In so many analytics projects we work on, one issue we see destroying a brand’s results more often than anything else is suboptimal messaging or inadequate message combinations. I can cite project after project where the key focus which changed results was tweaking or completely redoing messaging to ensure it was based on the strongest drivers that the brand data could support. This is not surprising.The difficulty in finding the best messaging for strong results is even more challenging in the crowded hyper-intense therapeutic areas where so many brands are claiming superior efficacy and minimal side effects.
We have 2 factors hindering us; firstly, many brands are not intrinsically that different and, on top of that, doctors get bombarded with product messages every day. It was reported by IMS Health that around 34 million messages were delivered by sales reps to doctors per month (around 400 million annually). IMS also reported that in the Overactive Bladder (OAB) Market alone, around 650,000 messages were delivered per month.
Imagine how many Diabetes and Oncology are delivering!
I can think of so many examples immediately off the top of my head in which we identified that messaging was one of the key causes of poor brand performance results, and once the teams had followed the analytics-identified optimal messages, their results improved dramatically. Two extremely common errors we see are either taking an easy differentiator (e.g. mode of action) without checking that it is a strong driver / linking it sufficiently to a strong driver, or just using class effects as the messages.
Case Studies
In the case of taking a unique mode of action, if this is not a strong driver, then it has to be tied to the strong driver. One company that historically did this well is Pfizer (Pharmacia at that time); they found a way to link whatever their clinical data showed them to be best at with the strong efficacy driver. I remember being involved in planning the messaging for Detrol, whose key data was around stopping the bladder from being overactive. There was no such thing as an overactive bladder (OAB) as a condition in those days, and being great at controlling that aspect of bladder issues was not seen as a key efficacy factor in incontinence at that time. In that period you would not find the term ‘Overactive Bladder’ in a medical textbook no matter how hard you looked.
One of the key strategic imperatives that Pharmacia identified was to link their great data on this aspect to efficacy in incontinence, and establish Detrol as the therapy of choice for OAB. It worked! Detrol was a huge success and OAB (a term created in Pharmacia marketing meetings) is now well established and even appears in medical textbooks. I can think of other Pfizer drugs where this was also achieved successfully.
In the case of using class effects, we see this miscalculation frequently. I remember a specific brand which we worked on where I noted that if we took their brand name off the advertising, their messages could be applied to every competitor. The advertising agency was in the room and they said, “No problem – we will make the logo bigger!” They did not get it. It took some explaining before understanding of the issue was reached and the messaging could be sensibly planned again – with great results, I might add. I have seen both of these ways used too many times to mention and, when changed, the results have been immediate and positive.
In fact, in our case study ‘How This Diabetes Brand Finally Grew Sales by $249 Million Without Increasing it’s Budget’ there were 2 main challenges with the brand that had to be solved, the first being that the messaging was completely incorrect. After we solved that challenge, and improved (but not solved) the second challenge (around payers), within months – not years – an incremental $249 million was made in profit for the brand. This alone should highlight the critical importance of getting the messaging right. It is always easier to do this pre-launch, but if you have launched and you are hitting a wall, chances are messaging has something to do with it. Most often we find challenges with messaging and, once sorted out, the brakes are lifted and brand growth accelerates.
In this case study ‘Targeted Analytics Leads to 30% Growth in Market Share for Declining Brand’ the messaging needed to be refocused for a brand late stage in the lifecycle. The impact from this one for an old brand almost at patent expiry, by refocusing the messages, was also profound.
When should you consider redoing your messaging analytics?
1. Is your brand growing rapidly? If not, it is likely that part of your problem is your messages.
2. Is your market becoming very crowded? Most often the cause is that the distinction between brands can blur. It is important to ensure that your messaging is crystal clear and focused on the key drivers in the market now.
3. Has your competitor changed their positioning? If a competitor has moved close to your messaging again, the distinction may be blurred and result in a need to revisit your messaging analytics.
4. Is your brand declining? If so, it is failing to meet the needs of the customers in their eyes. This can be caused by time and competitors. Now is the time to revisit your messaging analytics to see how to improve your messaging before it is too late.
5. Alarming event? Maybe your brand has been tampered with and some fatalities have been caused, which doesn’t necessarily have to be something to do with you. In the cases of these types of events, it is important to revisit your messaging analytics to see what the key drivers have moved to in light of the event. I remember 2 separate events (both in cardiovascular therapy areas) which dramatically changed the drivers in their respective therapy areas overnight.
6. Are you experiencing flat brand sales? This is often the time to see what you can do to reignite interest in your brand. As brands go through the different stages of their lifecycle, different things can be important to emphasize, and messaging analytics will assist you in identifying the critical messages needed for your brand in whatever stage of its lifecycle.
