It’s nice to be nice

Nice is a very wonderful thing to be. Some people are just nice by nature and some are probably not. If you are more on the nicer side, then the challenge is to remain nice most of the time, if not all the time.

Let me narrate a story. Once, a Priest was crossing a river in a boat. He saw a Scorpion struggling to survive in the water, so he thought he should help. So, to save Scorpion’s life, the Priest tried to catch the Scorpion to prevent it from drowning. As we know, it’s Scorpion’s nature to bite. So whenever the Priest tried to catch it, the Scorpion would bite the priest. It happened a coupled of times and in that process, the priest got hurt too. The boatman was watching this incidence. He asked the priest, “Why are you trying to be so nice to someone who is hurting you?” The Priest replied, “It is its nature to bite and it is my nature to help. If the Scorpion can’t change itself even when it’s dying, why should I change myself?”

I know that it’s too idealistic to follow this kind of story in this dog-eat-dog, every-man-for-himself world where you can’t expect everyone to be a saint. Moreover, you don’t always need to get hurt to be nice to someone. But remember, life gives us enough opportunities to be nice without getting hurt. Grab as many as possible. For example, if you are driving a car and see someone trying to cross a road, just stop and allow that person to cross it. As you do so, simply smile at that person. I bet the smile that you get in return will surely make your day. And even if you don’t get that return smile, the satisfaction of being nice to someone will make it for it.

Being nice at work is even more crucial because we spend around 60% of our waking hours in a day at work. It always feels great if we are surrounded by nice people. And if you feel great, you produce great work. Niceness works wonders if you are working in an advertising agency, primarily because it’s a very subjective occupation. It involves creativity which is a personal expression which means that every time a piece of work is evaluated, it is unavoidably personal. Remember, being nice does not mean being a sugar-coated, people-pleaser person. Sometimes you just have to be a little sensitive to someone’s feelings. There are ways to deliver bad news or criticism that don’t make people feel worthless, especially when you are judging other’s work. Find glimmers of positive in the negative. It is easier to tell an accountant his numbers are wrong than to tell a creative person his idea is lame.

Moreover, it’s difficult to be genuinely warm in a cold-hearted ad-world because of the nature of our work. In your agency, you will always find talented people creating better work than you and you are bound to feel jealous. It’s challenging to work with so many talented, creative and even emotional people around you. Just imagine a place where all the great novelists, playwrights and painters work on the same floor. The atmosphere is bound to get competitive and it’s hard to be “nice” under these conditions. You tend to waste energy comparing your work to the work of the person sitting next to you, rather than wasting your energy on creating your next great ad. You can loose friends based on your inability to feel good about their success. Remind yourself that the goal is to do well for yourself, not for others to do badly.

Finally, I think that “nice guys finish last” is a misnomer. Unfortunately a lot of people have started believing that there is so much “not-so-niceness” around us and therefore to survive and to succeed we should also become one of those “not-so-nice” people. In fact, it’s just the opposite. In today’s world, “being nice” will cut through the clutter and “niceness” will stand out that much more. So, be nice and be happy.

Live Before You Write

Advertising people live in a circle of mirrors. Most creative people have an encyclopaedic knowledge of great ads of the past. They go through award annuals, creative magazines, advertising books that worship great work and of course now-a-days creative people spend a lot of time on websites with huge ad database. But it creates its own cage of conformity.

There is no doubt that a great deal can be learned from the greats. Case histories of all types are telling. But it’s sometimes hard going forward while you are staring constantly in the rear view mirror. You don’t find “originality” by looking at what has been done before. Standing on the shoulders of giants is well and good, but it may give you a false perspective and an inflated sense of your own starting point.

Advertising is always better when you try to mix things up. But you have to have some raw material of your own before you can create something “original”.

A true creative person wants to be a know-it-all. He wants to know about all kind of things: Greek mythology, Indian history, Astronomy, Carl Jung’s Theory of Psychoanalysis, Six Sigma tools, Hedge Funds, 4G telecom applications, gardening, sudoku, and so on. He never knows when these ideas might come together to form a new idea. It may happen now or many years down the road. Knowledge is the stuff from which new ideas are made. Nonetheless, knowledge alone won’t make a person creative.

Different ways of seeing things are equally important resource in advertising where we all feel like we have seen everything before. Our personal experiences make us look at thing in a strange way and it shows in our work. A person who has just had their heart broken sees the world differently to someone who never has and will express themselves differently. Just as a person who has been addicted to drugs sees the world differently to someone who has not. They just do. They are changed by their experience. So how do you make sure that you also gather rich experience about life and put it to a good use?

You must stop living in a shell. Look for new experiences. Real ones, preferably. If possible, don’t go straight from school to college to advertising. Explore our country first. Go on a world tour. Study different cultures. Learn a new language. Play a new sport. Everything we experience feeds us. Our friends and environment around us provide us with experiences which affect our personal ways of seeing things. Because our personal experiences are usually truths of some sort it’s hard to fake that. And the best work always seems to be based on some kind of truth.

Tarsem Singh, the well-known film director and the man behind Pepsi TV Commercial - We will rock you, Nakshatra Diamonds TV Commercial with Aishwariya Rai & many more, once said, “You don’t pay me for the film I shoot or the awards I’ve won. You pay me for every book I’ve read. My childhood. Every walk I’ve taken, every movie I’ve seen.”

Remember, you have to live before you write.

Seven Golden Rules of Healthcare Advertising

Call it a sign that the sector has come of age – it’s gotten a makeover and a new name. FMHGs, Fast Moving Health Goods, are here to stay. There is an array of brands (besides OTC medicines) highlighting health benefits that are setting cash registers ringing. Now we have health drinks, health foods, personal health monitoring devices, beauty products & skin clinics, fitness products & gyms, low calorie sweeteners, weight-loss products/services, herbal products, anti-smoking pills, etc; and not to forget public service or awareness campaigns. Marketers simply cannot ignore the health platform to push their brands. The challenge is how to reach out to health conscious consumers who have slowly but steadily started believing that “prevention is better than cure”.

Here are the golden rules for healthcare advertising:

1. Positive Behaviour Change
Campaigns for preventive behaviour are more effective if they emphasize positive behaviour change rather than the negative consequences of current behaviour. Arousing fear is rarely successful as a campaign strategy. For example, anti-smoking campaigns can focus on the benefits of quitting smoking, rather than health hazards due to smoking. There are more chances of men saying no to smoking for the sake of his kids and family, rather than the fear of possible lung cancer.

2. Strike the right cord
Address the existing knowledge and beliefs of target audiences that are impeding adoption of desired behaviours. Myth-buster campaign works well provided it gives interesting information and most importantly, the benefits of using the information in the right way. A successful example is “AIDS chunase nahin phelhta” campaign.

3. What’s in it for them?
Communicate incentives or benefits for adopting desired behaviours that are build on the existing motives, needs, and values of target audiences. Every consumer needs a reason to shift their preference. If the reason to shift is not backed by strong incentive plan the consumer is most likely expected to either stay with his chosen behaviour or shift to some other choice with better incentive structure.

4. The power of NOW!
Focus target audience’s attention on immediate, high-probability consequences of healthy behaviour. The best way to get your target audience’s attention is to lure them into enjoying the benefits of your product, now. At the risk of being a typical sales message let’s take an FMCG example that says, “Buy 1 get 1 free. Offer open only till 31st March”. This makes the potential consumer act now and reap rewards the product has to offer. So if your health message shows the goodness of benefit that the consumer may gain now rather than tell him that he/she may suffer from some illness later, you have a good chance of making your message heard.

5. Simplicity wins
Set fairly modest, attainable goals in terms of behaviour change. If you nag the consumer with too much to do, they will not do anything. Make it easier for them to act. If your communication medium has a feedback form or a helpline, make sure the consumer doesn’t have to spend too much time contacting you. They are the laziest lot you know. A very good example is the help-centric blood checkup pathologies; at a ring of their phones they rush to patients’ house to take blood tests. Now how easier can life get?

6. Media is your best friend
Use multiple media (television, radio, print, and so on). Combine mass media with community, small group, and individual activities, supported by an existing communication structure. Use the news media not only to add credibility, but also as a means of increasing the visibility. Reach each or any media you think is closer to the consumer; go beyond the conventional approach. Because if you shoot through an incorrect target hole of your gun, you will miss the shot.

7. Be there for the consumer
If you throw the bait, keep the bucket beside you to hold the fish. Here your bait is the consumer and bucket is direct service delivery components. E.g. toll-free numbers for information, SMS services, websites, blogs, social networking websites, etc. Coordinate these components so that immediate follow-through can take place if behaviour changes begin to occur. This will give consumer the confidence in the brand she is dealing with.

Remember, customers are like a babies, feed them well and they will smile, feed them more they will run away, feed them less they will never come back. Keep them happy and let the happiness spread over you!

Doctor Relationship Management: Realizing value in Doctor relationships

The road to profitability for pharmaceutical companies has changed. Never before has the industry faced so many challenges at once. Harder-to-find blockbuster brands, pricing pressures, competition from me-too drugs are all threatening industry profitability. In addition, Doctors have less time to spend with the sales force. These issues require more resources from companies just to maintain status quo. But in a tight, competitive market, companies must work smarter with the same level of resources. As a result, pharmaceutical companies are realizing they can no longer afford to be only product focused. They must now focus on Doctor Relationship Management (DRM).

Influencing the Prescribing network
Pharmaceutical marketing and sales strategy has been dominated for decades by the sales force. Sales force detailing has been the traditional mainstay of pharma companies. However, doctors, bombarded with information from multiple sources, are giving less time to sales reps and it is increasingly difficult to influence prescribing with promotional messages. Detailing time has decreased. And sales reps are trying to compete in increasingly saturated market.

Moreover, prescribing decision-making has become more complex. Prescribers are becoming increasingly influential and are demanding more relevant and personalised health information. Companies are having to interact with new and more complex target groups - the challenge now to create an improved and differentiated doctor experience.

In this light, two strategies are emerging:

Doing more with less – Becoming more productive with the same number of sales reps. Reps should be supported by technology and complemented by new channels. Future channel management strategy faces two significant challenges: how to coordinate tailored messages for different doctor segment across a number of channels and how to build organizational flexibility to sustain quality doctor dialogue and faster response times. However, while new channels provide alternative ways to get the promotional message across, these channels will be most effective as a complement to the sales force supporting rather than replacing it.

Differentiating through doctor experience – Putting more emphasis on sustainable doctor relationship through better, personalized doctor interaction.


Doctor intelligence
From passive data to actionable knowledge
Critical decisions concerning strategy and resource allocation must be based on a detailed and accurate understanding of Doctors and overall market. The quality of those decisions separates the leaders from the followers in today’s marketplace.

In order to achieve true Doctor intelligence, organizations need to understand the data they collect. Pharmaceutical companies face many data challenges:
* An overload of data is collected
* Data is collected without strategy
* Data collected or purchased from other resources is poorly integrated
* Data is not shared by sales reps or throughout the enterprise

The challenge companies face is to clean, prioritize and integrate data as well as to operationalize insights from analysis and segmentation models. Companies need to move beyond traditional static segmentation to understand why prescribing decisions are made.
However, poor data quality has prevented companies from driving action based on doctor data.

Pharma companies need to integrate market and doctor profiles into daily marketing and sales practice. The ability to segment doctors in order to focus sales efforts and tailor doctor interactions is at the very heart of DRM. Segmentation models of the future will be based on attitudes, values and needs and will describe, or even predict, doctor behaviour at a micro-segment level. Pharma companies need to analyze the data in order to know and understand the behaviour of Doctors, such as what and why they prescribe, what are they professional and personal interests.

Whatever the level of a company’s data capability – whether it uses sales/value-based data or bases its segmentation on behavioural or attitudinal data – the key lies in operationalizing data. To achieve this, it must drive doctor data through a three-stage process, from data to information to actionable knowledge. First, companies must collect descriptive data (clean, meaningful, external, and internal). Second, they must use analytics to produce dynamic information (establishing links between data sources and creating segmentation-based insights). Development of data mining tools and capabilities will be increasingly important. Third, companies need to design segment strategies and actions based on predictive knowledge. Ultimately, the key to competitive advantage through analytics lies with building organizational buy-in to the use of data. This will maximize the chance of success.

Doctor intelligence can be used to execute more successful marketing, sales and service strategies. This enables Pharma companies to maximize profitability, improve marketing campaign effectiveness, and optimize multi-channel interactions with Doctors, resulting in higher revenues and a competitive advantage.


Benefits of DRM

It is clear that DRM will become more important than ever. But what exactly does that mean for pharma companies / pharma managers?

Doctor segmentation analysis
It is more than simple query and reporting capabilities, more than knowing that let’s say Dr. Kulkarni is an orthopedic specialist, in Mumbai who has been in practice for 12 years and is associated with Jaslok Hospital. Doctor intelligence stems from integrating a broad range of analytical techniques, descriptive and predictive, across all channels, to reveal that Dr. Kulkarni is sports medicine specialist. He regularly attends a certain medical conference, visited your booth at the last conference, has been contacted by direct mail three times in the last quarter, and responded to the third campaign by requesting a sample kit and package of rebate coupons, of which 10 have been redeemed.

Create more successful marketing campaigns
How can you consistently reach each of your Doctors with a specialized message – and do it better and faster? You can transform multi-channel Doctor data into a single comprehensive Doctor view and create marketing campaigns that are faster, smarter and more profitable than ever before. As a result, you can shorten the marketing cycle times by having a better-planned campaign. You get your message out to Doctors faster than competition. You reduce your marketing costs by having a truly targeted campaign. And you increase your organization’s bottom-line by sharing best practices of each campaign throughout the enterprise.

Choose the right channel to reach each Doctor
You might spend a great deal of resources to create the right message for Doctors, but if your Doctors don’t receive the message, your resources have been wasted. Field sales, the Web, direct mail, commercial advertising – these are so many ways to reach people, how do you select the right one? Doctors are bombarded with information from multiple sources and are giving less time to sales reps, making it increasingly difficult to influence their prescribing with promotional messages. So, how do you get your message through?

DRM helps you do just that – and do more with less. By helping segment your doctors and determine what channel they prefer, DRM enables you to create fast, integrated marketing messages to multiple Doctor segments and increase Doctor satisfaction by tailoring the right channel to your Doctor’s preferences. As a result, you can determining which top Doctors prefer in-person detailing, which ones would rather receive web site information and which once would prefer direct mails based on their need for maximum flexibility.

Improve Doctor relationships & increase profits
By integrating multi-channel Doctor information, you can predict Doctor behaviour across all channels and segments, ultimately targeting the right Doctor at the right time with the right message. DRM helps you understand who your Doctors are and what their needs are, at increasing level of detail. You can allocate your marketing and sales resources according to different Doctor segments. You can tailor messages to specific audiences. For example, sales force can focus on most profitable Doctors, e-channels can be used for specific Doctors and direct mailing can be used for certain Doctors. Knowing this level of detail and tailoring your sales and marketing activities to it helps your organization better manage a greater number of interactions more successfully, quickly and more profitably.

By helping you formulate a focused Doctor strategy, targeting your best prospects, communicating efficiently with those prospects and learning from each Doctor interaction, DRM enables your organization to implement smarter Doctor strategies, maximize Doctor profitability and create a competitive differentiation for your organization.

In a nutshell
Pharmaceutical companies are having to do more with less. In this environment, DRM has become widely regarded as a critical enabler for sustainable growth. DRM not only increase the efficiency of their sales and marketing efforts, but also enhance their Doctors’ experience and loyalty. The industry has to pour money into new channels and technologies in an effort to better understand its doctors and build stronger relationships with them. This will improve efficiency of marketing and sales spend and enhance doctor experience and loyalty. DRM is not just about improving basic operations. It’s about leveraging information to extract new value from Doctor relationships, to give the company a sustainable competitive advantage.

Patient Opinion Leaders (POLs): Is this phenomenon here to stay?

Patient Opinion Leader (POL) is one more jargon floated by pharma marketeres. And lot of people are jumping into the bandwagon too early. Let’s face it. Presently in India, POL does not exist and we can comfortably assume that POL will not have any significant impact in forseable future.

Firstly, let’s start with “Patient’s Opinion”. Here we are talking about patient’s opinion on Rx medicine. (POLs or whatever you may call it, can influence personal medical testing devices category - for example, which glucometer to buy). We must accept the fact that patients are merely a consumer who have almost no say in deciding which Rx medicine is appropriate for him/her. It is entirely doctor’s prerogative because patients are not equipped with medical knowledge to make the right choice. We may argue that today’s patients are well-read, net savvy, health conscious consumer but still patient’s opinion should not or rather can not directly impact the sale of the brand. At the most, patients’ can share their personal experiences about managing a disease which might be helpful to other patients, but their opinions cannot be taken into consideration when it comes to buying Rx medicines. And that’s why POLs, if at all they exist, cannot be given equal importance as KOLs and pharma marketers cannot afford to limit the role of Doctors.

Moreover, patients need a platform to voice their opinion to become “Patient as a Leader. The so-called Health 2.0 or Pharma 2.0 provides a convenient platform in terms of blogs and social networking websites. Internationally, there are websites like Patientslikeme.com (featured as Disruptor of the Month by Forbes, March issue) and Six Until Me (a popular diabetes blog started by Kerry Morrone) that provide the right platform to share patients’ views, to discuss treatment options, etc. In India, we don’t have such websites but soon we might see similar websites catering to health conscious netizens.

We should know that giving opinions on topics like movies, cars, consumer durables, etc. is fine, but when it comes to giving an informed opinion on health realted issue, one must be very careful. For example, when reports suggested that lithium might slow down the progression of ALS – a neurodegenerative disease, a number of ALS sufferers among the PatientsLikeMe community began their own somewhat impromptu drug trial, taking lithium and posting the results. Although the website has not run a formal trial and only facilitates members reporting of their results, there still has been some controversy. Such incidences can be disastrous. We must understand that leaders have followers. When it comes to treating disease, it’s advisable to follow a physician than a POL. In a nutshell, POLs, a non-medical professional who inspire trust and acts as guide to other patients, can create lots of controversies and that’s not good news for pharma marketer.

There is no denying that internet is going to play a very important role. In US, 59% of the patients turn to internet as their first source of health information. Same might be true for India. Pharma companies are already using internet to provide information to patients. Patients are connecting with each other on the net, but at the same time I believe as far as serious medical ailment is concerned, patients are aware that there is a difference between sharing experiences on the net and taking decision based on those opinions.

The Indian Pharma Marketer should also ask himself whether he would like to empower patients to an extent that the ‘empowered’ patients start questioning doctors or interfering with doctors’ prescriptions. The answer is a big NO, because no pharma company would like to take that risk of offending doctors. We know what happens when you turn a prescriptive brand into OTC brand and start directly promoting it to patients/consumers. That brand might increase overall sales but it surely looses out Doctors’ prescription.

On a lighter side, I have a different theory on the evolution of Patient Opinion Leaders concept. I believe the POL concept is promoted by pharma marketers who hate doctors, because no matter what innovative, out of the box, disrutptive marketing strategy they implement, but ultimately the fate of prescriptive brands are in doctor’s hand and in most cases, the KOLs decide the success or failure of the brand. Therefore frustated pharma marketers want to counter KOLs by creating another equally powerful monster called POLs. Don’t forget guys, a monster is a monster is a monster!

Seven Steps to Survival : How to keep your agency afloat in challenging times

Advertising & Marketing Communications spending is one of the first things companies decide to cut when faced with slowing sales. Advertising agencies have already started feeling the pinch. Ad people are anxious and scared as well. So, what do you do to survive this critical phase and come out victorious. You must fight back! Here is your survival guide:

1. Promote your agency more aggressively -

Doing nothing only leads to failure. This moment is the test of your leadership. Go out there, and face the recession head-on. Promote your agency more aggressively than ever before. Relentlessly pursue new business leads. Re-negotiate costs with your vendors, IT providers and even with your landlord! Generate great business-building ideas for your existing clients. All these will fuel you and your agency with renewed energy.

2. Be there for the client -

Do not take your clients for granted even for a single day. Make sure that you personally visit each of your clients in the same month. Your clients need your help like never before, for they’re now seeking answers to kick-start their sales and get rolling. If their agency stands by them in this battle, enabling them to invent new solutions, they will most likely never forget you once the good times resurafce.

3. Create opportunities -

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Don’t wait for the chance. Meet as many people as possible. There is always an opportunity to capitalize on. Collaborate with your partners, tie up with complimentary service providers and forge strategic alliances. Remember, somewhere a potential client is planning to take advantage of the downturn. Keep your eyes and ears open. If you just sit back and wait for the next new-business win, you are simply waiting for a disaster to take over.

4. Think Smart. Work Harder -

In your efforts to fight back the downturn, be sure your agency's work is as smart as it can be. Put in those extra hours. Ask yourself: Is the message as relevant today as it was six months ago? Is it as cost effective? Is there a better and perhaps cheaper medium to communicate the message? Maintain the integrity of your agency's work throughout these times, and you will surely earn the trust and respect of your clients.

5. Don’t stop innovations -

Slow client spending is not an excuse to go conservative with your work. Don’t play safe. If you think you are going to hold on to your clients by being extra cautious with your work, you might give your clients an excuse to switch to another agency that will continue to take intelligent risks. Recession is the ideal time to innovate and experiment. Suggest media innovations. Try your hand and unleash your creativity online through blogs, social media and viral campaigns.

6. Improve internal communication -

Do not sit quitely in your cabin and distance yourself from the staff. Get up and mingle with your staff and let them know what's going on with the agency. Feel the pulse of your own team. Better internal communication only makes the team stronger. Also, do not stop looking for the best talent. This economic downturn has put a lot of really good people on the street. Now may be a rare opportunity to upgrade your staff strength. Provide creative stimulation to engage your employees. Keep the spirits up to make sure that the happiness quotient remains high in your office.

7. Stay focused -

Just because times are tough, your agency shouldn’t move away from the strategic course you set. Be it a plan to differentiate your agency or expand into new services, stay true to your long term goals even if it takes a little longer for them to materialize. When the economy turns around, you'll have the wind at your back.

And finally don’t forget: tough times never last, but tough people do.