Originally Published MX July/August 2003
ADVERTISING, DISTRIBUTION, & SALES
Campaigning for SuccessWith the right advertising and marketing expertise onboard, medtech companies can greatly improve their chances of fielding a marketplace winner.
No one in the field of medical technology marketing could plausibly believe that the job is an easy one. Even in its simplest and most-direct forms, marketing for medical products necessarily involves a number of target audiences requiring customized messages.
But today, as an increasing number of companies are exploring the potential of greater consumer advertising for their products, medtech marketing is rarely found in its simplest forms.
The following pages offer a few examples of the state of the art from some of the nation's top firms specializing in medical product marketing. On pages 41–42, readers will find a complete listing of the award winners in this year's International Awards of Excellence (In-Awe) competition sponsored by the Medical Marketing Association (San Francisco). And below, experts from several award-winning agencies offer their views about current trends in medtech marketing.
Getting a Head Start
In many cases, the effectiveness of a company's marketing campaign is determined by the quality of the research underlying it. Medtech product marketers who attempt to devise large-scale campaigns without first conducting adequate research are likely to find themselves traveling in circles of increasing futility.
"Research always needs to be a part of any campaign," says Aimee Corso, senior vice president for medical devices at FischerHealth (Los Angeles). "And it can take many shapes and forms that allow researchers to determine existing market dynamics and see where the campaign needs to fit."
FischerHealth developed a recent campaign announcing favorable results of the international subarachnoid aneurysm trial (ISAT), which studied the use of the Guglielmi detachable coil (GDC) by Boston Scientific (Natick, MA) as a minimally invasive treatment for aneurysms. As a basis for identifying the best communications strategy for the campaign, the firm conducted extensive interviews with U.S. and global corporate executives, industry and physician luminaries, and medical association leaders. Because of the global importance of the international study results, FischerHealth also assessed cultural differences in perception, product usage rates, healthcare system structures, and government regulations in order to devise communications messages and tactics that would be successful in each market.
For the GDC campaign, FischerHealth recommended a public relations approach designed to accelerate changes in clinical practice and rapidly bring about market success for Boston Scientific's device.
Conducting such a campaign on a global scale is hardly possible without the quality input that well-designed research can provide.
"When you think you know everything about particular cultures and their tastes and sensibilities, and how those influence their reactions to marketing and message uptake, then you're in trouble," says Larry Grob, president of Lowe Grob Health & Science (Boston). "The opportunities to get it wrong are so many that you have to test the work—or better yet, factor local market research into your precreative development.
"Among other things," says Grob, "the research will tell you what campaign elements you can realistically expect to stretch over multiple markets, and when a modification in tone, visuals, or words will hit home with a local audience."
As part of its campaign for the Sonicare Elite, the second generation of the Sonicare power toothbrush, Stratagem Healthcare Communications (San Francisco) conducted extensive research with focus groups in key cities across the country to measure response to various positioning strategies. The research had a direct effect on the shape of the campaign. "Ultimately, we found that a simple announcement of a second-generation brush had the most impact, along with graphic emphasis on the unique bristles and brush head, visually evoking its fluid action," reports Patricia Malone, a principal and creative director at Stratagem.
Although companies can be concerned about the cost of outsourcing large-scale market research, experts advise that this is an area in which scrimping doesn't pay. Conducting such research in-house is an option, but not one that most manufacturers are prepared to handle.
"Budget limitations are often a constraint," says Corso, "but our strategy is usually to use the best available resources. So as far as the division of work is concerned, it may be conducted in-house, at the agency, or by an outside third party."
"We typically find that very little positioning or campaign-testing research is carried out by manufacturers," says Grob. "Even those with in-house capabilities tend to subcontract this research out, either to a specialized independent research firm or to the agency."
Making sure that the selected researchers coordinate their activities with the ad agency is also important, adds Grob. "Close collaboration between the researchers and the agency minimizes any concern about objectivity and ensures that the questions that should be asked really are asked. Collaborative preparation of interview guides, for instance, helps to produce results that lead to actionable insights. Too much research has sat on shelves to overlook the practical benefits of this synergy."
Selecting an appropriate research methodology is also a key factor in ensuring the success of a company's market research, say the experts. "There is an exciting range of possibilities out there today—both traditional and on-line interactive—and each has its own merits," says Grob. "In large part, the selection needs to be made on the basis of what decisions you're trying to make based on the research."
Companies should also be aware that different firms may have their own research methods or expertise. "We have a preference for a multimodality approach," says Grob. "Namely, individual interviews to help set the objectives and ground rules for focus groups, followed by quantitative validation using a method such as on-line surveying."
Dealing with Dilemmas
When designing a campaign for optimal reach and greatest impact, medtech marketers can find themselves facing a series of complex decisions—beginning with the nature of the product itself. In many cases, the marketing of medical products to healthcare professionals takes the form of promoting specific device-related procedures or changes in clinical practice. With such an approach, making sure that the manufacturer's branding and product identities remain in the forefront can be a difficult challenge.
"If the device enables a new procedure to be performed, then the marketing campaign needs to do double duty—selling both the device and the procedure," says Chris Steenstra, a partner in the firm of Eric Mower and Associates (Syracuse, NY). "If there is little or no demand for the procedure, there will be little or no demand for the device."
"If the procedure is unique to the product, the company can market and own the procedure," says Stratagem's Malone. "By marketing the procedure, we can create a unique niche that only one company's product can fill. But that only works if no one else will have a product for that specific procedure."
Otherwise, agrees Steenstra, a company's marketing could end up working against itself. "If the procedure can be performed for the same or less expense with another device, you may be building a market that gets served by a competitor."
A typical case of the dilemma of device versus procedure is offered by Mark Perlotto, executive vice president and general manager of Adair-Greene Healthcare Communications (Atlanta). "In our campaign for Arthrocare, the challenge faced by our team members—Rita Brett, senior vice president and creative director, and Suzanne Bryant, vice president and management supervisor—is that the patient is being targeted not so much for the device as for the outcome of the procedure—which is primarily what the patient is interested in. Physicians are more interested in the device itself since, as a surgical device, it is somewhat dependent upon the individual skill and technique of the surgeon."
When communicating such a dual message, finding ways to segment the audience and design appropriate materials is essential. "From a messaging standpoint, it's too hard to communicate both a product and a procedure in one vehicle," says Stratagem's Malone. "Often, the procedure is emphasized in medical education or patient education pieces."
Approaches to resolving this dilemma vary according to the individual situation and circumstances, says Perlotto. "If more than one technology can be used to accomplish a procedure, then it becomes more important to differentiate the device from other potential competition."
Deciding what audiences to address and what message to communicate depends to a great degree on the type of procedure for which the device is being used, says Perlotto. "In the Arthrocare case, the traditional notion of back and spine surgery is very scary to patients. Patient materials can play a huge role in alleviating those concerns and convincing the patient to accept the doctor's recommendation of the procedure."
It isn't always clear whether a company is marketing a device or a procedure—or both. "But the assumption is that doctors, as 'learned intermediaries,' are able to grasp the difference immediately because of their familiarity with the therapeutic area," says Perlotto.
Future Complexity
If medtech companies are already finding the task of marketing their products complex, the emergence of combination products doesn't seem likely to make matters any easier.
"It certainly adds to the difficulty of positioning the product," notes Grob. "To the interventionalist, is a drug-eluting stent a drug, or a stent? Which component of the newly unified 'brand' will provide the greatest potential equity as the product evolves? After which component do you name it? Is the medical device company's sales force prepared to tell a drug story? The complexity of the questions—and the importance of getting the right answers—is increased several fold in the case of combination products."
Even so, says Grob, such products hold as much promise as challenge. "There is clearly a 'greater than the sum of its parts' aspect to drug-device combination products and the procedures they enable. So, in a way, there's an extra burden to communicate both the individual component stories and the synergy of the system all together.
"But that's what makes it interesting."
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