Budget Changes
Even though overall budgets are up, 42% of respondents report that their budget has decreased from a year ago. Only three in 10 brand managers saw a budget increase, while 29% experienced no change. The average cut to the decreased budgets was 22%, while the brand managers who got more marketing money saw an average increase of 26%.
When it came down to where to cut back, DTC was the most popular option, followed equally by personal and non- personal promotion (Figure 14). CMEs (7%), Phase IV studies (6%), and patient education (4%) also had to face the chopping block, but far less often. We also had three respondents who said that they chose to cut spending across the board rather than sacrifice any one particular area.
While it may seem a little odd how DTC can be such a popular place to cut and yet still experience an overall 5% increase in spending, it may be because it was also one of the first places marketers chose to invest their extra money. However, most of the extra money from increased budgets went to NPP (Figure 15), just apparently not enough to keep it from dropping 7% overall. DTC came in second, followed by patient education, personal promotion, CME, and Phase IV studies. Two brand managers chose to increase a little in each area, while others invested in brand management, peer-to- peer promotional education, and disease or medical education.
Despite all of the budget ups and downs, 38% of respondents say that their brand’s market share is up modestly, while another 15% report that it is up considerably. Only 16% saw their brand’s market share decrease, while 31% remained at status quo.
