DigiSights 2013 explores potential of digital & social media in pharma marketing

DigiSights 2013, positioned as India’s first pharmaceutical and healthcare digital marketing conference was recently held in Mumbai. Organised by MediaMedic Communications in association with its GLOBALHealthPR partners, STweM and Webicina, the conference attracted participation from the pharma marketers and digital teams. Express Pharma was the exclusive media partner for the conference.

In the keynote speech, Narayan Gad, Director, PharmaTechManagement, NMIMS shared how the pharma ecosystem evolved from the traditional telephone to smartphone. He divided the evolution into pharma 1.0 (1960-80), 2.0 (1980-2000) and 3.0 (2000 ahead). “Digital tools have crept into the ecosystem and doctors are now being controlled more by apps and technology,” he said. He stressed upon social being the way forward and shared that “Pharma companies should not just focus on sales but on engagement.”

The healthcare practitioners practitioners (HCP)- industry panel had an experienced set of panelists. The session moderated by Amlesh Ranjan, Associate Director, Sanofi started by asking Dr Aniruddha Malpani, Medical Director @HELP on what change he observes in the industry. Malpani stressed that doctors should educate patients and the problem is trust deficit. “Patients don’t trust doctors and having a website will be the best thing but doctors don’t have time; this is where the pharma industry comes into picture”.

Dr Sushil Sabnis, senior orthopaedic surgeon said many patients are unable to access the internet. Moreover, the information may be unreliable. Finally one-to-one interaction with a doctor is critical. Doctors would like to get relevant information at their own time rather than meet inefficient medical representatives.

Dr Ajit Dangi, President and Chief Executive Officer, Danssen Consulting, shared that he is quite excited by the medium and its quick reach. However, pharma is a regulated industry so content placed on social media should have set guidelines otherwise things could go wrong. He even urged the MediaMedic Team to work with OPPI and related associations to help set clear social media guidelines which can go a long way.

Ashish Babtiwale, Director, Virchow Labs, was quite vocal about the speed of the digital world, how it helps reach HCPs faster. His perception is that digital kills the distance and the newer smartphones, apps are the game changers of the industry.

Andrew Spong, Managing Director, STweM, and an authority on social health worldwide, shared his belief that patients have the right of participation in today’s world. Smartphone penetration in India is the boon and industry should take advantage and weave their strategies around that.

Dr Bertalan Mesko, Managing Director, Webicina through a video, talked on how social media is changing the way for HCP’s, discussed about his recent book Social Media for Doctors which helps HCPs to adapt newer medias, kill their inhibition and set them on a platform of learning.

After the panel discussion, Dinesh Chindarkar, Co-founder and Director, MediaMedic, started with examples on how digital and social is changing the country. Emphasising that consumers are moving towards managing their own health, he said that the movement of ‘Quantified-self’ has began. He further added that there is a shift in healthcare from doctor driven era to patient driven one; and hence the need to connect with consumers. He said, “It is not only about illness but about emotional connects; hence pharma should not just think about selling drugs but partnering for healthy outcomes.”

Spong shared his thoughts on the ‘Future of Digital Pharma Marketing’ about how about the consumers’ hunger for health information can be satisfied with digital channels’ untapped capability. He said, “The world is shifting from dictated medicine to participative medicine, in other words, informed content to informed choice.” According to him the future of digital pharma marketing will be in building trust, maintaining an approachable outlook, informing and conversing with its customers and helping HCPs serve their patients needs. He emphasised the need for pharma marketers in the digital age to adopt a customer-service mindset, good-will creation and have the first-mover’s advantage to take this space. Having worked with many pharma and patient groups, he said that the biggest hindrance to adoption of digital by pharma is not regulations or ROI, but it’s own mindset.

Priti Mohile, Managing Director, MediaMedic Communications in her session on Social Media from Insighting to Category Building, focused on the role of integrated solutions covering branding, category building, digital and public relations. She gave insights on what can be learnt from consumer discussions on social media and offered a practical way forward. She emphasised, “Pharma should have an integrated approach that should emerge from the broader strategy of the category and brand rather than just opening up a Facebook page for the sake of it. Understanding the regulations within which we operate and responsible communication, can yield unmatched benefits to the industry.” She discussed how e-detailing on tablets should not just be digitised VAs, but interactive.

Kai Gait, Global Digital Director ,GSK shared his views via video on the changing pace of the world and how social media is transforming communication and changing patient’s behaviour with easy access to information. Selected digital case studies within pharma and healthcare were presented from GlobalHealthPR partners from the US, the UK, Argentina, Australia, and Portugal ranging from Gamification, mHealth, social media, integrated campaigns, content marketing etc.

The pharma marketers session rolled out with Salil Kallianpur, Commercial Head, GSK speaking on how digital can fill gaps in the health industry and its opportunities in India. He stressed on how to manage the huge data; and the need for industry to look into it as doctors don’t have time. He emphasised that the challenges in the industry such as ROI etc needs to be looked more broadly and strategically. Dr Salil Shinde from Pfizer focused on ‘Building Digital Communication’ and said that people come and engage with companies, but the industry will have to be honest and ready to solve problems. Going further he focused on how social channels and apps should be built.

Prateek Gupte, Application Specialist with MediaMedic explained how gamification and mHealth can be integrated for greater interest and fun. He said, “Gamification is not a marketing ploy but, an approach.” Milind Mangle, an independent consultant talked about elearning initiatives within Digital.

Mahesh Murthy, Founder, Pinstorm spoke on how the marketing world has changed. The shift has happened due to word of mouth and digital was powering it. He added, “Today it is about consumers first and then the product. Perception of doctors is changing, and they are being evaluated by consumers today. So it is imperative for doctors to adopt this medium and listen while marketing forces of pharma companies can improve sales force by going digital.”

The interaction at DigiSights clearly indicated the need of clarity in this changing environ. DigiSights 2013 for the first time, provided a platform where the industry got together to explore the various possibilities that this newer media throws to the marketer. The companies that attended included Sanofi, GSK, Pfizer, Abbott, MSD, Sun, Merck, Alkem, UCB, Glenmark, Themis etc amongst others. Reflecting the changing India, the live tweets with the hashtag #DigiSights13 took this digital conference outside the room boundaries and had over 700+ tweets which made over 1.50 million impressions with active participation outside the room too.

EP News Bureau – Mumbai