Transitioning from Sales Promotion to Professional Marketing Excellence in Pharma Business

The trajectory of pharma marketing has witnessed number of phases during the past three decades :

Mastery of Product Knowledge:
In the early eighties, multinational corporations held an advantage over domestic competitors due to their superior product knowledge.

Trade Offer Era:
Subsequently, the industry witnessed an era of brand substitution by domestic competitors at the pharmacy level, with organizations enticing chemists through lucrative bonus offers.

Price War Phase:
The industry then entered a phase of price wars, where prescription medicines lowered their prices, some even promoting these changes in lay media. Regulatory intervention thankfully curbed this trend.

First Mover Advantage:
Upon the expiration of product patents, numerous local companies seize the opportunity to launch low-priced branded generics, capitalizing on the brand equity of the innovator brand with a strategic pricing approach.

Gratification Strategy:
The less said about gratification strategies, the better. Regulatory bodies have become more stringent in controlling such practices.

Looking Ahead:
The crucial question remains: when can we anticipate the widespread adoption of professional marketing strategies that lead to success for brands and organisations ?