According to a new report from Cegedim Strategic Data, DTC promotional spending declined 22% versus last year. In fact they reported that “spending in nearly every channel saw decline year over year in 2012, the only exception being direct mail, which continued an upward trend. Here are the reasons why I expect DTC marketing to continue to decline in 2013.
1. Most big brands …
7 reasons why DTC drug marketing will decline in 2013
Propaganda and non-truths abound all around the Internet saying that mobile health apps are everything from a threat to Big Pharma to a way to save billions of dollars in healthcare costs. There may be a future for mobile apps but a lot of work is yet to be done.
Last year I led some market research into mobile apps across all demographic segments and several disease conditions. While we did …
Mobile health apps don’t always follow conventional wisdom
Never in recorded history have Americans been more distrustful of how the U.S. government spends its money. According to Gallup poll, Americans on average say that the federal government wastes 51 cents of every tax dollar, the highest level ever recorded since the poll was first taken in 1979. DTC marketers should understand that this mistrust is also leading to mistrust of marketing and advertising as well as big …
How can pharma earn the trust of patients?
Boniva continues to use Sally Field as a celebrity spokesperson for their product but as John Mack pointed out, should any prescription drugs be paying celebrities to endorse their products? Well, according to an Ace Metrix study the answer to that is “probably no.”
The Ace Metrix study found of more than 2,600 ads that celebrity ads do not perform any better than non-celebrity ads and in some case …
Celebrity endorsements of prescription drugs
Content drives conversations. Conversation engages your customers.
Engaging with people is how your company will survive and thrive in this newly social world. In other words, online content is a powerful envoy for your business, with an ability to stir up interest, further engagement, and invite connections. Why hasn’t the healthcare industry focused more on better content that drives engagement and creates trust?
Creating and sharing relevant, valuable information that attracts people …
Creating and sharing great content builds authority for your brand
As a marketer it’s important to be able to take a step back and look at the marketing environment from a patients perspective. Over the last couple of weeks, for example, consumers have read:
Patients do not voluntarily search for health information online
Last year, Medicare paid $55 billion just for doctor and hospital bills during the last two months of patients’ lives.
And it has been estimated that 20 to 30 percent of these medical expenses may have had no meaningful impact. Most of the bills are paid for by the federal government with few or no questions asked. This statistic is from a 60 Minutes story on “The Cost of Dying” and …
The cost of keeping the terminally ill alive
Blockbuster drugs. They are, to this day, an addiction for big pharma. A blockbuster can produce a huge ROI and fund the development of new drugs and new marketing programs but today the deck is stacked against blockbuster drugs.
The healthcare environment today is one in which cost containment is a key element. In the next few years a lot of blockbuster drugs are going to come off patent including Lipitor, …
Blockbuster drugs are an addiction for Big Pharma
Some people are disappointed at the latest FDA notice to Novartis over a Facebook button on one of their website pages.
The key question that a lot of people fail to ask is “do patients want to have a conversation with a drug company?” From almost one year of qualitative and quantitative research plus other 3rd party research (i.e. Rodale DTC Study) the answer to that is “no.”
Now before you get …
Is pharma providing relevant social media web content?
Top of mind positioning has been replaced with top of page positioning. The old ad model of informing, persuading and reminding are being replaced by involvement, community and empowerment. So why are the nightly network newscasts still being subsidized by drug direct to consumer (DTC) ads?
From all the latest research that I have done, coupled with the research from other sources like Manhattan Research, Pew and Rodale, it’s quite clear …
Why DTC drug marketing still clings to TV
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