By Bob Rava, Senior Vice President

The value of the strategic, insightful medical device marketing researcher can best be described as an “artist-scientist.” Wikipedia explains the term as “an abstraction of life and the human mind. While never as common as archetypes like the child or the hero, the artist-scientist is immediately recognizable. The artist-scientist is a builder, an inventor, a seeker, a dreamer and a thinker...” Those marketing researchers who are able to develop the creativity of Leonardo da Vinci, combined with the technical genius of Albert Einstein, are appreciated and revered by their business leaders. 

Sometimes we are handed art supplies and asked to paint a picture of the markets our organizations sell into, and with that picture scientifically build the final report or assessment to be used as a critical source for a financial decision. Sometimes it is the reverse, and we are asked to use all our scientific and technical knowledge about the market to create an artistic picture that will influence the decision about a product or medical device.

For instance, contemplate what you think about when your executive management asks for the critical forecasting analysis or “the pricing study.” You ponder the pricing and forecasting methods, the techniques, the simple and advanced analysis, and the illustrations. You consider the devices or the products and the respective users, caretakers, financial and clinical influencers, external forces and internal dominators.

By Deepa Iyengar, Associate Vice President

The world is getting smaller. There are major advances every day, especially in technology and communication. Particularly over the last 10 years, information that was hard to obtain before is now freely available over the Internet and can be accessed through various devices. People are becoming more information-savvy and are making harder and smarter choices and decisions. Google, Wikipedia and YouTube have really changed the way people think. Interested consumers can easily get information on anything – from using consumer products, to finding the right financial consultant, to buying a house. Peer reviews are becoming more and more important as consumers research everything from electronics to clothes to restaurants to doctors and hospitals and use these reviews to make decisions. Online forums, support groups and social networks have become powerful advocacy voices, enabling consumers to interact with other participants and exchanges ideas, share insights and give/seek advice.

So what does this mean for health care? In a world like this, it is only natural that people conduct the same amount of due diligence and research on health care as they do in other areas. It is increasingly likely that when patients are diagnosed with a condition or even just have symptoms, they will research it to understand the full impact and treatment options – taking their treatment into their own hands. On the flip side, fewer patients blindly follow what their physicians tell them to do. They read, research and challenge the physician’s perspective, even going so far as to change physicians if they are not comfortable with their options. This will become even more common as the current Gen Y gets older.

There is already some awareness of this changing perspective, as witnessed by the increase in the amount of direct-to-consumer advertising by health care companies in the past few years. But it has to be expanded beyond that. A strong effort must be made toward understanding patients and addressing their needs, more now than ever.

Medical Marketing & Media's annual "Pipeline" was just released! This guide to late-stage R&D front-runners and tip sheet on what’s generating the most buzz in drug development for 2012 profiles a dozen agents on deck, plus 203 products in the wings, in major categories such as cardiovascular, infectious disease, neurology, oncology, rheumatology and metabolic.

Seven GfK HealthCare marketing researchers are featured providing their expert opinions on both the therapeutic classes and specific drugs covered.
 

Click here to read the issue, which includes:

- Building Agency of Record Contracts with Trust and Competence - Eight Simple Ways to Improve Your Forecasts
- Research Highlight: Diabetes

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