Novartis, AZ, Lilly, Merck, Wyeth and other leading pharma companies gather to discuss the future of European pharmaceutical marketing this October in Barcelona.

  • Pharma Marketing ROI - October 25th-26th, Barcelo Sants, Barcelona 

LONDON August 21, 2007 - With traditional pharma marketing approaches failing to ignite the imagination of Marketers and Physicians alike, EyeforPharma finds 'Customer', 'Value', 'Integration' and 'ROI' are the buzz words leading up to this years meeting.  

Top marketing executives from Novartis, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Wyeth, Merck and other leading pharmaceutical makers will gather in Barcelona, on the 25th and 26th October to discuss the challenges and future of pharma marketing in Europe, and they will focus particularly on new marketing techniques that offer better, cutting-edge ways to do their job.

James MacDonald a Marketing Director at Organon says "This [congress] is a great opportunity for marketers across Europe to meet and exchange ideas on how to cope with the change we see and the new challenges change brings."

Integrating online marketing efforts with traditional approaches will take on even greater importance, industry experts say, as pharmaceutical companies reduce their sales forces and seek to maximize return on investment to meet the challenges of the marketplace. For online approaches to be effective however, Jane Hunter, managing director for Current Medicine Group, says companies must mature from an internal structure that still finds many companies with separate teams for online activities and traditional marketing approaches.

"Companies need to stop being afraid of an online approach," Hunter says. "You lose lots of opportunities to cross-feed when your teams aren't integrated. It's time to bite the bullet and integrate, or at the very least improve communication between your online and offline marketing teams."

Although Hunter says the shift is beginning to happen, the differing regulatory expectations for the dynamic content of online promotions make a fully integrated marketing approach a labor intensive and logistically challenging proposition. She suggests companies should study and learn from competitors’ approaches and consider "buying in" expertise from within the industry.

Hunter stresses that as more educational and marketing programs go online and deliver user data and real ROI, companies will be equipped to develop promotional packages that are longer-term, with customised messages and offerings tailored to specific users.  

Again, the approach is focused on promoting true value. "The eventual benefits and convenience of well-integrated online marketing approaches for end users is simply too great to ignore," Hunter says.  

You may think the conclusion is a simple one for the industry to draw:  

Define your customer - focus on providing them with value - integrate your core competencies to achieve this - enjoy a huge increase in ROI.

For those who are not too sure how to link all these up, Wolfgang Walter a Director at Nycomed, which is helping to integrate the strengths of Altana and Nycomed, suggests, "Pharma Marketing is a great place to come for answers; and the answers being offered in this years agenda look as topical and relevant as ever."

About the Conference
EyeforPharma's 7th annual Pharma Marketing Congress takes place October 25-26 2007 in Barcelona.  
Everyone quoted is a speaker at the congress, as are other Top-20 pharma companies.

Full event information is available from www.eyeforpharma.com/marketing07

If you register before August 24th you will save €400 on all conference passes.

About EyeforPharma
EyeforPharma is a leading global source of information for the pharmaceutical industry. Its reputation has been built on quality, in-depth conferences that have distinguished EyeforPharma from competitors by the depth and breadth of research it puts into each conference to ensure it is covering the hottest and most pertinent issues of the industry. Months are spent talking directly to senior executives in the industry, as well as relevant consultants and journalists and well respected solutions providers.

EyeforPharma also provides a fortnightly newsletter to over 11 thousand leading executives from every major pharmaceutical company in the industry, and of course consultants, sponsors and academics.

Contact:
Mark Walker
Global Conference Director
EyeforPharma
+44 (0) 20 7375 7201
+44 (0) 20 7375 7576
Mwalker@eyeforpharma.com


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