The winds of change seem fairly constant in the pharmaceutical industry.
Complex legislative and regulatory issues, increased competition, complex company structures, and mergers and acquisitions all impact on business thinking and practice.
Add to this a certain cynicism about the sector and consumer concern about integrity, and you have a real need for a change in attitude to the brands themselves and the approach to communications.
As pharmaceutical product brands crossover from over the counter (OTC) to consumer, the arena has also changed shape. It is still incredibly complex, requiring multi-layered considerations of things including insurance and regulatory issues, patents, and claims and the need to address diverse audiences who need to clearly hear different messaging and information based on their relationship – you’ve got the physicians, pharmacists, drug reps, buyers, and, of course, customers. You have to plan, consider and test what you want, and can, say to whom, how and when. Factor in this strategic requirement, and creating and articulating a brand to address all these audiences becomes a complex process.
The way things have always been
Historically, pharmaceutical brands have not really acted as ‘brands’ in the true FMCG sense of the word. An arrangement that, to a degree, has worked adequately within the industry, but it’s one that is being challenged by the business benefits increasingly accredited to brands and the power they wield with consumer relationships.
Many pharmaceutical brands have, on the whole, evolved from an original, single, licensed product that has become available for wider use. The result is brands and ‘identities’ largely evolved from R&D departments and drug heritage, without addressing the wider issues of consumer benefit, need for fulfilment or increased consumer knowledge.
Without realising it, much of the ‘brand’ communications is based on manufacturing and product led processes – from R&D to boardroom, from sales force to trade, and from trade to consumer – an approach once seen in the automotive industry, which has now recognised the need to move from manufacturing led to brand led. Looking back at automotive marketing, it is obvious how we have moved on from a ‘feature’ world to an ‘experience of ownership’ one. Equally, in the OTC segment, whilst the industry is product and R&D led, the brand should have greater influence on the products and precisely how they will fit with the parent brand.
Retailers as editors
The need for change is also being driven by the multiple retailers, where dealing in brands is their currency – whatever the category. They are seeking strong brands that can compete, are recognised and understood by consumers, and also that can grow and extend their particular segment. In that sense, the retailer plays the role of editor, often deciding on the level of choice between brands that should act as signposts for the category and value items that will drive both margin and volume. And as we will see later, the retail brands themselves will see opportunities within this sector to threaten those product brands whose stories are not clear or convincing enough.
The need to connect
In our work on pharmaceutical brands we have recognised that there is an historical shortfall that needs to be addressed when moving from OTC to brand. After all, a brand is more than a product in a box with a name on, however efficacious. A brand connects with a consumer or user on more levels than just product performance or even reputation. It connects with consumers by standing for something over and above what it does. It is distinctive, memorable and represents a promise to the consumer. Importantly, a brand seems to tap into what consumers want from it in terms of their needs – even unspoken needs. It is this balance of rational and emotional needs that a brand addresses, beyond the regulatory imperative of clear and differentiated labelling.
The rise of the direct channel
In most European markets, the pharmacists still have a great role to play in relaying the brand to the consumer and so brand-building exercises with pharmacists are still a must-do. The tide is also turning towards direct consumer buying, whether in supermarkets or online – clearly, in today’s world, the strongest brands are consumer driven. That’s not to say that consumers do it all for you, but in working with them you will build brands on more than product attributes. This is a strange concept when considering that pharmaceutical innovation originates from medical advances, not focus groups, but not so strange if you consider that today, the greatest areas of innovation for OTC brands have been in delivery formats and range extensions – areas directly sourced from consumers’ preference, needs and usability insights.
How to say without saying
Yet, the guidelines on branding for OTC products can be quite restrictive and vary greatly market by market. This often results in international brands adopting an iconographic approach when it comes to on-pack communications. In reality, icons are not new but they offer tremendous benefits to brands in this sector. They do not interfere with the regulatory constraints for naming and clarity of description and can add an own-able brand idea to the product. The key point here is that you must have an idea and that icon should represent an emotional benefit to the consumer. When executed correctly, iconography is a very rich source of cognitive meaning. It can link back to a company’s mission and values, to product emotional values, and can dramatically extend the brand conversation beyond the product efficacy, giving the brand owner the chance to communicate a point of difference.
Getting close and personal
Taking a consumer orientated focus is a smart move. Increased awareness and access to information thanks to the internet puts even more latent decision making capability in the hands of consumers. Developing an understanding of the drivers and triggers that work at this end of the spectrum can provide useful guidance when developing brands.
Some pharmaceutical brands are there already, of course, and it’s easy to spot who is taking a brand approach and consequently taking the advantage. But how many pharmaceutical products have yet to establish a promise that is more than just functional delivery and therefore able to map its real potential for future growth?
Once defined in this way, a brand can provide the tools and direction for a company to build on, through all of its channels. It will provide the focus for future development and communications that are based on what consumers need rather than what companies can produce.
A simple brand health check can be employed:
– Understand your consumer
– Exploit your difference
– Define what your brand can stand for
– Deliver on more than just product attributes
– Map the future with a marriage of consumer and business viewpoints
A brand must be cohesive and understood right through the organisation. Once you are delivering on brand values rather than product attributes, your brands will undoubtedly be a greater asset. And an asset that will undoubtedly better meet the future challenges of a changing world.
Self-care is here to stay
This changing world will include a changed consumer perspective. They are smarter, more cynical and want to be treated as knowledgeable buyers. We’ve already identified the need for greater brand meaning for pharmaceutical products. This is becoming even more urgent as retailer brands begin to capitalise on changing consumer attitudes, fuelled by increased confidence and knowledge gained from the internet and other information vehicles. Until quite recently a certain amount of mystery surrounded pharmaceutical products – they were ‘medicines’ after all. The average consumer knew very little about them and assumed that the only products to buy were those that were either recommended by a medical professional or whose names were well known; respected brands that would be safe and efficacious. This is not so today when personal health and health risks are front-page news. With a rise in general anxiety about the next threat, comes a greater sense of individual responsibility to be prepared, informed and ready to take decisions. This has created a further accelerator in the trend for self-care and self-medication. If we add a tough economic environment, we can see a perfect storm brewing around price points and value for money for health. Retail brands have caught on by offering own brand equivalents at considerably lower prices. As margins threat beckon, we will see more of own-brand ‘generic’ products moving into the brand arena, with sophisticated product innovation strategies that will closely match their key branded counterparts – as we already seeing in the cold and cough category for example.
One can only assume that this trend will continue and move through different categories of consumer pharmaceutical products. So, it is time to set your house in order and define the values of your brand, how these impact on product development and expression, and firmly take a position that will gain commitment from today’s consumer.
—– By Nicolas Mamier, managing director at Appetite, a brand, communication and design agency, working with brand owners and retailers including Johnson & Johnson, Unilever and SPAR.