The seminar will help companies especially Product Management Teams and Sales Teams to understand their changing roles due to UCPMP. It will also bring clarity on strategies and promotional inputs including CME's, sampling, gifts etc.
Pharma companies that used large field forces for multiple divisions, selling the same me-too products to create a resounding Share-of-the-Voice in the market are beginning to Stare-at-the-Diminishing-Returns for investments on traditional sales and marketing strategies, if they can be called strategies at all in the first place.
Most pharma companies and professionals like Black & Yellow cabs, continue to hope against hope, that somehow they will be able to continue to hold on to their businesses and jobs till their shares are sold and EMIs are paid. After that, who cares?
The answer to pharma and healthcare’s challenges will need a combination of profound domain knowledge and experience combined with digital skills to engage Rx customers meaningfully.
We will need to find a way to bring together the capabilities of the Medical Rep, the changed scenario of the visit and the ways we can reach doctors into one single strategy rather than looking at the physical and the digital parts separately. Our medical reps will continue to be the core of our promotion, and our digital strategy will need to empower them to not only do a better call but also support their efforts by building processes that will help them beyond the few minutes that they spend in the Clinic. Marketing budgets will have to move away from conventional investments and also think beyond hardware to increase digital engagement.
COVID-19 has accelerated the shift in how pharma was engaging with HCPs, professional organisations and even patients in India from a sales to more of a scientific, unbiased and balanced marketing communications. As one of the business leader from a prominent MNC said, “For the first time we are seeing a certain shift in HCP’s preference for scientific communication for innovators companies. MSLs and scientific operation teams will be playing a key role in the near future.”
DigiStorm 2018 was held on 11 September at the Lalit Ashok in Bangalore. The event was headlined by Prabir Jha – President & Global Chief People Officer, Cipla. Deep Bhandari – Editorial Board Member, MedicinMan, gives us the highlights of the post-lunch session.