Segmentation/Targeting

Copycat Targeting

• Situation: Every company goes after the same high writers, compounding the access problem.
• Fix(?): Because of the heightened access issue, pharma companies deploy even more reps to preserve share of voice (vicious cycle).

Poor-Resonance Messaging

• Emphasis is on reach and frequency, not on content.
• Message does not leverage patient characteristics (sources of business, C&P, etc.)
• Message does not leverage relationships a physician has with other physicians.

This calls for a fundamental shift in the targeting strategy (from which the messaging strategy will immediately benefit).

The Unspoken Assumption

The Bang and the Buck

All targeting techniques currently deployed by the pharmaceutical marketing industry make the same assumption that the bang (return) has to come from where we spend the buck (investment).

• Market-Product Deciling
• Promotion Response
• Innovator - Laggard Spectrum
• Drug Dominance - Loyalist, Spreader, Splitter, etc.
• Others

Why should the bang come exactly from where the buck is spent?

The return associated with the investment of one physician may not come from that physician but from another physician downstream.

Targeting Paradigm Shift in Order

Leverage the fact that a physician does not operate in a vacuum but interacts with other physicians on a daily basis.

Leverage Message Amplification

Principle: The fact that you hear a message from different sources leads you to believe the message is really true

Irony: It may all be coming from the source.