As pharmaceutical companies cut spending on other marketing areas, meetings stay a primary channel for gaining physician mindshare, data show.
Group events, from international conferences to local dinner meetings to in-office seminars, have held at around 7% of total marketing spend over the last several years, according to a report from Cegedim Strategic Data that tracked spend through the first quarter of 2011.
A big increase came in dinner meetings: “International and national conferences are not getting the same kind of support or participation that local ones are,” said Jerry Maynor, US marketing and business development director at the company.