What We Do

Market Assessments

Objective evaluation of the primary and secondary data, research and published literature that supports or challenges a specific marketing opportunity for your brand

Read below to find out more about how we think about assessing new marketing opportunities.

Four Pitfalls to Sub-Optimal Launch in Specialty and/or Orphan Disease States

by Dan Reinhardt

We recently had the opportunity to perform a disciplined evaluation of specialty care products that never reached their intended market potential (as assessed by publicly available manufacturer sales expectations). Think Provenge by Dendreon or Benlysta by HGS/GSK as examples—although neither of these products were included in our analysis.

During our analysis, four key pitfalls were identified:

1. Marketing the drug, not the disease – abandoning the market conditioning strategy after approval and ignoring educational prescripts that are essential for internalizing your brand positioning
2. Underestimating the role of the patient – confusing low incidence with low influence and therefore, assuming the underlying MD-patient relationship is doctor-dictated
3. Over-Reliance on KOL Input – Presuming ‘ivory tower’ KOL opinions are representative of community-based treaters and building your communication platform and tactical investment framework around KOL input alone
4. Minimizing treatment support system needs – immature reimbursement advocacy services that, at best, put the burden on the physician and, at worse, put the burden on the patient and their extended care network

Part of running an evidence-based marketing company is applying third-party, retrospective evidence to assist new Clients with prospective needs. Let us help you apply some of these hard-learned lessons so you don’t have to become part of our next case study.

Contact us to learn more about any of our services.

Positioning Development & Pull-Through

Disciplined process designed to assist brands in gaining focus, clarity, and differentiation in their positioning by validating the optimal positioning focus and associated core messages

Read below to find out more about how we think about creating the optimal positioning for your brand.

Are Your Customers Telling You They Want ‘A Faster Horse’?

by Dan Reinhardt

The amazing thing about our industry is that every year we deliver new exciting products that have different mechanisms of action, biomarkers, tests, and endpoints that demonstrate the value our R&D provides. Unfortunately, most of the market research methodologies supporting the launch of these new products haven’t kept up with the spirit of innovation that our products are delivering.

Henry Ford is attributed with saying, “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have said ‘faster horses.’”

This encapsulates a lot of the market research I see being done recently, especially with truly innovative products. Phrases like ‘game changing’ and ‘paradigm shifting’ get thrown around, yet most market research methodologies continue to rely on doctors and/or patients telling the pharmaceutical or biotechnology company how to sell the product or craft the story. A host of messages (sometimes dozens) are put in front of the respondent and they are asked to construct a story for the brand.

The result is ‘a faster horse’ platform and pharmaceutical companies wonder why these messages aren’t ‘game changing’ or ‘paradigm shifting’ once executed in the marketplace. If your new brand is truly innovative, it’s counterintuitive to rely on your target audience to take you to a place that they themselves have never been.

You’re the marketer! Don’t punt the responsibility for crafting the optimal story for your brand to your market researcher and certainly not to your target audience.

Contact us to learn more about any of our services.