ePharma Summit – Day 1

John Mangano, Sr. Director, comScore – Shifts in the eMarketing Landscape

• 70% of internet users in US use social media.
• Internet now 3rd most used medium; will surpass radio soon. 17% internet, TV 37%.
• On-line advertising is still only about 7% of total.
• 35-54 year olds are the most active on-line. That does matter for pharma marketers.
• 13.5 billion videos viewed. Avg length 3 mins. 77% of people on-line have viewed at least one video. Growing in importance.
• Social media as wild frat party right now – growing like crazy; noisy.
• Moving up much higher in age demographics, and long engagement times on sites.
• McKinsey 2007 – over 1/2 say pleased with investment over past 5 years; only 13% disappointed. 75% executive surveyed worldwide plan to increase Web 2.0 investment. (But, still not a clear success model).
• 70% of business using web 2.0 technologies say they use them to interact with customers (McKinsey) (SW – ummm…yeah – that’s the point, I think).
• Patient adherence significantly increased by on-line brand interaction.
• 80% of those on-line seek healthcare information. 52% prefer internet for health info – convenience and privacy.
• 48% of on-line seekers spoke to a doctor about treatment options available; 37% spoke to doctor about specific drug.

Peter Justafson, Dir., Global Mkting, J&J; Joe Shields, Product Dir., Wyeth BioPharma – Aligning your Tactical Plan with Brand Strategy

• Can’t have an eStrategy that’s different from your brand strategy
• (really valuable discussion with audience – can’t easily reproduce here! See running Twitter messages over at Shwen Gee’s blog also

Shawn O’Hagan, Sr. Manager, eMarketing, Daiichi Sankyo – Diligent Search Marketing Still Matters

• Manhattan Research’s Top 5 New Year Resolutions for Pharma Brand Managers referenced: http://bit.ly/d2zZ
• “Don’t forget about Search” top MR resolution. People already forgetting about search??
• Google/comScore April 2008 survey – 1753 on-line users (457 undiagnosed sufferers; 587 diagnosed/untreated; rest diagnosed/under treatment:
• Undiagnosed average research period 18.6 weeks. 46% of those researching via Internet; 57% of THOSE using search engine (general health sites 67%, pharma brand site 11%).
• Diagnosed/Untreated average research period 17.6 weeks. 41% of those researching via Internet; 57% of THOSE using search engine (general health sites 66%, pharma brand site 12%).
• Diag/Treated average research period 10 weeks. 44% of those researching via Internet; 53% of THOSE using search engine (general health sites 68%, pharma brand site 23%).
• Avg. # searches – Undiagnosed 18.2, Diagnosed/not Treated 21.2, Treated 11.8
• Organic or Paid search – what drives more traffic? Older the audience, higher on paid clicks.

Lars Merk, Prod. Director, Neurology, Ortho McNeil Janssen (J&J) – Design a Compelling Brand.com

• If your site was designed 5-6 years ago, probably not adequate now!
• The conundrum of a single/main site that has to “split” for various audiences coming to destination.
• Handling multiple indication – site design that allows search to drive to specific tabs/sections (ex – Cymbalta.com)
• Plavix.com – re-purposed sales aid tossed up on web.
• Cannot just throw up a site and not watch behaviors, measure, maintain.
• This is really basic material on search optimization. For those new to this, a good starter tutorial.
• Gardasil.com – good, clear calls to action

Joe Barone, Media Director, Greater than One – Designing the Online Media Campaign

• On-line users are engaged in an active, “lean forward” experience (not passive, lean-back)
• Digital media can impact any stage of the marketing process
• Daytime is primetime in on-line space
• Targeting on-line: Add Behavioral Targeting and Retargeting to Contextual, Demographic, and Geographic (on- or off-line)
• On-line is the most measurable medium in history. Real-time optimization possible.

Brent Rose, Sr. Manager, Consumer Mktg., Daiichi Sankyo – Online Relationship Marketing: Plans Directed to your Most Valuable Customers

• “One-to-one” – esp. “handraisers”
• Typically targeting a group of existing customers
• Goals: Adherence, Persistency, Loyalty
• Focus on goals.
• Information and interaction flow mirrors how real relationships develop (eventually moves into “maintenance mode” – great focus for Valentine’s week…!)
• BP Success Zone site/Opt-in as RM example. Also Symbicort.
• Needs to constantly evolve.
• Respect the opt-in; make it easy to opt-out.
• Test everything – esp. subject lines.
• Patient Longitudinal data
• People don’t read e-mail – they triage it.

Xavier Petit, Shire, John Mangano – Measurement: Accountability is the Name of the Game

• Why Measure? Purpose? Define Metrics. blah blah blah
• Maintain consistent process for comparison
• Evolution of marketing measurement – behavior focus rather than old legacy measures (very imprecise)
• Latent effect 3-4 weeks after campaign/clicks. Drives search activity.
• Most common pitfalls – lackluster landing pages; opt-in mania; Games/Quizzes good; Don’t overdo creative elements; don’t complicate on-line coupons; include info on conditions; make side effects accessible.
• Operational metrics. In other words – make sure the site works.

Overall, the content for this pre-day was pretty basic. A fair bit of it was vintage 2004 on-line marketing – not without value, esp. for newer brand managers, but not at all leading edge. We need some really good case studies of approaches that are pushing into new territory!!!