friday musing

Resolving to get along more harmoniously

By Bruce Nicoll 

A very happy new year to all our readers! This is a time when, traditionally, we set our goals and also try to be sympathetic to the needs of others, making more of an effort to get along with our fellow men (and women, too, of course!) A time to put conflict aside and move forward in a spirit of optimistic cooperation. 

Well, here’s a thought. What if this attitude was applied to the creative process in formulating effective pharmaceutical promotion? I’m talking about aligning the often  competing (if not actively conflicting) agendas of the various stakeholders that influence the direction, tone, and content of advertising (I’m using that term loosely here, as a collective noun for all things promotional from web sites to sales aids to sample cards). What if we could all just get along? What if we could put our own concerns second, and focus on patient outcomes first? What would that process look like, and what might it reap? 

This is something we at Friday Morning have given serious consideration. While most agencies are predominantly focused on overcoming the external barriers to brand success, it appears that sometimes a client’s internal processes are more detrimental to articulation and expansion of their brand values than anything the competition is saying. There’s no doubt that marketers are working harder, and it is absolutely our experience that agencies are more motivated and conscientious than ever, and yet much of the work that gets to see the light of day does no justice to the effort that has gone into its production. Not always, of course; there are some stunning campaigns out there that are getting the business done and generating sales, but, increasingly, these seem to be the exceptions. 

Most advertisements appearing in the journals, and much of the sales material that gets entered into award shows (which is pretty much the only material that other agencies get to see), doesn’t do a good job of making the potential benefits for a physician’s patients clear. We are convinced that the consequence of this ambiguity is that many patients who could benefit from a particular therapy don’t get it, because that patient’s physician has not really been made aware of the good the drug might do. 

Can agencies facilitate getting everyone on the same page? Our SAFARI process is designed to enhance the effectiveness and cohesion of any clients’ internal-team dynamics. We help the marketing department be more successful at getting powerful work approved in a risk averse climate by aligning conflicting agendas around patient outcomes. Let us help you make 2010 a year where everyone cooperates internally and patients out there in the world get better because of it. Now, that’s a resolution we can all get behind!

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