September 2008

Guest Editorial: Health Politics - Scenarios to 2012
By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, THINK-Health and Health Populi blog

The appointment by John McCain of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential pick was what we forecasters call a wild card - a low-probability event that can be a game changer. In this year of presidential and congressional elections, gasoline at more than $4 a gallon and growing cases of food scares, forecasting the future of health care isn't for the faint hearted. It is, however, something that needs to be done by stakeholders in the industry.

But straight-line forecasts, clearly, are no-go in an era of double-digit cost increases, terrorism, and, yes, health politics. What to do? The only rational response is scenario planning. In this article, I'll present a useful toolkit for health scenario planning and apply it to the American health care scene for 2012.

The Cluetrain Manifesto, the iPhone and Mobile Marketing/Marketing Research
As discussed in the February 2008 installation of The Orange Pages, the health care industry missed an opportunity during the dot-com boom to successfully incorporate electronic or "e" media into its marketing and marketing research efforts. Fortunately, the industry has another opportunity to get "e" right in the form of mobile marketing, i.e., using the capacity of smart phones, most notably the iPhone, to communicate interactively with customers.

This month's published document for The Orange Pages provides recommendations on how the industry can give "e" a legitimate chance to succeed, and in the process, revolutionize health care marketing.

Optimizing Your Messages
By Suzanne Berg, Senior Vice President, GfK V2

While most of us in the industry are adept generalists - conducting studies across a wide breadth of methodologies - some of us have had the unique opportunity to specialize in an area of keen interest. My passion: messaging studies.

After conducting literally hundreds of messaging studies and heading several departments focusing on this specialty, I feel like I've seen just about every combination, contortion and derivation on messaging studies a brand team could imagine. As such, rather than getting flustered when a client has a unique need, I get a kick out of going beyond the cookie-cutter approach and really delving into some creative problem solving. I continue to find it fascinating to see how we can customize the research, making sure we squeeze every possible finding out of a given study.

Adding Risk Analysis to the Prophet's Toolbox:
GfK's Workshop at the 2008 PMRG Institute, Monday, Oct. 20
We invite you to join the GfK U.S. Healthcare Companies Oct. 19-21 in Philadelphia at the Second Annual Meeting of The Pharmaceutical Marketing Research Group (PMRG) Institute. As a follow-up to PMRG's Annual National Conference in March, this meeting, titled The Prophet's Toolbox, will further explore the marketing researcher's role in predicting the future by evaluating tools that can assist with this challenging task.

To kick off the conference, on Monday, Oct. 20 at 9:45 a.m., Doug Willson, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Marketing Science for GfK Strategic Marketing, will discuss one such tool and present a workshop titled, "Risk Analysis, Choice Modeling and Early-Stage Forecasting in Pharmaceutical Markets."

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

  • Medicare Part D: success or failure?
  • SAMM-E: The little algorithm that can
  • Conducting revolutionary marketing research in preparation for evolutionary marketing
  • Data Download research highlights: antibiotics, neurology and dermatology

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

    Offshoring - Things to Consider

    Health care marketing researchers employed by pharmaceutical companies, as well as the research agencies that service them, are pursuing new paths in an effort to increase efficiency and do more with less in terms of marketing research spend. In this month's column, I will discuss offshoring as one such direction.

    A practice that has been around for years, offshoring, as the name would suggest, takes advantage of significantly lower pay rates in other countries by having work formerly performed in the United States shifted there. Since companies first put their toes in these waters some time ago, much has been learned that we in the health care industry, slow as usual to pick up on business trends, can use to guide our efforts as we get deeper into these practices.

    First, while many processes offer apparent efficiencies that are never seen in reality, correctly orchestrated offshoring does, in fact, offer real cost savings, typically in the range of 15 percent to 30 percent. How much savings is realized depends primarily upon the kind of work sent abroad.

    For example, if we are conducting a one-off attitude and usage study on the Internet, the project conceptualization, through questionnaire design, will typically be handled locally. Offshoring the implementation, from questionnaire programming through quality control, charting, etc., will typically result in a 10 percent to 15 percent savings on the project cost.

    Quite simply and correctly, clients usually expect their local marketing research agency personnel to work closely with them on the early stages of such a project, and to be actively involved in adding insights to the research findings...


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



    Research Highlights: Diabetes and Neurology

    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 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.