Vol. 8, Issue No. 5: MAY 2009 – EXECUTIVE SUMMARYWill the Drug Industry be the Next Auto Industry? Upfront Commentary
At a recent Philama (Phila-delphia American Marketing Assoc-iation PharmaSIG) panel discussion on “Pharma-ceutical Marketing within Today’s Social Media Culture-Oppor-tunity or Night-mare?” I found myself comparing the pharmaceutical industry to the auto industry.
Is the drug industry right on the cusp of a huge fall like the auto industry?
Taking risks — eg, engaging in social media — may hasten that fall, but sometimes standing on the sidelines may be more risky!
Read this entire OpEd piece by John Mack here:
www.news.pharma-mkting.com/PMNews_85_UpFront.pdf Protection from Brand Infection Marketers Must Take Control of Their Brands, Especially Online
“Make no mistake,” says the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council in the opening statement to its report Marketer’s Fight Against Fakes, Frauds, and Infringements, “marketers and their brands are under siege. A vast and ever-expanding range of threats to brand value, integrity and image are bearing down on marketers in the form of counterfeits, gray market knock-offs, phishing attacks, cybersquatting, and a broad range of patent and trademark trespassing, especially online–that will likely intensify thanks to a softening economy.”
In response to concerns about the growing range of threats to brand value and the sheer volume of brand hijacking incidents, the CMO Council set out to assess the challenges marketers face as stewards of their brands. The result is Protection from Brand Infection, a seminal authority leadership report that outlines the proliferating threat-scape that marketers face and reveals how marketers are struggling to understand and measure the impact brand intrusions have on their second most valuable asset, their customer.
This article summarizes the results of that survey and cites examples of how pharmaceutical brands are being hijacked and what the drug companies are doing or not doing to counteract the problem, especially online and in social media contexts.
Topic headings include:
- Scope of the Problem
- Brand Theft on Internet
- Brand Infection Also Hurts Brand Loyalty
- Counterfeit Medicines
- Pharma’s Online Brand Infection Problem
- Protection from Brand Infection Survey
- Pharmaceuticals Cited Among Top Six Market Segments Affected
- Marketers Must Play Key Role in the Solution
- Digital Invasion Causing Most Harm
- Direct to Consumer Anti-Counterfeiting Initiatives
- Pfizer’s Direct to Consumer Anti-Counterfeiting Initiative
- Much More Work is Needed
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Ramifications of FDA Regulatory Actions Helping FDA Find a New Media Regulatory Pathway
On April 2, 2009, the FDA issued 14 letters informing drug companies that their search engine ads, which included drug brand names and indications but no risk information or fair balance, were in violation of the law. This caught many in the drug industry by surprise because they assumed the “one-click rule” applies; ie, as long as the fair balance information was just one click away — on another Web page — such ads are allowed by the FDA. With the 14 letters, FDA disagreed and quashed the “one-click rule.”
Arnold Friede, counsel to the law firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP, and former Senior Counsel at Pfizer, believes that there is an opportunity now to make a strong and compelling argument for the adoption of rational regulatory policies by the FDA that address the unique features not only of sponsored links, but of other kinds of new communication tools, such as social media and the like.
This article reviews legal ramifications of FDA enforcement letters and focuses on the FDA’s contentious regulation of Internet advertising and what the industry is doing to “help” it find a new path in that arena. Included is a discussion of FDA’s draft guidance “Presenting Risk Information in Prescription Drug and Medical Device Promotion” and the relevance of FDA’s/FTC’s “reasonable consumer standard” to search engine paid promotional drug ads.
Topic headings include:
- Making a Case for New Regulations
- Ramifications of Enforcement Letters
- Effect on Company Valuation
- Advertising May Go Dark
- Profits Could be Affected
- Every Letter Has Another Life in Court
- Organizing the Response
- Cheerios vs. the One-Click Rule: Are FDA’s Priorities “Askew?”
- Reaching Consensus
- An Alternative Framework
- The Reasonable Man Standard
- Junk Hides the Gems
- Real Problem is Lack of New Media Guidance
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The New PhRMA Code and Beyond Federal & State Laws are Eclipsing Self-Regulation
At a recent ExL Pharma conference industry leaders from pharma and the vendor community reviewed the impact on “Marketing and Sales Under the Revised PhRMA Code”. In this article, Vincent DeChellis of NHHS Healthcare Consulting, LLC summarizes what the industry must do to comply with the code and reconciling its voluntary nature with mandatory state requirements.
Topic headings include:
- New Regulations and State Laws
- A Number of Concerns
- Compliance Issues
- PhRMA Issues Revised Principles
- Interpreting the Code
- Need to Educate Physicians
- Proposed Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2009 a
- Impact on Vendor Community
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From Nalty to “Nalts” The Transformation of a Pharma Marketing Director into a “Viral Video Genius”
While Kevin Nalty worked during the day as Con-sumer Product Director at Merck, where he marketed Propecia, at night and on weekends he was making videos in and around his hometown of Doylestown, PA. No one seemed to be the wiser until he was “outed” in a May 3, 2009, MediaWeek article about YouTube’s “placement police.”
This is a story of one man’s experience that gives us some insight into whether or not a traditional pharmaceutical company can tolerate the creative thinking required for it to engage in social media marketing.
Topic headings include:
- Serious Marketing Director by Day
- “Sophomoric” YouTube Star by Night
- The Fart Heard Round the Merck World!
- ADHD Boy
- Colleague Sucked Away His Will to Live
- Kevin Nalty Appointed Chief Strategy Officer, HITVIEWS
- Spoof of Brand Name Drug Ads
- Nalt’s ADHD Affects His Work at J&J
- Suppression of Creativity
- Enlightened Stupid Marketer
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