PM360 Digital Compendium March 2011

THINK TANK

Experts Discuss How The Digital World Is Reshaping Healthcare

What trends and innovations in eMarketing are reshaping the industry? How do you engage patients and HCPs in this digital world? And just what does the increasing collaboration between patients and physicians mean for pharma? PM360 asked industry experts from across the spectrum how digital is changing healthcare.

Jay Goldman
VP Strategy
Klick Pharma
jgoldman@klickpharma.com

We expect the meteoric growth of the tablet market to accelerate this year, with Apple’s iPad continuing to own the lion’s share until at least 2012 (the iPad 2 was scheduled to launch March 2). Forrester expects sales of nearly 25 million tablets in 2011, with 82 million American consumers—one third of the total online audience—having a personal tablet by 2015.1 This massive consumer opportunity is balanced by an equally massive professional one. Our clients have adopted a spectrum of strategies, from tentative inquiries all the way to replacing laptops for their field forces, empowering them to do everything from facilitating sales calls to day-to-day operations to eLearning. These sales enablement tools offer the promise of:

• Closed Loop Marketing (CLM): Close the marketing loop by providing (often real-time) feedback to marketers about which messages and approaches are most effective. iPads offer the potential of rich, interactive multi-media to enhance selling discussions, with built-in feedback mechanisms tied to custom marketing interfaces or back-end CRM systems.
• High adoption: Field reps often reject new technologies because they are cumbersome and interrupt the sales process. The iPad represents a significant departure based on its immediate wake from sleep, omnipresent Internet connection, long battery life, light weight, and high-definition screen.
• Speed to market: The ability to push updated content to reps on an ad hoc basis can improve your ability to respond to market changes.
• Compliance and Cost: Adopting an electronically rep promo material policy can help to ensure reps stay on message and reduce expenditures on print materials.

We are proud to be at the forefront of this movement, developing iPad sales and marketing strategies and building customized iPad apps for deployment within enterprises.
REFERENCES
1. Forrester Research: US Tablet Sales Will More Than Double This Year. http://bit.ly/klick-tablets

Craig A. DeLarge, MBA-DM
Director, HCP Relationship Marketing
Novo Nordisk
cadelarge@yahoo.com

What engages customers is what engages us all. They want to feel they have been listened to and then catered to. I do not like the disintegrative distinction between online communications and otherwise. Yes, online gives us additional flexibility and measurability but the core principles of good communications remain the same: 1) listening (research and metrics), 2) relevant speaking (right message and channel mix) and 3) continuous adaptation to the customer’s evolving needs and desires (more research and metrics and relevant educational and service offerings).

Seamless Execution
A most critical step to engagement is implementation of the principles aforementioned in a relevant and integrated fashion within customer segments across brands and organizational silos to create a superior customer experience. This is hard but it is the execution of the “hard” that creates competitive advantage. Hail the organization that can pull this off!

The Physician-Patient Dialogue
The increasing online collaboration between patients and physicians can mean two things for pharma. At worst, we are going to get locked out of this interaction for the most part by the context of this relationship and these customers’ faster propensity to innovate in their own interest. At best, it’s an opportunity to understand unique customer segment and disease category needs that will best facilitate better outcomes. In this understanding, and the ability to meet these unique needs is competitive advantage.

According to the latest research more than 80% of consumers are going online for health information. Make no mistake about it consumers are evolving thanks to the power of the Internet. So why is pharma late to this trend and can they ever catch up?

Richard Meyer
Executive Director
Online Strategic Solutions
richardameyer@me.com

Social Media
Facebook recently announced a major change to branded Facebook pages: the ability to add a variety of features using an IFrame, thus making the pages more interactive via new tools. With over 500 million users worldwide pharma marketers cannot continue to ignore the power of social media.

The old model of pushing information to mass markets is no longer relevant because of the micro-segmentation of consumers. Today consumers are likely to have more in common with someone who lives across the country than their next-door neighbors and social media allows these consumers to share their views and opinions.

Evolution of DTC
DTC marketers need to stop “selling” and start thinking about adding value to a world of too much information. We need to ask things like “How can we provide value to patients?” and “What are the key decision points and channels where we can have an impact?”

They need to find a way to connect emotionally with patients who are asking “What’s in it for me?” rather than believing people are going to see a commercial and ask their doctor about a product without doing a lot more research online and listening to what others have to say. If DTC marketing doesn’t change it will become more irrelevant to consumers and to the organization.

Cheryl Ann Borne
eMarketing Manager
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Cheryl.Borne@BMS.com

Mobile: It’s more than a buzzword; it’s a game changer. By 2013, Gartner Research says mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common web access device worldwide. And Ericsson reports that by 2015, 80% of users will access the Internet via mobile device.

Whereas the 2000s saw the introduction of digital life-style devices, the 2010s will probably be known as the era of digital medical devices. For instance, the iPad 2 is expected to support Facetime, which could enable physician specialists around the world to collaborate with your medical team in the treatment room. While insurers such as Aetna, Cigna, Humana, Wellpoint, and BCBS are already beginning to reimburse for virtual house calls.

So when we reinvent how medicine is practiced, we must—must—reinvent how we, as marketers, engage with physicians— and with consumers!

Today there are many mhealth apps; the challenge is developing those that truly engage the customer. My pick for the most innovative app filling an unmet medical need is the new HIV iChart.

This drug-interaction checker was created by the HIV Pharmacology Group at the University of Liverpool through support from the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), and Janssen Pharmaceutica. This is a prime example of how pharma can partner with trust agents to develop worthy tools oriented around challenges in the patient’s treatment journey. By engaging and not selling, the app will help MSD and Janssen continue to build trust in the AIDS community and develop their leadership positions in the fight against HIV.

Zoe Dunn
Owner
Zoe Digital Consulting
zdunn@zoedigitalconsulting.com

The 10th anniversary of the ePharma Summit was recently held in New York City. It was clear from the presentations how much has changed over the last 10 years in the industry. Now digital is positioned to become a key part of the Pharmaceutical Marketing and Communications mix for patients and healthcare professionals.

Stop Waiting
Statistics show that online is the first place most consumers turn to investigate, confirm, and support product and condition information. This also clarifies that we can’t afford to wait for guidance from DDMAC on uses of social media and digital because consumers are actively seeking health information online. Social media has paved the way for input from not just your “Aunt Sue,” but legions of nameless, faceless armchair experts across the world. Now, more than ever, consumers need help finding the best information.

Don’t Look Back
Pharma has an opportunity to provide value to healthcare professionals as well. As physicians manage the volume of patient visits with limited time and mind space, the priority has been accessing the most valuable information efficiently. However, the pharmaceutical industry has tried HCP Portals, eDetailing, and HCP RM programs with limited success. Pharma continues to concentrate efforts on traditional rep visits and dinner meetings as “best practice” despite a marginal return on investment. Perhaps platforms such as eSampling and mobile provide the key to access in the future. And helping doctors help their patients by leveraging a digital channel for communications creates a strong ROI for the industry and the future of healthcare.

Wendy Blackburn
Executive Vice President
Intouch Solutions
wendy.blackburn@intouchsol.com

The companies that will be successful are the ones innovating along with—or ahead of—the trends shaping the healthcare landscape today.

Innovating means turning old problems inside out to discover new approaches. Innovating means being bold, being brave, and rejecting fear of failure. Success will take the realization that communication is two-way, and it can’t be all about the company’s own needs anymore. The industry’s conversation with customers can no longer be the self-serving marketing-speak that centers on brand messaging. In order for companies to engage customers in meaningful ways online, they must provide (a) opportunities for two-way conversations and/or (b) provide value.

Make Connections With Customers Customers—not companies—control when and how they are communicated to. Thanks to the Internet, the exchange of knowledge is democratized, widespread, and rapid. The expectation exists that even advertising communications must be valuable, relevant, authentic, and immediate. It’s about connecting, not broadcasting. The mobile and social channels are good examples of this, and are already transforming the way people interact with brands.

Companies can still connect with customers. They can (and should) still be a part of the intersection between physicians and patients. How? By providing true value to both audiences, on their terms.

We advise our clients to carefully think about what they really need and want. Then, take the time to find out what their customers need and want. Then leverage the digital arena—where their customers are already seeking answers 24/7—to connect and build relationships in more meaningful ways.

Brian Shields
Senior eMarketing Manager
Genentech
Twitter@MrPug94

Through the promise of Moore’s Law, the costs for utilizing new technologies are minimal. Small business owners can launch successful social media campaigns with free Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube accounts in hours. Non-Profits utilizing FrontlineSMS can create digital healthcare communications hubs in Third World countries on shoestring budgets. Equipped with only cell phones and laptops, students at the University of Georgia are tackling our toughest issues like HIV Awareness and Obesity.

The Future is Bright
I had the pleasure of meeting both Josh Nesbit of FrontlineSMS and Professor Scott Shamp of the University of Georgia at the Stanford Mobile Health 2010 conference.

Their ingenuity, focus, and passion were inspiring. Josh, Scott, and the other speakers from startups, non-profits, and government agencies were identifying very difficult problems in healthcare, and utilizing low cost technologies to address these problems. Tough problems were tackled, and blueprints of success were constructed before our eyes. The Message of the day was hope.

Marketing in the Digital World For ePharma, the question shouldn’t be, “How do we apply new technologies pending FDA guidance?” The question should be “Why do we communicate in this new world?” Healthcare has many problems: medication adherence, healthcare literacy, access to care, and financial burden to name a few. For ePharma to make a difference, it is a matter of focus and intent. The blueprints are there for us to follow. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Change doesn’t roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.”

Rob Likoff
Co-CEO
Group DCA (A PDI company)
rob.likoff@groupdca.com

The unprecedented movement of human interactions to the Internet over the past decade has paved the way for the pharmaceutical industry to better serve healthcare providers and the general public. With 24-hour access to information, physicians and consumers can learn whatever they want whenever it is convenient for them. And now, with mobile technologies and their apps being embraced even more rapidly, the onus is on us to use these technologies to reach our audience effectively.

How to Successfully Embrace Digital The key to successful digital communication, be it via web pages, mobile apps, or interactive email details, is to deliver meaningful content in a way that engages the audience. This involves understanding what drives preferences and tailoring our communication channels accordingly. The information must also be served up in a way to facilitate adult learning – building on what they already know, providing information that can be digested in small doses, using visual imagery to heighten recall and the overall learning experience. Only then can we create satisfaction in the experience and improve brand awareness. Technology gives us the tools to understand our customers by building databases based on usage and then customizing outreach to suit customers down to the individual level, but getting caught up in the technology itself can be dangerous. Sure it’s exciting, but done right, unbelievably powerful.

Hugh Jedwill
CEO
Mobile Anthem
hugh.jedwill@mobileanthem.com

The mobile marketing industry has exploded this year with over 284 million phones in the U.S. With smartphones estimated to reach 50% of all mobile phones by the end of 2011, drug-makers led by Merck & Co. and Novartis AG boosted investments in mobile by 78%, an Ernst & Young report found. With these trends plus the focus on controlling costs and the government’s digital push, the mobile opportunity is enormous.

The success of your mobile solution is still based on Marketing 101:

1. Identify your customer. Is it anyone concerned about healthcare (WebMD), cancer overall (ACS) or breast cancer specifically? Is it doctors, HCP, patients?
2. Reach your customer. Once you’ve created something useful, you must let your customer know or they will never find it. Target your marketing to reach them.
3. Make it easy to connect: Mobile is the easiest way to connect to your customer. Use SMS/Text to subscribe them to your mobile list. Leave a QR code so they can snap a picture to get more information on your mobile website.
4. Digital Bedside Manner. It’s easy to forget who’s on the other side of the digital device, so add a personal touch. Include a tap-to-call feature and provide a specific voice for your message so it feels like they’re talking to somebody—not an amorphous corporation.
5. Engage your customer. The success of any modern-day marketing campaign is based on engagement. Mobile keeps the discussion going and let’s you reach your customer every day.

Jim Davidson
Chair, Public Policy Group
Polsinelli Shughart
jdavidson@polsinelli.com

While the FDA continues to kick social media ad guidelines down the road, even suggesting social media is a passing fad, online viewers are deprived of a source of information that could open pathways to new sources of treatment. Even though the Internet provides consumers with almost limitless resources to learn more about the benefits and risks of medicines, the agency seems reluctant to test its powers. Perhaps its greatest value is its ability to advance important goals of the FDA – to promote public health and to increase public awareness of the benefits and risks of prescription medicines.

A Guide for Guidelines
The latest estimate from FDA was that guidelines could be released in the first quarter of 2011. Perhaps the agency could benefit from rereading the admonition it received from the U.S. Supreme Court when it attempted to ban advertising of compounded drugs. Justice O’Connor, writing for the majority in the Western States Medical Center case, said: “Even if the Government had argued . . . that the . . . speech-related restrictions were motivated by a fear that advertising . . . would put people who do not need such drugs at risk by causing them to convince their doctors to prescribe the drugs anyway, that fear would fail to justify the restrictions. This concern rests on the questionable assumption that doctors would prescribe unnecessary medications and amounts to a fear that people would make bad decisions if given truthful information, a notion that the Court rejected as a justification for an advertising ban . . .”

Mary Ann Belliveau
Industry Director, Health
Google

All of the sudden, everyone seems glued to their mobile device. This shift has occurred at an unprecedented clip: remember, as recently as January 2007 there was no iPhone, no Android devices, no app marketplaces. Now, just over four years later, we’re living in a mobile era.

Healthcare Needs to Optimize
Despite mobile’s popularity with consumers, most businesses haven’t adapted their online strategies to fit this platform. Mobile marketing aside, this is an issue of business’ engagement —or lack thereof—with mobile. Case and point, we recently evaluated the ‘mobile-readiness’ of some of our largest advertisers and found that 79% do not have websites optimized for a mobile device. Imagine if nearly 4 of 5 websites accessed via your desktop computer required endless zooming-in, painstaking typing, or just didn’t work! Specifically, of the twelve verticals that we examined, healthcare-related websites consistently underperformed, and were at or near the bottom in terms of ‘mobile readiness.’

So what? In healthcare, response-time saves lives, and one of the most exciting aspects of mobile in this industry is that mobile devices will connect a patient with the information they need, faster. We’ve already seen examples of mobile apps saving lives, and there are certainly more of these stories to come. But, businesses need to recognize that mobile is unique—not simply a miniature version of the desktop—and adapt their mobile experiences to fit the mobile device, and the mobile user. Optimizing your website for mobile is a great first step.

EDITORS’ NOTE: The opinions expressed by the authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of their affiliated companies or organizations.