January 2009

Integrated Market Intelligence Strategies for Successful Medical Device Marketing
When it comes to developing business strategies for the medtech marketplace, having access to a great deal of market intelligence is key. But to make use of all that information, companies must create an integrated market intelligence strategy that guides their business and product development efforts. By developing a systematic program of intelligence gathering and communication, and leveraging against existing knowledge for data-driven decision making, a company can improve the reliability of market predictions that lead to effective product innovation.

In an article written for MX: Business Strategies for Medical Technology Executives, Rebekkah Carney, Associate Vice President, MedSurg Insight, GfK Market Measures, describes the key features of an integrated market intelligence strategy that can be communicated to leadership and project teams, and in turn be used to improve business outcomes.

How Tribes Can Change Health Care Marketing
This month's published document for The Orange Pages focuses on two new books written by the innovative and insightful author Seth Godin and how the content of each can be applied to health care marketing and marketing research.

In the first book, Meatball Sundae, Godin makes the simple point that what you sell and how you sell it need to be aligned. While many have flocked to e-media as their promotional vehicle of choice, Godin points out that trying to sell older, comfort products through this medium generates a disconnect in the mind of the customer.

In Godin's other book, Tribes, he points out that traditional corporations are engineered to prevent change. As such, they are shaped like a pyramid, with those who do things the old way best being promoted, slowly but surely, until they reach what the Peter Principle describes as their maximum level of incompetence, i.e., where they have been able to do all previous jobs satisfactorily but now are at a point where their performance no longer permits them to move further. In a marketplace such as health care, in which the old ways of doing business no longer work, the pyramid approach will not bring change.

GfK Researchers Featured in MM&M's Pipeline 2009
What are the promising drugs of 2009? Medical Marketing & Media's "Pipeline" looks at pharmaceutical products under development and highlights 10 that are generating the most buzz in major categories such as cardiovascular, diabetes, central nervous system, oncology and respiratory.

Five GfK U.S. Healthcare Companies marketing researchers are featured in the piece providing their expert opinions on both the therapeutic classes and specific drugs covered.

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

  • Ethnography: The good, the bad and the ugly
  • Targeting the promotional needs of your audience
  • God Bless PricewaterhouseCoopers!
  • Data Download research highlights: depression and managed care

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

    Health Care Marketing - Who Is in Charge Here?

    I recently received a copy of a URL that took me to a diatribe of the type that you, like I, have read numerous times. The information ended with the phraseology " '(Name Withheld) Proposes Sweeping New Rules Governing Sales and Marketing Tactics of Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Companies.' "

    With so many similar announcements in recent months, the stiff prescriber intervention regulations about to take effect in January, and the Obama administration arriving to spread as much health care coverage around to as many people as possible for as little money as possible, the game of filling in the blanks about who is making this proposal now is increasingly challenging. Lest the suspense kill us, the answer this time is the state of Massachusetts.

    In an apparent game of one-upmanship, the article contextualizes this announcement by observing that of the six states and District of Columbia that currently regulate the marketing activities of health care manufacturers, the Massachusetts document goes further than any of the others. It notes that Massachusetts is the only state to author its own code of conduct detailing activities that are authorized and those that are banned, and is the only state to require disclosure of the dispersal of drug samples...


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



    Research Highlight: Dermatology

    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 area of dermatology.