insights gained from a summit with key GfK associates working in Latin America. At the meeting, we were able to get an up close and personal look at the opportunities and challenges of health care delivery and pharmaceutical marketing in these countries as experienced by our colleagues.

Similar to last month's Orange Pages, this module examines the health care sector and pharmaceutical market of specific Latin American countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico and Central America.


GfK Explores the Politics of Healthcare at the 2008 PBIRG Conference, May 18-21
We invite you to join the GfK U.S. Healthcare Companies May 18-21 in Washington, D.C. at the Pharmaceutical Business Intelligence Research Group's (PBIRG) Annual General Meeting.

Appropriately themed The Politics of Healthcare for an event meeting in the nation's capital, the conference will explore a range of issues impacting the pharmaceutical industry and marketing researchers, particularly in this election year. The GfK U.S. Healthcare Companies will provide perspective on some of these issues during two conference sessions.


Did You Miss the March Issue of Topline?
Click here to read the issue, which includes:

  • Choice modeling: a pharmaceutical marketer's "crystal ball"
  • Usage of patient case studies in promotional materials
  • Latin America as a prototype of global pharma marketing research
  • Data Download research highlights: cardiology, oncology, depression and Medicare Part D

    • Topline archive now available. Skim the directory and select articles you missed. Access subscriber opt-in/comment form.

    Content or Community?

    Those who know me personally are well aware that I don't like being wrong. I don't throw hissy fits, but I do spend a lot of time trying to figure out how a failure in my logic caused me to make a bad call.

    I just got back from PMRG in Phoenix, where I experienced having been wrong and, even though someone had to hand me the insight, I finally figured out why I had made a mistake in a prediction several years ago, and last year as well.

    More specifically, those of us who were in the industry a few years ago will recall that PMRG was, to be polite, going down the tubes. The client/vendor ratio was worse than ever, and the total number of attendees had plummeted. Worse, the atmosphere at the conferences was extremely morose, and a palpable pall hung over the twice-a-year sessions. Death of the organization, or at least its oft-discussed merger with another pharmaceutical marketing research organization, seemed unavoidable.

    But then a handful of people, including Brian Cain, Roger Green and some others, decided that they were going to turn the organization around, to bring it back from the dead as it were. Frankly, although I had been a long-standing and avid supporter of PMRG and it caused me great consternation to see its upcoming demise, I told them that they were crazy and that they should just let the organization die a merciful death. But they wouldn't hear of it, and insisted that it could be revived. They then began a program of revitalization that culminated, or so I thought, with a meeting in March 2007 that was attended by about 500 people. Skeptic that I am, I wrote the huge attendance off to the fact that the meeting was held in Las Vegas, and that the people were drawn more for the venue, although not one of my personal favorites, than for the meeting itself. The acid test, I felt, would come this year, when the meeting would be held in Phoenix...


    Richard B. Vanderveer, Ph.D.
    Group Chief Executive Officer
    GfK U.S. Healthcare Companies



    Research Highlights: Oncology and Diabetes

    Data Download provides highlights of recently released data from GfK Market Measures' Therapeutic Class Studies (TCS). Based on primary market research, TCS provide in-depth analysis of market trends, physician practice patterns and competitive brand positioning.

    This month's selections cover research from studies conducted in the areas of breast cancer and diabetes, specifically those with pre-diabetes and African-American diabetes patients.