ELITE Strategist Danny Villeneuve of Shire

Danny Villeneuve

Payer Marketing Lead

Shire

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The Global Expert

If a brand from Shire succeeded globally in the last decade, it is a fair bet Danny Villeneuve had at least something to do with it. Danny was responsible for the design and implementation of the Shire ADHD Ex-US entry commercial strategy, which consists of three key elements:

1) Strategic in-market acquisition to create an immediate presence to build upon.
2) Identification of core competencies and ensuring global alignment.
3) Building a universal commercial platform with local nuance.

Shire’s global marketing capabilities and expertise has increased significantly based on his work and as a result, the annual marketing planning process is now standardized and in place globally. The goal, according to Danny, is to get the first two elements in place and then to design the market entry strategy for each country either by using local operations, by establishing new offices, or by partnering with local companies that already have knowledge and expertise of the area. Only then can you move onto the third element: Working to ensure uniformity in your global positioning and messaging across all countries while creating localized tactics to address different commercial practices and regulatory requirements.

And the strategy absolutely works. When Danny led the entire launch for the ADHD Business Unit in Canada, it was the most successful launch of a pharmaceutical product in the country in 2010. In fact, 24 new pharmaceutical products were launched in Canada that year, and 51% of the sales accounted for Danny’s product. But now, Danny is tackling a new challenge by shifting to the payer side of the business.

“Payers obviously play a major role in our industry, and I want to make sure I can become an expert in building strategies that will keep my brand/company in a leading position,” Danny says. “My goal is to take my global product portfolio and launch expertise and bring it to the payer side of the business—ultimately providing value to our payer partners and continuing to be an asset to my company and the industry.”

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