The ongoing shift towards patient education, the emergence of new
technologies and what it all means for electronic pharma marketers was
in the spotlight during The Center for Business Intelligence’s 5th Annual
eMarketing for the Pharmaceutical Industry conference held in Philadelphia on
Monday and Tuesday.
Keynote speaker Lori Reilly, PhRMA VP of policy and research,
re-emphasized the industry trade group’s commitment to improving the
value of consumer pharmaceutical advertising through efforts including
is DTC guidelines.
“DTC advertising or eMarketing is a big part of that,” Reilly said.
“The industry is committed to making improvements to the way we
communicate. As more dollars are being transferred from DTC to
eMarketing, (people are asking) is this the next area that we need to
get involved in? That may be the case in the future.”
Industry experts discussed ways to maximize emerging sector trends,
such as data collection, and the leveraging of user-generated content.
“User-generated content represents the evolution,” Jean-Paul Hepp,
director of privacy for Pfizer said.
Doug Levy president of IMC2 explained the ways bloggers may be recruited
to aid pharma companies in their marketing efforts.
Other featured speakers included:
*Daniel Murphy, senior e-promotions manager, oncology at AstraZeneca
who reviewed the success behind AstraZeneca’s www.getbcfacts.com.
*Diana Caldwell, manager e-marketing, Eli Lilly, who discussed
elements of the unbranded Web site www.depressionhurts.com.
*Don Hackett, general manager and publisher, Revolution Healthcare
Group. Hackett discussed some of the ways that technology is changing
the ways consumers communicate with healthcare professionals.
*Erika Fishman of Manhattan Research, who delivered a presentation on
which e-Marketing tactics can be used to seize growth opportunities
presented by the multicultural boom.