Brand Refreshment

Situation:

A global pharma company based in the USA had an existing brand that was losing market share in a very complex therapeutic category. Although the brand had a relatively small share of the global market, it was still a large product ($200+ million).

A significant sum had already been spent on market research and analytics, but this information was deeded of no value by the new brand team. The brand’s image was poor and not competitive.

Actions:

A study was proposed to segment the target market of MDs on their approach to therapy rather than using the image of the brands as the basis for communication.

The qualitative and quantitative analytics collected over 100 different decisions required for therapy management and identified the different ‘approach themes’ used to make decisions. Then within the resulting segments brand users and non-users were compared.

Patterns of use were identified which differentiated the product from its completion.

These differences were the source of a new marketing campaign which positioned the product in a more modern way and revealed the brand’s “quintessential goodness’.

Results:

The research found that decisions were not made on image but on the goal of therapy. The existing brand was not targeted to any specific approach to therapy.

The brand image was changed to compete with rather than mirror the most successful competitor.

The market share decline was stopped and almost doubled in three years.