What can the pharmaceutical industry learn about branding from the consumer goods industry?

In Australia, where drug advertising on TV is not allowed, the corporate branding of drug manufacturers is not all that strong in the general population.  Where advertising is allowed for over the counter medicines the branding is product focussed rather than manufacturer focussed.  This seems to me to be at least in part due to the industry practice of selling drug brands to other manufacturers or retiring them to a generic manufacturer once they are off patent.  The ongoing consolidation of manufacturers also means that manufacturer brands change or disappear every few years.  As a consequence
of these practices many end users would identify with a drug brand (e.g. Lipitor, or Panadol) rather than the manufacturer (Pfizer, GSK).

This means they have effectively missed out on building a solid and trusted manufacturer brand like Apple or Sony (or Kellogs or L'Oreal) that resonates quality medicine with the general population.  In fact quite the reverse occurs when the lack of brand advertising combines with negative press about cash incentives for doctors, or product recalls and law suits due to adverse events.  So the manufacturer brand messaging is dominated by negative  media messages over positive ones in the general public.

Now that selling generic medicines are important to nearly all the patent manufacturers, they do not have the brand recognition and history to resonate enough with the buyer to get them to ask for the known and loved manufacturer brand who now makes generics.

By contrast the FMCG manufacturers promote their brand prominently alongside their product brand and build both brands together so that as product brands come and go the manufacturer brand is long lived and recognition is developed deeply in the consumer over time.  This means that when a new and unfamiliar product name is introduced it instantly becomes trusted when associated with the trusted manufacturer brand.

There is also considerable distance between the manufacturer and the end user, so that the user almost never has any reason to contact the manufacturer because this is the responsibility of intermediaries such as pharmacists and doctors, who from the manufacturers perspective are the real customers for their product rather than the end user.  Hence almost all the marketing of drug manufacturers is aimed at healthcare professionals rather than the consumer who already has all the power in the consumer products markets and is becoming increasingly powerful in the healthcare market.  This distance from the end user creates a disconnect and also drives lack of regard on both sides.  Lack of relationship results in lack of trust, or no knowledge at all.

So what should drug manufacturers learn from FMCG?  They should learn to build their manufacturer brand alongside their product brands.  They should not sell off product brands to other manufacturers, but rather supercede the brand with something else or discontinue it, (why sell it if its making money?). 

Most importantly they should build relationships with their end users who will increasingly be making brand choices about their medicines.  There is probably a lot of value that manufacturers could bring to end users, particularly older people with high usage of an array of drugs who are not always well served (or informed) by their treating doctors and pharmacists.  Is this a can of worms? - you betcha! but it is the way forward to building a trusted brand.

What do you think?  I would value your comments.

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