Pharma Marketing Excellence: Lessons from Experience
Marketing excellence. Over the past five years, those two words have been the subject of hype and the focus of management attention. As the pharmaceutical industry struggles with market maturation and weakening product pipelines, marketing excellence programmes have been developed and implemented with an eye to overcoming those hurdles.
But how well are they working and is there one optimal model for their use? There is no question that such programmes are costly—even low-cost examples have a high ‘opportunity cost’. In balancing those costs with benefit, the past five years have yielded important lessons that will now influence the future of marketing excellence.
Report Overview
In Pharma Marketing Excellence: Lessons from Experience, FirstWord reviews the role of marketing excellence strategies, what they entail and why they have been integrated into the wider landscape of competency development and marketing strategies. In reviewing the experiences of five companies, the report reveals a four-archetype model, establishes seven key lessons for those implementing programmes and offers real solutions to not only avoid failure, but ensure success.
Key features
“Unfortunately, marketing excellence is often a reaction to a significant mistake. One firm we worked with was driven to develop a programme focused on clinical development after a product failed approval, which was of course a very expensive and avoidable mistake.”
– Kurt Kessler, ZS Associates
“Whilst the concepts are, in principle, quite simple, the devil is in the detail of how it is applied in the context of the real world.”
– Wim Souverijns, Celgene
“It is about more than just being granted a budget and given an objective. The key to success is to have the senior management team develop a shared vision of the programme.”
– Theo Nieuwenhuis, Boehringer Ingelheim
Expert Views
But how well are they working and is there one optimal model for their use? There is no question that such programmes are costly—even low-cost examples have a high ‘opportunity cost’. In balancing those costs with benefit, the past five years have yielded important lessons that will now influence the future of marketing excellence.
Report Overview
In Pharma Marketing Excellence: Lessons from Experience, FirstWord reviews the role of marketing excellence strategies, what they entail and why they have been integrated into the wider landscape of competency development and marketing strategies. In reviewing the experiences of five companies, the report reveals a four-archetype model, establishes seven key lessons for those implementing programmes and offers real solutions to not only avoid failure, but ensure success.
Key features
- Five cases studies offering ground-up insight into marketing excellence
- A four-archetype model for programmes and clear explanation of their best fit
- Seven key lessons for executives implementing marketing excellence
- Explanation of implications for companies considering their implementation
- Overview of what marketing excellence strategies involve, their cost and benefits
- Full examination of marketing excellence, how it works, why it’s implemented
- Review of key lessons taken from current and past programmes
- How companies choose programme content and models dependent upon need
- Why do companies invest in marketing excellence?
- How is marketing excellence best approached?
- Is there an optimal model?
- When are marketing excellence programmes appropriate?
- What conditions frame the design of marketing excellence strategies?
- What are the real versus targeted outcomes companies have experienced?
- What are the lessons learned from past attempts at marketing excellence?
- Marketing and Brand Management
- Commercial Excellence Directors
- Marketing Research/Business Intelligence
- Executive Management
- Advertising/Promotion
“Unfortunately, marketing excellence is often a reaction to a significant mistake. One firm we worked with was driven to develop a programme focused on clinical development after a product failed approval, which was of course a very expensive and avoidable mistake.”
– Kurt Kessler, ZS Associates
“Whilst the concepts are, in principle, quite simple, the devil is in the detail of how it is applied in the context of the real world.”
– Wim Souverijns, Celgene
“It is about more than just being granted a budget and given an objective. The key to success is to have the senior management team develop a shared vision of the programme.”
– Theo Nieuwenhuis, Boehringer Ingelheim
Expert Views
- Ian Hartley, Head of Commercial Excellence, Novartis Oncology Region Europe
- Wim Souverijns, Executive Director Global Marketing Excellence, Celgene
- Theo Nieuwenhuis, Head of Corporate PM Marketing Respiratory/CV, Boehringer Ingelheim
- Britt Jensen, Vice President, Global Marketing Commercial Excellence, Novo Nordisk
- Kilian Duffner, SVP Global Strategic Brand Management, Grunenthal
- Martin Lancaster, CEO, InterComm
- Howard Godman, Managing Director, Lansdowne Consulting
- Kurt Kessler, Managing Principal, Marketing Solutions, ZS Associates
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS: PRIOR RESEARCH INTO MARKETING EXCELLENCE
WHY DO PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES INVEST IN MX PROGRAMMES?
Implications for companies considering marketing excellence
WHAT DO PHARMACEUTICAL MX PROGRAMMES INVOLVE?
Content scope
Organisational scope
A contingency model of marketing excellence programmes
Implications for companies considering marketing excellence
Conclusion
WHAT HAVE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES LEARNED FROM MX PROGRAMMES?
Lesson 1: Begin with a clear, shared vision of the outcome and process
Lesson 2: Allocate appropriate resources
Lesson 3: Pick an appropriate starting point
Lesson 4: Use external help appropriately
Lesson 5: Apply in practice
Lesson 6: Develop incrementally
Lesson 7: Measure pragmatically
CLOSING REMARKS AND A CRITIQUE
APPENDIX: THE CASE COMPANIES
INTRODUCTION
ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS: PRIOR RESEARCH INTO MARKETING EXCELLENCE
WHY DO PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES INVEST IN MX PROGRAMMES?
Implications for companies considering marketing excellence
WHAT DO PHARMACEUTICAL MX PROGRAMMES INVOLVE?
Content scope
Organisational scope
A contingency model of marketing excellence programmes
Implications for companies considering marketing excellence
Conclusion
WHAT HAVE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES LEARNED FROM MX PROGRAMMES?
Lesson 1: Begin with a clear, shared vision of the outcome and process
Lesson 2: Allocate appropriate resources
Lesson 3: Pick an appropriate starting point
Lesson 4: Use external help appropriately
Lesson 5: Apply in practice
Lesson 6: Develop incrementally
Lesson 7: Measure pragmatically
CLOSING REMARKS AND A CRITIQUE
APPENDIX: THE CASE COMPANIES
