For Pharma Marketers, Celebrities + "Social Media" = Gold Mine!

Today, I learned from a @Novartis tweet that yet another celebrity is  teaming up with a pharmaceutical company to leverage "social media" for marketing purposes. The celebrity is singer and LGBT rights activist Cyndi Lauper, who admits she she has "moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis (PsO)."

Lauper is featured on the "THAT's PsO ME" website hosted by Novartis in conjunction with the National Psoriasis Foundation.

Novartis recently won approval from FDA to market Cosentyx  (secukinumab) for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in adult patients.

In a PEOPLE magazine article published yesterday, Lauper reminds us that "It's not just a rash. It's a disease" -- a statement straight out of the pharma marketer's playbook.

Of course, like many other aged celebrities hired by pharma (e.g., Monica Seles admitted she suffered from binge eating disorder for many years; she too came out in PEOPLE magazine after signed on with a pharma company; read more about that here), Lauper suffered from her condition in secret for many years before being paid by pharma to come out in the open. "You don't have to suffer in silence or live in pain," says Lauper after doing just that for years.

Not only is Lauper shilling for pharma in PEOPLE magazine, she also "joined" the THAT's PsO ME "community." What's that all about?

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Patient Centricity Does Not Apply When the Patient is Dead

Pharma Delays Reporting Serious Drug AEs (i.e., Death) to FDA

Brand Update : Honda Relaunches Jazz

After withdrawing the premium hatchback Jazz in 2013, Honda has relaunched Jazz with an aggressive pricing. Jazz is an interesting marketing story of a brand which failed not because of product but pricing. Honda had priced out Jazz in its earlier avataar. Now the company had become very responsive to the value conscious nature of the Indian consumer. 

Jazz in the 2015 version has been priced upwards of Rs 5.31 lakh which makes a great value proposition in the segment. The Jazz will compete with i20 and higher version of Swift. The new aggressive pricing, new styling and the Honda brand equity will definitely boost the fortune of Jazz in the new launch. 

Also unlike the earlier brand-pull strategy of Honda, there is a marked change in the approach of the dealers towards sales. I casually inquired about the Jazz at Honda service center when I gave my car for service and has been getting sales call for Jazz. This marks a clear departure from the earlier " Take it or Leave it " approach.

The brand is launched with the tagline " Nothing Else is a Jazz " and is playing on the sporty features of the brand. 

Watch the ad here : Honda Jazz relaunch TVC

With aggressive pricing, new styling and with a diesel engine under hood, Jazz would further boost the share of Honda in India for sure. 

OMG. Kim Kardashian Shills for Pharma! No Worry - No Side Effects!

Click on image to see enlarged view.

Find her Instagram post here.

I think other members of the KimKlan are also paid to send out sponsored tweets.

UPDATE (11 August 2015): A healthcare professional probably saw my post and reported Kim's Instagram post to FDA's BadAd program! As a consequence, the FDA's Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (OPDP) sent a WARNING LETTER (see here) to Duchesnay USA, which markets Diclegis. The agency said:

"The social media post is false or misleading in that it presents efficacy claims for DICLEGIS, but fails to communicate any risk information associated with its use and it omits material facts."

In fact, the FDA said that the post "entirely omits all risk information" and pointed out that the "one-click rule" is not a rule FDA recognizes: "We note the statement, '[F]ind out more www.diclegis.com; www.DiclegisImportantSafetyInfo.com[,]' appears at the end of the social media post; however, this does not mitigate the misleading omission of risk information. By omitting the risks associated with DICLEGIS, the social media post misleadingly fails to provide material information about the consequences that may result from the use of the drug and suggests that it is safer than has been demonstrated."

I called it!

Ty Cohen Interview Ranks Number One

Some days, you have an epiphany, that moment when the light bulb goes on and you experience a moment of SEO euphoria.  Sunday was that day!  I realized that all I needed to do for improving the ranking of a recent interview was to share a link on an authoritative site - The Marketing Blog.

Ty Cohen Interview

For those of you who haven't heard of Ty Cohen, he is one of today's leading online marketers.  I met Ty a couple of years ago through a mutual friend and have followed him ever since.  He is the author and publisher of Kindle Cash Flow and other popular products and inspiration to many of us looking to achieve multiple revenue streams and the Internet lifestyle.

I was fortunate enough to conduct a Ty Cohen Interview a few months ago and had been working on optimizing the interview for top rankings.  Instead of focusing on the keyword "Ty Cohen", I decided to focus on "Ty Cohen Interview".  This is because sites like YouTube and others already have the top placement for this entrepreneur.

In an effort to get the top spot on search results, I decided to leverage social media in addition to on page optimization techniques. We all know that organic results take time so I gave myself a few weeks of making social media posts to see if I could get a particular web page to the top of search engine results.

In just a few short weeks, I was able to move this page to the number 3 position on Google.  At that point, I decided to give it a slightly bigger boost with some inbound links for high profile sites where I could make updates or direct links.  Boom, the ranking went to #2.

SEO is about Quality Links, Social Media and More...

On Sunday I was doing a little work on my next update to the top-selling book, SEO Made Simple, and had an epiphany - generate more quality links to the page I'm trying to optimize using my own resources.  Whether you know it or not, you have a number of high quality websites at your disposal.  
Whether you have a blog like this one here or a profile on Facebook, there are a number of digital assets at your disposal you can use to give your rankings a boost.  Think about all of the places where you can control information being distributed online and determine how best to use them for improving link authority and website rankings.

For now, I'm glad I realized there are things in my control easily leveraged for top rankings when I need them most.

Brand Update : Liril is back with the original jingle and waterfall imagery

Liril is back . After messing up the once iconic brand, HUL has relaunched Liril with the classic jingle and the iconic imagery of a girl in a waterfall  immortalized 40 years ago  by the original Liril girl - Karen Lunel .

 After killing the freshness theme ( for whatever reasons) during early 1990s, the brand went into various positioning themes and later faded into oblivion. Now the brand is back to its roots.

Watch the relaunch here : Liril relaunch

While the relaunch brings back fond memory of this great brand to many of us, it may not ring the bell to the new generation. Nostalgia aside, the new ad is well made in the sense it is almost the same as the original ad.

The brand is positioned on the freshness platform and now has the tagline " Fresh is back ".

How ever, as a marketing enthusiast, I am happy for Liril to have made a come back. Kudos to HUL for biting the bullet and returning to the original positioning. 

This is also a lesson for brand managers who try to change positioning for the sake of change.

GSK's Whooping Cough Vaccination Campaign Needlessly Vilifies Grannies!

GSK's Big Bad Cough multimedia campaign focuses on a grandma putting her baby grandchild in range of catching whooping cough from her: "Understand the Danger Your New Grandchild Faces." The print ad shown here appeared in a recent Parade magazine insert in my Sunday paper. You can also view the TV Ad here)if it still available online.

According to GSK's PR/marketing earned media machine: "Adults have historically low vaccination rates. For Tdap, the combined diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine for grown-ups, only 17% of adults over age 19 are up-to-date, according to recent CDC [Centers for Disease Control]  data. GSK said grandparent vaccination rates are even lower, coming in at below 10%. Adults are the most common carriers or "spreaders" of pertussis to infants, according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases" (see here).

The takeaway message is that grandparents are that danger. But, there's something you should know.

Read more »

For First Time in Seven Years, Pharma Support of CME Increases. A Closer Look at the Data.

According to data compiled by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the pharmaceutical industry has increased its financial support of CME in 2014 compared to 2013. This is the first time in seven years that Pharma's support has increased.

In the chart below, I plotted the Growth vs. Decline of Pharma CME Support from 1999 through 2014. I include monies paid for advertising and exhibits at CME events and assume 100% of this activity comes from manufacturers (drugs and devices). Based on this, the drug and device industry support for CME has increased by about 3% in 2014 vs. 2013 ($1.031 Bn vs. $1.00 Bn).

Click on image for an enlarged view.

Even though the data suggest that pharma's support of CME took a nose dive from 2008 through 2012, CME income from "other" sources took up the slack and then some beginning around 2010-2011. Total CME income increased 13.6% from 2011 through 2014, whereas drug industry support dropped about 3% during that time.

Where did this extra money from "other" sources come from?

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Infographic: Trends in Pharma Support of CME

Source of data: ACCME annual reports. Click on image for enlarged view.

Meet Wally, Rapaflo's Prostate Mascot. Looks a Lot Like a Walnut!

In May, 2015,  FDA's OPDP sent an Notice of Violation letter to Actavis regarding the "Unsubstantiated Claim" on the Rapaflo webpage, which stated “BPH SYMPTOM RELIEF THAT WORKS NIGHTS SO HE CAN WORK DAYS.”

Since then, Actavis adopted a walnut look-alike prostate gland mascot. That's him in the accompanying image.

I call him "Wally" because he looks just like a walnut, which I suspect was the model the computer graphic artist used to create Wally. It even includes a little walnut-like point at the top of his head, which may not be medically accurate.

The original Rapaflo website, which the FDA criticized, showed a man walking to the bathroom from his bed in the middle of the night. Now the site features a guy at a urinal confronted by Wally standing on the urinal divider.  Although Wally is not looking down at the guy's junk, he is all in the guy's face, saying "These frequent disruptions are frustrating. I'm your prostate - I know urinary issues when I see them!"

If I were that guy I would say, "Yeah? Well, you're not my prostate! I know walnuts when I see them! Get lost!" I mean, who wants to talk to a Debbie Downer walnut while urinating in a public urinal?

There seems to be a proliferation of drug mascots these days reminiscent of ten years ago or so when drug TV and print ads were full of them (read "DTC Critters to Strike - Cite New Media Residuals as Issue," for example). I know of at least one other mascot associated with urinary function.

Read more »

Brand Update : Maruti Suzuki tries premium push through Nexa

Maruti Suzuki which has a bear grip on the Indian passenger car market is desperate for a share in the premium car market. While the company has huge lead in the mid and small car segment, it so far has not been able to break into the premium segment ( 10 lakh above). Maruti had tried earlier with its Grand Vitara, Baleno, and latest Kizashi but failed to replicate the success of its affordable car range. 

Maruti Suzuki is now trying to go through the channel route to tap this segment. According to reports, the company is opening a premium channel named ( internally) as Nexa. Maruti plans to launch its premium cars  beginning with S-Cross through this channel. All cars which are in the premium segment will henceforth available only through Nexa. 

Further , Maruti believes that there is a perception that the brand " Maruti Suzuki" is very much linked to " affordability" and hence it will not be able to sell a premium car.   Hence all the new premium cars will now contain only Suzuki name . 

This is an interesting story because the company is now finding its greatest strength ( brand ) as a liability. So probably S-cross will be Suzuki S-cross and the company believes that Indian consumers will consider it a premium brand because there is no Maruti tag on it !! 

What may be hurting Maruti Suzuki management would be that premium brands like Honda are now making huge volumes by down-ward stretching ( launching products at lower price) and threatening some brands of Maruti. 

Maruti is now trying the trick of Japanese brands cracking the premium American car market. They have done through creating new brands like Lexus, Accura,Infinity which was positioned away from the mass market brands.

It is true that an affordable brand ( perception) would find it difficult to move up the value chain using the same brand name. So it makes sense when Maruti wants its premium brands to be kept away from the mass market brands. Here the assumption is that in Maruti Suzuki brand name, Maruti part is creating the perception and by removing the Maruti part, the affordable tag can be eliminated. I wonder whether that assumption holds true. Unlike Honda, Suzuki does not have that premium image in the Indian market. Suzuki brand in the two wheeler segment is not in the best shape and is not in the premium segment either. Hence just by launching a premium car sans Maruti name is not going to do the trick. As auto-expert Hormazd Sorabjee points out, the issue is more of design that positioning . None of the premium offering of Maruti had the wow factor expected out of a premium offering.

How ever, the new channel strategy would benefit the premium push because the premium brand is not sold alongside its cheap companions and better service can be delivered to the premium customers. The downside is that there is a possibility of channel conflict because existing dealers will not be able to sell high-margin cars using their current infrastructure.

According to reports, Maruti Suzuki has created a separate organizational structure for the premium category. It would be an interesting story to watch how Maruti will be able to break into the premium segment with the new strategy. 

Social Media Uncovers Need for "BALLm" - Rebranding of Vagisil for Men's Itchy Balls!

Infegy is a company that claims to have cloud-based technologies that can transform "huge volumes of [social media] commentary into valuable consumer insights."

To prove how valuable these insights can be, the company is published a report that offers several "quick snapshots of various use cases that can be leveraged for the pharmaceutical and personal care industries."

One case study involves Vagisil, which gives women relief from vaginal discomfort and itching due mainly to yeast infections.

While performing a brand reputation audit of Vagisil, an Infegy analyst found that more men were talking about the product online than women. According to the report, "the majority of these male commentators were referencing Vagisil when doling out insults."

OK. Obviously, that's not very helpful if you are looking to social media for ideas about line extensions. However, the analysis also found "subsections" of social media conversations about a topic that Infegy believes uncovers an opportunity to rebrand Vagisil for men: Itchy balls!

Read more »

8 Tactics To Help Manage Your Marketing Campaigns & Boost ROI

As digital marketing becomes more complex, the more difficult it becomes for businesses to
manage an effective budget. Spreading resources across every avenue of the industry is a 
difficult task, and it can lead to key areas being neglected. 

Why is it important to get campaigns right? In 2014 marketing budgets went up by 10% - by 
2016 it’s expected to make up 35% of the average businesses’ budget. Maximizing your 
strategy for strong ROI is now all important, and understanding how to get a shrewd plan 
together should be at the center of any business plan. 

In this 8 point guide the vital tactics which can make a campaign work are explained. It’s an 
insight on how to spread a digital marketing budget across the right areas, ensuring the best chance of excellent ROI. 

1. Get A Plan In Order

Many businesses (particularly start-ups) have a habit of launching into digital marketing 
campaigns without a thorough plan. The idea of winging it and expecting good results can betempting, but the fact is it is essential you work out what your objectives are.

Promoting brand awareness and increasing conversion rates tend to be the key goals, but how do you intend to achieve this? Can it be managed on a long term scale? Who are you going to employ to make it happen? 

The questions can pile up, and there’s also the need to manage a budget between the likes of social media, PPC, and SEO. Knowing where your business needs to focus is the essence of a strong digital marketing plan, which means you need to understand your audience. 

2. Research Your Industry 

One of the forgotten factors is not all businesses can work with SEO and PPC. Not everyone is always looking for the keywords you may want to rank for, meaning there is no point in funding a SEO campaign. Conversely, a PPC strategy won’t work if you have low margins –all this tends to do is lose you money.

The solution to this is to understand your audience and get to know what your competitors are doing. Examine the market and your position in it – how authoritative do you genuinely see yourself? If you’re entering an established and competitive market, for example, then PPC is a great way to learn which keywords to focus on. In turn, this can shape your SEO efforts. 

3. Get Your SEO Structured

Capturing key SERPs is what SEO is all about. SEO is more sustainable than PPC, the problem is the results take quite a while to show, and you run the risk of facing a Google penalty if you get it badly wrong (such as with Black Hat SEO – steer well clear of it).  

For start-up businesses Google uses a cautious tactic to wait and see how the new site 
develops. Many new businesses can fold and the site is essentially abandoned – if this isn’t 
your plan, get on with SEO before your launch: ensure your site is streamlined on a technical front, is mobile-friendly, and structure excellent on-site content. 

Off-site work is also vital – with online buzz around your business, the signals sent to Google will be positive and will assist your ranking. In the meantime, PPC can generate interest in your site whilst Google’s algorithms crawls your site and organic traffic builds up. 

4. PPC Will Always Back You Up

PPC is a safety net of sorts as it can be used to drive relevant traffic to your site. In moments of marketing uncertainty, turn to PPC – even a budget of $1,000 based around broad keywords can have significant results. 

This tactic can help you understand top-performing keywords and popular new ones (again, 
which comes in useful for SEO activities). However, do be aware if you’re a B2B company 
as competition is rife and prices can be extremely high. Respect your budget and see what 
you can achieve with it. 

5. Take A Look Into PPC For Mobile

With Google’s mobile algorithms now in place (benefiting sites with mobile-friendly sites), 
now is the time to capitalize on mobile marketing features. For mobile PPC, there are brilliant CTA options which come in particularly useful for lead generation. 

6. Use The Power Of Remarketing

Setting aside budget for remarketing is another essential tactic which, when deployed 
properly, can deliver great results. Your marketing efforts can’t always win over your 
audience, as many will visit your site, show some interest, but then leave.

Remarketing is an unobtrusive way to get back into their field of vision – setting up tracking 
codes can ensure they return to your site with subtle imagery and clever wording. 

7. Take To Content Marketing With A Flourish

Having good content is now more important than ever. Google’s algorithms will notice poor 
copy and send the site plummeting down SERPs - sculpting quality content through a White 
Hat SEO campaign can build a strong link catalog, boost your authority, and have a steady stream of CTA driven social media output going. 

8. Recognize Key Social Media Tools 

Most businesses are on Facebook and Twitter – this is a given. However, many brands don’t put the effort in to taking advantage of other formats, such as Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and even the likes of FourSquare. 

YouTube, as an arbitrary example, offers an advertising format where companies can tap into utterly vast audiences. It remains largely underused by brands, so try setting aside some budget to get in front of a site which has a hundreds of millions of views a day. With its localized options and specific targeting services, you can effortlessly focus in on your 
demographic.   

Use This Handy 8 Point Guide To Keep Everything On Track

Now we’ve highlighted the areas to focus on, it’s time to take action and make sure your 
budget is spread over the most crucial areas of digital marketing. To get things moving you 
can:

1. Identify if your business is better suited to SEO or PPC – if both, set aside your 
budget appropriately. 
2. Setup a PPC campaign to identify keywords which and relevant to you and, 
importantly, convert.
3. Take the data from this to develop your on-site SEO efforts.
4. Set aside budget for off-site SEO/
5. Begin a major PPC campaign to attract your target consumers.
6. Monitor your progress in Google’s SERPs – perhaps subscribe to Moz to have 
detailed results of your search rankings. You can adjust your PPC expenditure based 
on the results, and focus your efforts on SEO areas which need work.
7. Put in place a remarketing campaign which will boost your conversions. 
8. Don’t forget about your mobile opportunities – accommodate your budget towards 
appealing to this vast audience. 

The award winning Soap Media is a digital marketing specialist from the UK. It has been 
delivering quality results since 2005.

Market Stat :ITC FMCG Brand share

From Business Standard