GenMed GI Marketing
Takeda Pharmaceuticals America, Inc.
Chad Ballentine, Associate Director
Tracey Brill, Senior Product Manager
Tim Downing, Product Manager
Debbie Hulteen, Senior Administrative Assistant
Julia Letuchy, Senior Product Manager
Megan Morrison, Senior Product Manager
Bernard Vezeau, Senior Product Manager
Jason Wegener, Product Manager
Reinvigorating Mature Brands
How do you keep established brands young and fresh? Last December, Takeda pulled two different brand teams together to answer that very question. Even though Amitiza, a treatment for various types of constipation in adults, and Dexilant, a gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) treatment, are for different disorders, the two brands faced similar challenges—both are in the mature part of their lifecycle. The unique union of these teams—with a combined century of experience in market research, sales, and marketing—proved to be a boon for both brands.
For Amitiza, the team put their focus on digital campaigns, point of care programs, and innovative targeting approaches. They executed a CRM program to help patients with adherence, used display advertising and SEM to attract people to the website, and employed geo-targeting so patients would see the ads when they were at the doctor’s office. Additionally, the team introduced a $0 co-pay Savings Card, acting as a beyond-the-pill differentiator in an increasingly crowded market. In the end, their strategy paid off: Amitiza growth outpaced the market and maintained market share, outperforming the branded leader in NBRx growth over the second half of 2015.
Meanwhile, Dexilant is the last brand standing within the proton pump inhibitor market so the team needed to find a way to zero in on the right target audience. They overhauled the targeting strategy using Crossix data to determine the characteristics of a “Dexilant patient.” Those characteristics—as well as other opportunity-based variables—were combined with HCP data to identify where messages would most resonate. The team also moved away from traditional deciling to encourage the field sales team to look differently at long-time customers. The strategy has helped the brand to stay relevant in a market crowded with OTC competitors.
The GenMed GI Marketing Team is building youthful-momentum for two mature brands, and they plan to continue to find new ways to reach the right patients, with the right message, at the right time.
