Reflecting the highly interactive spirit of the Annual Pharmaceutical Marketing ROI Congress in Amsterdam in November 2005, IMS Health hosted a lively and stimulating workshop illustrating an integrated strategy for maximising return on investment amongst target segments. Nearly 30 delegates took part, from a variety of job functions, companies and locations across Europe. Some attendees were already involved in setting up programmes for maximising ROI in their companies, whilst others were looking to do this in the near future.
Starting principles
Nigel Burrows, Practice Principal, IMS Consulting, Europe, and Nicola Saponari of IMS Learning Solutions and Change Management in Italy, led participants through the process. First up for discussion were the principles of target audience segmentation according to available information. The existence of data on current prescribing levels and prescribing potential makes this easier. In the absence of such information, it is possible, although more complex, to extrapolate from a sample of the universe – a process that was outlined in the workshop. Once the target audience has been divided into segments on the basis of relative interest to a company, the next big challenge is making sure that the promotional initiatives proposed for each target yield the maximum return. Participants were asked to consider the lifecycle stage of their product; whether it is pre-launch, immediate post-launch, or in a mature phase of its lifecycle will have important implications for the type of programme that can be initiated and the ability to isolate typical test and control groups.
Market maturity and competitive intensity
A second factor that has an enormous impact on programme type concerns the relative maturity of the market in question and the level of competitive activity. Here a practical exercise enabled delegates to consider the context for their product and hence understand which "levers of persuasion" would need to be pulled and which "areas of value" communicated to get the best out of the product.
Maturity is defined as the extent to which a doctor’s fundamental needs are satisfied by the products in a therapy area. The degree of market crowding is the second axis impacting the persuasion levers and value areas to be communicated. A typical example of an immature but crowded market is the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) sector, where many products are available but which, nevertheless, still do not fully answer doctor needs because of dissatisfaction over poor tolerability.
A characteristic of this type of market is that doctors will always be willing to try something new in order to find a product that satisfies the elusive dissatisfied need. As the course leaders noted, however, strong data will be needed to build conviction and credibility, something that can be helped by improving the strength of the company name. This is quite a different situation to that of mature crowded markets where the value of the company name carries more weight and where sophisticated differentiators of the product’s functional value must be emphasised to make a difference. The antihypertensive and antiulcerant markets are two good examples of this.
Tailoring for targets
Understanding the differences between target segments is an important next step. How does each individual segment view the market for the product, the disease area and also the company? Do they see differences on each of these elements, which can therefore be emphasised in promotion, or do they find little to discriminate, placing the emphasis more on extrinsic elements such as pure promotional pressure and the image of the company? To help delegates get to grips with ways of exploiting the factors involved in product promotion, the course leaders introduced an interactive computerised exercise using a programme developed by the IMS Learning Solutions and Change Management group. This addressed each of the elements discussed in the workshop up to that point.
An interactive approach
Armed with the simulation of a rep's GP territory, including information on prescribing levels, prescribing potential, perception of products in the relevant therapy class and view of the company, delegate teams were asked to decide how they would distribute various elements of the promotional mix (calls, invitations to congresses, samples, etc.) across the GPs on their territory to ensure maximum ROI. This implied: segmentation of the target, assessment of which levers would be most effective in each target, and distribution of the promotional means across the territory. Using this information, the computer simulation then calculated the impact of each team's promotional effort, to show which produced the best ROI. Positively, all teams successfully improved ROI from the base case scenario. The winning team gained 7% over the base case, and for their efforts were rewarded with a bottle of champagne.
Many of the elements illustrated in the workshop around setting up and implementing a promotional programme and defining the most appropriate key performance indicators for monitoring ROI, were further explored by Nina Felton, Country Principal, IMS Consulting, in a separate presentation discussing models for delivering the highest returns for a brand. Using many practical examples and case studies Nina clearly demonstrated the benefits that can be achieved from a successful ROI programme.
For more information on maximising ROI, please contact Nigel Burrows, Practice Principal, Europe at IMS or call +44 207 393 5757.