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DTC-In-Perspective by Bob Ehrlich

DTC in Perspective: Dems Keep Trying to Kill DTC

January 5, 2018 0

In the latest attempt to kill DTC, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) tried to amend the Trump tax bill with an elimination of the tax deductibility of DTC as a business expense. It was defeated. This is the umpteenth time this tactic has been tried by Congress hostile to the drug industry.

Bob Ehrlich
“Trying to limit the right to advertise…is a huge mistake.”
-Bob Ehrlich

I have lots of friends and relatives who are Democrats. I respect their right to think the drug industry charges too much and tries to create demand for drugs for diseases they advertise. Trying to limit the right to advertise lawful products, especially heavily regulated DTC advertising, is a huge mistake and creates a slippery slope. May I remind my Democrat friends that there are many categories of advertising that interest groups do not like.

Do we ban beer ads because drunk drivers cause accidents? Do we restrict ads for Mercedes because many people cannot afford them and feel bad? What about those violent video game ads? How about ads for violent movies? Somehow legislators have singled out drug ads for special treatment. Let’s deal with the common assertions about drug advertising.

Drug ads raise prices because critics point out that consumers eventually pay for those expensive ads. Sounds like a rationale argument but facts prove otherwise. Drug ads represent 1-2% of drug sales. We spent less than $100 million on Lipitor ads when sales were over $5 billion. No one ever mentioned advertising as a basis for pricing. Price is set based on a number of factors unrelated to advertising. What is competition charging? Are we first to market? How will pricing affect insurance coverage? How much patent life remains? What did we spend on development? How many markets worldwide are we in? The bottom line is we as an industry spend $5 billion on a revenue base over $400 billion. That is hardly an expenditure that would drive price up.

Drug ads create demand for products which are not needed. This is the second assertion usually made. Drug makers create disease awareness for ailments that are not a real problem say critics. Social anxiety, low testosterone, restless leg syndrome, are just some of the examples raised by critics. Critics also say advertised drugs are often no better than their generic alternatives. These are fair criticisms as there are people who turn to prescription drugs too quickly. I admit that. The issue is between doctor and patient to decide whether no drug, a generic drug, or the latest premium price drug will work best. Trying to ban commercial speech to prevent a patient learning about a drug is a bad solution to concerns about over use.

Like it or not, we are a country that believes in free markets and selling what we make. Having the right to advertise provides an incentive to develop new products. Some of these are bad products that we waste money buying, but that is the price we pay to have a free market. We would all save money driving a Chevy, wearing Walmart clothes, and buying generic groceries. That decision is left to consumers and not by government forbidding advertising for products they feel we should not buy. I know what the critics say. Drugs are different than other consumer categories. Life saving meds should not be marketed like perfume.

The critics forget that we need a drug industry that is anxious to do research and can get rich risking lots of money. Yes, we may not need all the me-too drugs being sold or advertised. Those drugs provide cash needed to take risks on new technologies. The next pandemic will one day be upon us and we better have a strong drug industry ready to find life saving drugs.

Bob Ehrlich

DTC-In-Perspective by Bob Ehrlich

DTC in Perspective: Predictions for 2018

December 18, 2017 0

Time to have a little fun with the unknown. Predictions are nice for stimulating discussion so here goes.

  1. The DTC spending will increase modestly in 2018 by around 5%. Some of that increase is media cost inflation. So, I am expecting a strong year but not a boom in spending.
  2. FDA will not take any action in 2018 to make DTC harder or easier to execute. It is possible we could see a guidance on reducing risk presentation, but I doubt it.
  3. The media mix will change slightly to include more digital and point of care, but television and print will still be dominant. FDA will do nothing to make social media easier to execute and will not change word search requirements on indication and needed fair balance.
  4. Drug company reputation will still be an issue due to pricing concerns. DTC will be attacked regularly for causing demand for high price drugs and for creating higher prices. I am not predicting any Congressional action on price controls or reimportation but the mid-term elections in 2018 might alter the balance of control to Democrats and then something could happen in 2019.
  5. Virtual medicine is going to become the next big thing. That means cheaper opportunities to interact with a doctor online for lower cost and get drugs prescribed. Married with online tools to track vitals and other useful diagnostic tools will accelerate the shift.
  6. Genomics companies will continue to grow in offering tests to determine our likelihood of getting diseases. Consumers will be more informed and be more active partners in deciding with doctors what tests are needed and what treatments are best.
  7. Consumer cost burden will continue to rise as insurers and employers continue to expect higher deductibles and co-pays. That means more of us are really self-insured in a normal year and we pay the full bill. That means consumers will be questioning any service, test, or drug where they are paying most of the bill.
  8. Media targeting will be a higher priority as technology improves to micro target potential users. As DTC for higher cost drugs targeting smaller segments in cancer and other targeted diseases increases, the need to better target potential customers increases.
Bob Ehrlich
“2018 will be a relatively quiet year.”
-Bob Ehrlich

There you have it. 2018 will be a relatively quiet year as nothing should happen to dramatically alter how we use DTC. Just my opinion and many of you will have a different take on these and others not mentioned. Have a great holiday as this is my last column in 2017.

Bob Ehrlich

DTC in FocusGuest Columnist

The Seven Deadly Sins of Content Marketing

November 30, 2017 0

“Content” has replaced “digital” as the biggest buzzword in marketing today—and is now at the core of all communications plans. According to a report by Accenture published late last year, 78% of pharmaceutical and biotech marketers now produce a “moderate to enormous” amount of digital content—from patient testimonials, social posts and news articles to shareable videos.

The truth is that content marketing can be one of the most effective ways to change audience behavior and move the needle on business objectives—but it can also easily fall flat. That’s why it’s more important than ever for marketers to develop clear objectives and strategies for their campaigns and avoid what I call the Seven Deadly Sins of Content Marketing.

SIN #1: You assume people care about your brand story

Let’s be honest; people don’t wake up saying “I’d like to sign a pledge today” or “I’d like to watch a patient video called Sam’s Story.”  When developing content, you have to put yourself in the mindset of everyday people (yes: patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals are people, too) and ask yourself a critical question: Why should they care? People are exposed to up to 10,000 brand messages a day, so for a brand to make an impact, its content has to be rooted in what people are already interested in, searching for and sharing.

Simply put, to work well, content must be as on trend as it is on message. Through social listening research, you can determine the conversations patients and healthcare professionals are already having about their condition and everything that surrounds it so you can enter those conversations authentically. For example, consider structuring your patient stories as listicles, hacks, and memes to build a library of valuable and snackable content that breaks through the clutter.

SIN #2: Your content is socially embarrassing

Every time we ask a person to engage on social platforms, we are asking them to do it publicly. While we work hard to remove the stigma from conditions like inflammatory bowel disease and vaginal atrophy, we have to recognize that there are just some aspects of people’s lives they don’t want to share in a public forum. Does that make social content off limits for conditions like these? No. But brands have to find ways to produce content that people would feel proud—or obligated—to share with other patients, caregivers and everyday friends.

For example, I helped develop a campaign for injectable dermal fillers. While millions of women use fillers, it remains a behind-closed-doors conversation because of the cultural bias associated with facial aging treatments, so we knew women would be hesitant to share social content. To overcome this, we tapped in to the pop-culture trend of mother-daughter “generation” photo shoots and asked daughters to re-create photographs of their mothers at the same age they are now to show how looks change as we age. The program sparked widespread engagement with consumers and media and authentically included discussion about treatment options to help women fight their genes and maintain natural-looking beauty as they age.

SIN #3: You are too focused on the subtleties of your execution

Pharma marketers already have enough hurdles to jump through to get their content out into the world. Obsessing about font type and rounded edges of photos that patients will never notice (or care about) just further delays getting content out while it’s still relevant.

Your attention is better spent on evaluating whether or not your content is relevant to information and conversations your target is interested in. Is it bringing real value to their life? Will they feel smarter, more hopeful and more connected after engaging with it? If the answer is “no,” then no amount of tweaking the color gradient is going make a difference.

SIN #4: Your content requires too much time and money

Authentic content that resonates isn’t always highly produced. In fact, very little sharable content is. Successful content strategies include a variety of production levels, so strike a balance between a well-produced “hero brand video” and a less expensive Instagram story. This will allow you to quickly enter conversations in real time and effectively use your budget to produce more content that keeps your brand top of mind (and top of feed).

I also believe it’s important to lean on agencies beyond your traditional ad agency for content. Your other partner agencies, including digital, social and PR, may have a stronger and more authentic way to understand what your patients are looking for and talking about and therefore can craft content that authentically engages, changes behaviors and moves your business.

SIN #5: You think that, if your content is good, it will get seen

Ensuring that your content is seen requires a mix of earned media attention and paid media boosting. For better earned media exposure, consider giving influencers and media a “first look” (before distributing it broadly to consumers), which can enhance its “hot off the press” appeal and incentivize them share it on their channels. Investigate partnerships with popular publishers to co-create content, which will give it even more credibility. Boost your content’s appeal through search optimization and simple but effective tactics like crafting a compelling title and robust description.

From the paid perspective, it’s important to remember that, for marketers, social media platforms are “pay to play.” There are very limited instances when your audience will see your content without paid support. My rule is to allocate at least 15% of the cost of the content for promotional dollars to ensure that even existing fans see it.

SIN #6: You are asking consumers to generate content for you

Let’s be real—how often do you “Share Your Story” on a social channel? Brands that set out to source real consumer stories as the cornerstone of their marketing campaign are destined to be disappointed in the results.

To make user-generated content (UGC) work for you, keep the following in mind:

  • Tap in to moments when consumers are ALREADY sharing photos and videos, and ride that wave of existing conversations and content.
  • Use an existing community of like-minded content creators to spread your story. You can access these through a myriad of vendors.
  • Don’t underestimate the value of offering an incentive. Coupons, gift cards and surprise-and-delights don’t have to be expensive to be meaningful and compelling and can easily fall into pharma guidelines.

SIN #7: You give up on content because of regulatory hurdles

In a highly regulated environment, it’s understandable that pharma marketers throw up their hands in frustration when it comes to developing content and opt for an unbranded campaign that may not provide the same ROI. Good branded healthcare content requires incredible diligence. But it is possible.

Whether your content is branded or unbranded, you can help your program succeed by collaborating with your legal/regulatory team early in the process. To enhance compliance, consider using the latest platform tools like comment turnoff and static Important Safety Information on images and video, and keep up to date on the current cost-effective monitoring capabilities from your agencies and partners.

By keeping business objectives and consumer behavior top of mind, we can ensure that content does more than flood our feeds with more things to scroll past. There are many ways you can produce quality content that your target audience will want to see—and turn every post, every video, every story into an engine of conversation and engagement that drives your business forward.

Edwin Endlich

Uncategorized

Peter J Solomon Releases Whitepaper on POC Verification, Standardization

November 30, 2017 0

Peter J Solomon's Marketing Services Group released a whitepaper recently on the importance of standardization and auditing practices within the point-of-care (POC) space. With POC being such an important piece in educating patients and aiding the HCP-patient conversation, “marketers and healthcare professionals are concerned about the verification, standardization and auditing of network content and scale,” noted Mark Boidman, partner and managing director for the company.

Boidman highlights efforts by the Point-of-Care Communications Council (PoC3) to combat these issues. (PoC3 is working to create verification and audit standards as well as increased transparency.) The POC space, as Boidman mentions, has an advantage in that “various elements of the channel are measureable, including the number of locations in a POC network, as well as the resulting ‘script lift' (increase in number of prescriptions written) or ROI of a particular campaign.” He urges that standardization will be needed for POC to “reach its full potential as an advertising medium.”

PoC3's work on creating an industry set of guidelines is currently underway, with the draft version being reviewed by “client and agency advisors serving on the Verification and Validation Standards committee,” noted the council in a recent industry statement. Boidman advised that these guidelines, once finalized, will then need to gain traction and be universally embraced by the POC industry. “These developments, which are already in motion, will provide a firm framework on verification, standardization, and auditing in order to maximize the value of POC channels and the education that this platform provides for its patients and healthcare providers nationwide.”

Peter J Solomon hosted a PoC3 Town Hall earlier in the fall to discuss the importance of these items. Select members of PoC3 will speak on these issues, as well as share the latest on their developing ethics guidelines and auditing standards, at the 2018 DTC National Conference, held April 18-20 in Boston.

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Susan G. Komen Launches Innovative Initiatives to Support Research

November 30, 2017 0

Susan G. Komen announced this month that it has partnered up with Data Does Good to support breast cancer research via purchases made by holiday shoppers. As outlined in a news release, “for every dollar participating supporters spend on Amazon annually, Data Does Good will donate 1% to Susan G. Komen to fund breakthrough research to prevent and find the cures for breast cancer.” There is no extra cost to the shopper, they simply add the Data Does Good extension to their web browser and answer some basic demographic question. Data is anonymized and automatically capture when the user shops for products on Amazon. This data helps reveal shopping insights as well as identifying any relevant trends, which retailers and brands can receive for market research. Any related proceeds received by Data Does Good are then donated – and matched by an affiliated partner – to Susan G. Komen. Depending on when a user has added this extension, either 1% or 2% of their Amazon spending is donated (up to $3,000 annually); Data Does Good and its matching partner have guaranteed a minimum of $100,000.

Last month, Susan G. Komen took another innovative approach to raising funds – launching its first crowdsourcing effort to support metastatic breast cancer research, BeMoreThanPink.org. This initiative was created to help the organization's Bold Goal, which is to “reduce current breast cancer deaths in the U.S. by 50 percent by 2026.” According to the news release, “[crowdsourcing] donors have the opportunity to contribute directly to the pioneering work of four scientists and their teams who are dedicated to making discoveries that will ultimately improve outcomes for patients suffering from metastatic breast cancer.” These donations will also be matched dollar-for-dollar, by Odonate Therapeutics™, a company dedicated to the development of therapeutics that improve and extend the lives of patients with cancer, and an affiliated partner, up to a maximum of $1.5 million.

A new marketing campaign, created by Dalton Agency, was launched in support of BeMoreThanPink.org. The multichannel PSA launched in October, and features Valynda Planeta, a 38-year old mother of three battling stage IV cancer. One of the TV spots shows Planeta writing letters to her children that are to be opened at special momentous occasions – their graduation days, weddings, and births of their future children – moments she will not be there for. Another TV spot shows her removing her wig, false eyelashes, and eyebrows, as she has lost all of her hair due to chemo. The ads conclude with the donation information.

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DTC-In-Perspective by Bob EhrlichUncategorized

DTC in Perspective: HIV Drug Starts DTC Television

November 17, 2017 0

ViiV drug Triumeq for HIV just launched a television campaign. HIV drugs have not used television historically choosing instead targeted print as its main media. The number of people who have HIV is about 1.1 million in the United States. HIV can be successfully treated and newer drugs have turned what was once a deadly path to AIDS into a manageable chronic disease.

ViiV is a company formed as a joint venture between Glaxo and Pfizer to specialize in treating HIV. Glaxo owns the majority stake. What is very interesting is ViiV’s decision to use television for a relatively small category. The price of the drug is one reason ViiV can afford to go more broadly in media. The cost is about $2900 a month. Of course, insurance companies negotiate lower prices but assuming ViiV is getting over $20,000 a year per new patient, it makes sense to cast a wide net for new patients.

Bob Ehrlich
“ViiV will know fairly quickly if the ROI is positive.”
-Bob Ehrlich

The Triumeq ad features real patients discussing their moving forward with their lives. They say they decided to use Triumeq to treat their HIV. The benefits cited by the real patients are once a day dosing taken any time of day and that it can be taken with or without food. The fair balance for Triumeq is lengthy starting after the first 25 seconds and lasting about 60 seconds. That makes these ads expensive to run requiring 90 second buys. Most DTC ads use 60 seconds.

The ad is upbeat and well executed. The use of real patients is a good technique. It will be interesting to see how much ViiV invests in television given the fairly limited target audience size. They have taken a category that has kept away from mass media and taken a shot at television. Other specialty category drugs have done this in recent years for cancer and hepatitis. ViiV would need about 50 new patients per million invested in television to break even. That number seems achievable and I am sure ViiV will know fairly quickly if the ROI is positive.

The HIV category is highly competitive with multiple drugs used and promoted. Triumeq has decided to up the media ante by choosing television. We will see if anyone else follows.

Bob Ehrlich

DTC-In-Perspective by Bob Ehrlich

DTC in Perspective: A Broken Hip, American Style.

November 3, 2017 0

A week ago, my wife Debra broke her hip in a fall. The experience has given me a better appreciation of our health care system. While not perfect, I am impressed with the speed and quality of the care American style. That is, the for profit hospital was interested in her satisfaction as a customer. They were interested in making her happy, so they can be known as a customer centric facility. In today’s social media world customer ratings matter. They touted their ratings on billboards placed in their lobby from several sources such as Healthgrades and US News and World Report. They were aware that she may go to customer rating sites after her discharge and did whatever they could to ensure good feedback.

Bob Ehrlich
“I am impressed with the…quality of Care American style.”
-Bob Ehrlich

I frankly expected the typical poor hospital experience based on past interactions with emergency rooms and being admitted for surgery. The last time I was hospitalized was about 20 years ago. That experience was characterized by a diffident nursing staff, a cramped double room with a moaning roommate, and of course lousy food. Move ahead 20 years and everyone at this hospital was interested in ensuring a positive experience.

My underlying point in this is that those who advocate the federalization of healthcare may not like the result. I have had few positive experiences with government agencies. It is not that they are staffed by bad people, it is that they do not make customer service a priority. They do not have to. We have one choice for paying our taxes, getting our passport, getting through airports, and that is Uncle Sam. Sometimes he can be slow, unfriendly, rigid, and lacking in empathy.

In the case of my wife’s emergency surgery I had choices and could accept or reject the hospital and surgeon. Admittedly, once my immobile and in agony wife was brought in, we were kind of a captive audience. Still they knew she could request a move to another hospital and went the extra mile to ensure she stayed. My personal physician did not have privileges there so it was a serious consideration to move.

What I noticed most was the staff always asking if she was satisfied. This was from the ER nurses to the aides taking her meal orders. She felt like a valued customer rather than a burdensome patient. While she was anxious to get home she felt comfortable staying there. The lesson I learned was the enormous opportunities that still exist in healthcare to delight the patient. The hospital staff explained that all the rooms in the new wing were now singles because they knew patients valued their privacy. The visitors have free valet parking. Nice touches.

I know Bernie Sanders thinks government would do a better job running the healthcare system. Somehow I doubt single rooms and valet parking would be part of their plan. I also doubt customer satisfaction would be anywhere as a top priority. Yes, I am confident care would be adequate under a government run system. For my wife the stress of breaking her hip and going through emergency surgery was enough, and adequate care was not what we wanted. We wanted customer centric care and the for profit model provided it.

I thought about how much more we can do to unleash free market customer centric care. We can lower costs and improve care just by letting for profit companies compete. Profit and free choice are powerful motivators for innovation. We should encourage more of it rather than hope government is the solution. Just think the post office versus FedEx as the analogy. I know which I would choose.

Bob Ehrlich

DTC in FocusGuest Columnist

For Doctors, Better Data Means Earlier Diagnosis and Effective Treatment

October 25, 2017 0

By Aimee Delorey, Ph.D., and Mark Miller of Symphony Health

It comes as no surprise that big data is being used in all aspects of human life, from where we shop, how we listen to music, how we date and more. But in healthcare analytics, it’s more than just collecting data for the sake of marketing, it’s about understanding how we as doctors treat our patients based on their everyday life habits and goals for living a healthy lifestyle.

The problem and the solution

Large scale data systems, like CRMs may not always provide a holistic, 360-degree view of the patient. They provide limited or incomplete databases in which healthcare professionals have to fill in the blanks. Gaps in data provide significant barriers in understanding patient behavior. Thus, patients receive underwhelming care. According to a 2015 study from McKinsey & Company, 95% of patient data resides outside of the care management system.[1]

Doctors need to be merging traditional data with new sources in order to identify behavior, attitudes and life circumstances. Getting to know our patient’s stress levels, job responsibilities, food and exercise routines, hours spent using technology, social lives and more with the data provided to us will help us provide individualized treatment and advice.

A 2016 study by the SAS Institute merged third party consumer data with claims data to predict healthcare utilization risk and costs.[2] As a result, researchers were able to identify TV viewing patterns, mail-order buying habits (including mail-order prescriptions) and investments in stocks and bonds. The culmination of all this information arms doctors with predictive power in helping understand a patient’s risk for particular outcomes and the related cost.

Using data to invoke change

The earlier we can detect and give our patients a diagnosis, the better their outcome will be. With more comprehensive data and information which is critical to the patient’s journey, (family history, lifestyle and comorbid conditions like diabetes or anemia) can lead to earlier detection.

For example, a main symptom of congestive heart failure is fatigue, which is not always a telling symptom to the average patient. Most patients aren’t diagnosed with this disease until the later stages, meaning most have been living with the disease for some time before diagnosis and treatment.

However, with the help of data, a physician can triangulate their historical information with current signs and symptoms to identify heart disease at an earlier time. This is significant to a patient suffering from unrecognized heart disease who can have a materially improved quality of life with the help of early detection and appropriate treatment.

Conclusion

It’s critical that the healthcare industry, from practitioners to pharmaceutical companies, to look to new ways to understand patients that go beyond traditional data sources, (i.e. wearable technology and the cloud). A better understanding of patients through data will vastly improve diagnosis, earlier detection, more effective treatment, aftercare, prevention and quality of care.

 

References

[1] McKinsey

[2] Statish Garla, Albert Hopping, Rock Moaco, Sarah Rittman. What Do Your Consumer Habits Say About Your Health Risk? Using Third-Party Data to Predict Individual Health Risk and Costs; SAS Institute, 2016

 

About the Authors

Aimee Delorey, Ph.D., senior director, Strategy & Research at Symphony Health, has spent nearly 20 years in analytics and consulting roles serving biotechnology, pharmaceutical and health plan clients. Her areas of expertise include CRM strategy, marketing effectiveness, predictive modeling, data visualization and customer journeys.

As the leader of Symphony’s Audience and Media practice, Mark Miller's team is responsible for helping clients design, measure and optimize highly complicated media and marketing initiatives. He does this by leveraging Symphony’s unique data and analytic capabilities with an eye towards effective and nimble marketing execution. Mark is widely regarded as one of the foremost thinkers in customer experience design with a focus on groundbreaking solutions in the areas of brand planning, digital media and CRM execution.

Editor's Note: Join Mark as he copresents with Britta Cleveland, SVP of Research with Meredith, at our DTC Forum on TV & Print, discussing the impact print ads have on Rx sales conversions and overall Return On Ad Spend (ROAS). The 2017 DTC Forum on TV & Print will be held Oct 26th in NYC.

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DTC-In-Perspective by Bob Ehrlich

DTC in Perspective: Could Amazon Change the Drug Market?

October 13, 2017 0

The widely reported story that Amazon is considering entering the prescription drug market has made current drug sellers nervous. Could Amazon revolutionize drug sales? Or, would they just be another mail order supplier in a crowded market? The answer is unclear.

Amazon certainly has the strength to cut deals with drug companies, insurers and major employers to supply drugs. If a major insurance company wanted to work through Amazon to try to cut costs it is likely they could shave some expense. I do not, however, understand yet how Amazon would be able to fundamentally change drug delivery or pricing.

Bob Ehrlich
“…they are thinking of ways to shake up the supply chain…”
-Bob Ehrlich

Drug companies have established a complex supply chain with numerous levels of prices across different customer categories. Drug companies have no problem quickly supplying patients through drug stores, mail order houses, or in store pharmacies at supermarkets/big box chains. While certainly a convenient place to shop its many product categories, are there advantages for customers buying their drugs there?

I have increasingly bought more things on Amazon because I get free delivery through Prime. Their service is reliable. It is nice to be able to buy directly from them or their listed sellers. That being said, Amazon is still just a giant online market. Patients already have a vast array of options filling their prescriptions and I never heard anyone complaining how hard it is to fill a prescription. Unless Amazon can significantly lower consumer price, or save insurers lots of money, then the game changing aspect of their market entry is unclear.

I love Amazon and was lucky enough to hold on to my 200 shares bought at $35 many years ago. As big a fan as I am of their company, to change how drugs are sold is not easy. Maybe all Amazon wants to do is be another online option and grab a share of the huge market. Certainly, they have an enormous customer base who would be happy to add drugs on with other purchases.

Of course, Amazon is an innovator and maybe they will be able to add consumer value to drug purchases. Perhaps they will be able to launch retention and compliance programs using their customer research base. Alternatively, they may be able to innovate in disease and drug education. Their major asset is consumer trust and that should never be underestimated. Amazon has a team evaluating entering the market and my guess is they will enter, even if just as an ordinary supplier at the start. Long term I suspect they are thinking of ways to shake up the supply chain to offer substantial discounts to their customers.

Bob Ehrlich

DTC in FocusDTC NewsOne-on-One Interview

A One-on-One with Galderma VP & General Manager of the U.S. A&C Business Unit Alisa Lask: How Digital is Transforming their Patient Communications

October 10, 2017 0

In mid-September, DTC Perspectives spoke with Alisa Lask, the VP and General Manager of Aesthetic & Corrective Business Unit from Galderma, about the evolution of their digital marketing. “Digital has had a really powerful impact on the aesthetics brands,” she noted. Galderma’s aesthetics business unit is already seeing a large usage of their various digital assets, from materials at the point of care to their digital-only ASPIRE loyalty program. Another digital victory for the company is their Facebook Restylane® page, which after launching just a few months ago, is already outperforming competitors in the space.

Lask shared that, over the past few years, another evolution they have witnessed is how many Health Care Professionals (HCPs) are now using social media and how much they are using it. Utilizing a variety of platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, HCPs are interacting both with Galderma and with patients. This uncovered a big opportunity for Galderma to invest in digital to create their own assets for their partnering HCPs, many of whom have around 10,000-15,000 patients in their databases on average. These materials not only educated the HCPs, but allowed those HCPs to share them with their staff and consumers in the office or waiting room as well.

Innovations to set a new standard

Galderma wanted to make the most of the opportunities digital affords, making one of their approaches an innovative use of video. Aesthetics products, such as Restylane®, lend themselves quite well to digital media. As the industry transitions away from still Before & After photos, Lask explained they created videos that would showcase the natural results of their treatments. “When we launched our two new products, Restylane® Refyne and Restylane® Defyne, earlier this year, the whole philosophy behind those products was that they were designed to be flexible  in animation and in expression in motion for natural-looking results.”

When sending out their first product samples to HCP offices, a video would play when the box was opened, with four different videos being included in each one. With people clamoring to obtain the sample boxes so they could view and share the videos, Galderma took their marketing to another level: text message video. If an individual, HCP or consumer, texted certain phrases to a designated number, they would receive four to five corresponding videos. Of the videos offering through the sample boxes and text message, Galderma developed real Before & After footage, digital animation of the mechanism in action, and the background and science of the XpresHAn™ technology. (XpresHAn™ is derived from the three components it comprises: X = Crosslinking; pres = Pressing gels through mesh for calibration; and HA = Hyaluronic Acid.)

Another innovative approach the aesthetics teams took was through their ASPIRE loyalty program, which is 100% digital communications. Consumers can receive educational emails, digital coupons towards products, and sweepstake offers electronically. Meanwhile, doctors can log onto a special portal within ASPIRE to obtain Galderma assets, find out which of their patients have redeemed Galderma offers or promotions, or track which of their patients may have lapsed in their treatment so they can provide necessary follow ups. Taking a digital only approach has not had a negative impact – Galderma’s response rates are just as good, if not better, according to Lask.

With an obvious expected increase in spending in digital and social media in the future, she said, “Having a social and digital strategy is status quo. I think the real focus is more on how digital and social are going to change, so we have to evolve our spending and budget.” With the challenge being adjusting investments, Lask added, “we all have to learn how to be a lot more nimble so we’re allowed to pivot quickly as the digital and social channels change.”

Ensuring relevance

Infographic shared with consumers, depicting the ‘Natural Expression in Motion’ theme.

Historically, pharma has often lagged behind other industries when incorporating digital or social media into their marketing due to a lack of clear FDA guidance. “There is no doubt that digital is changing faster than any of these regulations can keep up,” Lask noted, so they make sure to partner closely with their legal and regulatory teams from start and every step along the way. Consumers expect brands today to be “honest and candid, but [also] relevant to them.” Balancing such expectations with “the very important fact that we want safe and effective usage of our products … can be challenging and we’re learning as we go in many instances,” she said. Thus, they make sure their assets center on the important safety information, but present it in a consumerized way that people find engaging.

Lask stressed the importance of relevance when developing their educational and branded efforts: “We make sure first that it is relevant for the consumer. There is just so much noise out there, and if we are creating irrelevant material, you can almost guarantee that it is going to be skipped or not used. Then we put our focus on, what is the brand’s essence of our Galderma aesthetic product? It goes back to being honest, candid, and really being true to what we stand for.”

Galderma’s aesthetics brands employ both educational and branded tactics, depending on what is more appropriate at the time. “It’s a combination between education and branded marketing; we feel like you can’t do one without the other,” she said. With these treatments being elective, getting patients to be inspired by outcomes and addressing their primary concern – looking natural – is step one, she explained. Here, educational marketing leads the way. Branded marketing comes into play next to ensure the patient chooses their products, not a competitor’s.

Looking ahead

When preparing future plans, Lask has spotlighted three strategic areas, each one connected in a different way to improving access to education and information. One of the first things Galderma is keeping an eye on are websites such as Yelp or HCP reviews – anywhere that consumers can get engaged with how they find HCPs. She explained that, in the aesthetics market, those are very important to how consumers can figure out where they go for a treatment. Another area of watch for the team is around platforms such as RealSelf.com, which is a community-driven website providing information and research, reviews, and rankings for aesthetic medicines and cosmetic treatments. Lask likened it to the Trip Advisory of aesthetics.

The last key concentration is around retail pop up clinics, she said. It is empowering for consumers to have such access to information and freedom from scheduling appointments. But as a marketer, it provides other challenges – primarily, how do marketers find these places and then also ensure consumers are receiving their materials and relevant messages? Another barrier Lask found is that many of these retail pop up clinics, which are often owned by large corporations now, don’t usually want company branding or materials. She identifies this as a problem that will need to be solved in the future: “how to make sure that we’re able to touch the consumer in those offices as well?”

“The landscape is always changing, but that’s what is fun and exciting about it,” she stated. With more than two million women using aesthetic products currently and another 15 – 20 million more in the US alone who are interested in them, Lask said it is educating and providing them with information so they “really understand outcomes, what they can look like, and what’s possible.”

 

Jennifer Kovack

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