‘Successful marketing is impossible without relevant branding’

What are the benefits that branding would bring to the Indian pharma industry?

Alpana Parida

For OTC drugs, the answer is but obvious. When a product delivers the same benefit as five others, branding offers the distinction in terms of trust, reassurance and efficacy credentials which consumers seek.

In the case of prescription drugs, in a scenario where the windows of blockbuster drugs being copied are reducing and price is becoming an important criterion for gaining short-term numbers, branding is critical for the short and the long-term salience and credibility with doctors and patients.

Tell us about the general approach of Indian pharma companies towards branding?

Internationally, the pharma sector has used quite evocative and evolved communication for its brands. Some majors in India are seeing the merit of relevant and engaging communication and willing to pay for better services and give enough time for better work. These are of course the leaders in the category. It is high time the rest follow the suit for their own growth.

What is the use of spending on branding when generic companies will introduce lower priced products  post patent expiries? Do many innnovator companies cut spending on brands once generic companies get into the business?

True, the windows of patents are reducing dramatically. That is exactly the opportunity to use branding effectively. In order to ensure that even when the patent becomes generic, the brand still is the first port of call in the given context. If the incumbent brand is communicating relevantly it will continue to hold onto and increase its consumer franchise. Just because consumers have choice it doesn’t mean that they will exercise it.

Can you give some case studies of successful launches, not-so-successful brands and what are the learnings?

I-pill in the OTC case is an amazing story of a brand which created a category and continues to lead it. In a category where secrecy was the dominant code, they went out and talked about unwanted pregnancies with the fervour of an evangelist. We can argue about the merits and demerits of the communication and whether fear was the necessary pivot to anchor the brand on, but it cannot take away from its dominant market share.

In the prescription space, to our knowledge, there is still that kind of noise to be made, though majors like GSK and even Ranbaxy are pushing the boundaries of conventional prescription branding on most of their patented brands.

In the context of the pharma industry, would marketing or branding give more long-term results?

Branding is a critical aspect of the marketing. Without a relevant and consistent expression of its promise it would be  difficult to market anything Just stating the trial statistics in a published journal can be credible but it will be difficult to remember Moreover, will it stand out in the face of between seven to 20 medical representative visits every week?

As the Indian pharma market has many me-too brands, pharma companies are forced to spend a lot on these two activities. What is the best mix to get optimum results?

As mentioned above, successful marketing is impossible without relevant branding. Whether the brands use a branding agency or not, whether they are vetted through processes or not, there is branding of some sort at a work. It could have come from the instinct of the marketing or sales head or entrepreneur CEO, but if it is successful, it is branded for sure.

Do you think government policy is one of the factors that make branding activities difficult for Indian pharma companies?

The challenges for branding are more internal than external. Company management and marketing depsartments need to agree on the need for branding and the benefits it will offer to them as a company and to them as professionals The value of someone who has built a brand as opposed to sold a product is significantly higher even in the job market!

As far as the pharma industry is concerned does Indian population really believe in brands?

Some of the best cases for branding are actually in the world of religion. Whether it is the Shivling (amazing visual branding) or the Ramayana (a narrative that has remained powerful for centuries), Indians have been consumers of branding forever. So why is it that when we see branding in the context of consumer goods we wonder if Indians get branding?

World over, across time and societies as the movement has happened to higher intention to consume and higher purchasing power, branding has seen growth. With the opening of the economy and global brands being available on every street corner, the Indian market is burgeoning with immense possibility.

When consumers interact with pharma, they do so in this larger context and thus the brands which remain relevant are the ones who are incisive and consistent in their promise and imagery, the ones which are better branded!

Who are your pharma clients in India and overseas?

At DY Works we cut our OTC branding teeth on Dr Morepen wherein we made products like antacids and isabgol more acceptable than they were ever before and continue to hone our skills with partners like Pfizer on My Pal, a contraceptive pill which took the diametrically opposing stand to the dark and foreboding world of i-pill and Unwanted 72 and Gelusil.

Our recent prescription drug branding projects have been with a German drug major in their launch of one of their blockbuster drugs into the India market and with Mercury Pharma, in their launch of Bufyl, an IV infusion drug in the UK market.

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