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IJPHM
1,3 Web-enabled product ID system
as a tool in pharmaceutical
marketing
226
Christopher Browe
Organization and Information Controlling, Bayer Healthcare,
West Haven, Connecticut, USA, and
Cheng Lu Wang
Department of Communication and Marketing, University of New Haven,
West Haven, Connecticut, USA

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how a web-enabled product ID system can be
applied to pharmaceutical marketing and consumer relationship management.
Design/methodology/approach – As a technical paper, it first introduces and describes the product
ID system and then explores various marketing applications of this interactive communication tool in
the pharmaceutical industry. Finally, it concludes with managerial implications and caveats.
Findings – The web-based product ID system is able to provide a means for product validation and
database marketing, facilitate interactive marketing communication and viral marketing, and collect
customer information and feedback for research activities.
Research limitations/implications – The perceived lack of security of public networks and
customer confidence about drug sourcing are always concerns when applied to online technology in
pharmaceutical marketing. Caveats about building such a system of coded ID product are discussed.
Practical implications – The use of uniquely coded packaging would impact marketing research
activities, enhance consumer promotions, allow end-users to authenticate a drug’s validity, provide a
means for early reporting of unforeseen risks or benefits, and build/maintain customer relationship.
Originality/value – The proposed web-based product ID system is an innovative concept that can
have important marketing implications in the pharmaceutical industry.
Keywords Pharmaceuticals industry, Internet marketing, Product identification
Paper type Technical paper

International Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Healthcare
Marketing
Vol. 1 No. 3, 2007
pp. 226-233
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1750-6123
DOI 10.1108/17506120710818238
Introduction
The internet has revolutionized the flow of information and business-to-customer
interactions. As the internet challenges conventional business practices, many
companies are discovering that delivering value in this changing environment requires
new business models among suppliers, partners, and customers (Liu et al., 2004). In the
pharmaceutical industry, for instance, consumer research showed that there were a
quarter million US adults online seeking information for pharmaceutical products in
the early 2000s and this number has been growing annually (Bard, 2003). Customers
are actively searching health information and buying prescription drugs online.
There is a continuing trend towards internet use by pharmaceutical customers despite
the potential for online fraud and transactional risks.
Since, the 1985 FDA decision to allow pharmaceutical companies to influence their
consumers directly through advertising for both over-the-counter (OTC) and
prescription drugs, their main interactions with consumers happen through direct to Web-enabled
consumer advertising (DTCA) and information available on corporate web sites. Given product ID
that there are more than 10,000 prescription drugs and 300,000 OTC products currently
in the marketplace (Neergaard, 2006), availability of low-cost and high-quality system
customer data that reflect a company’s marketing efforts is a big challenge for
pharmaceutical marketing managers.
This paper attempts to explore how a company’s web site can be combined with 227
uniquely coded product packaging to improve pharmaceutical marketing and
consumer relation management. We first introduce the product ID system concept.
Then, we explore the marketing application of this interactive communication tool in
the pharmaceutical industry. Finally, we conclude the paper with a discussion of
caveats to use the product ID system.

The web-enabled product ID system

Product packaging provides basic information that generally includes the
manufacturer’s name and contact information, expiration dates and nutritional
information (if it is a food item). Pharmaceutical companies, such as Bayer, Glaxo, Pfizer
and Schering, only offer internet addresses that are portals to general and somewhat
static information about the disease and treatment available from only that company.
A few, such as Pfizer’s site, offer rebate card programs that patients can sign-up for.
This information is useful to promote the company’s products but is not sufficient to
maintain a long-term business-customer relationship. For a pharmaceutical internet site
to be truly successful, companies need to shift their sites from a “push” orientation to a
“pull” strategy that draws in consumers’ participation and support.
To achieve a pull strategy goal for pharmaceutical companies, we propose a
web-enabled package ID coded response system on product packaging. Such an ID
coded system is not any type of radio frequency identification (RFID) package tagging,
which is typically an individual box or pallet specific of which the consumer is
unaware. Expensive specialized scanners are needed to read RFID tags and therefore
only aid in pharmaceutical shipping and bulk distribution issues and do not aid
verification for the end-user. However, the proposed product ID code will be printed on
each package along with the standard UPC, expiration and lot information data at the
time of production as shown in Figure 1.
A web-enabled coded package has an a-numeric ID printed on it that is unique to
that prescription. For example, when a customer receives a prescription ten tablet
blister pack of a company’s product, there would be a multi-digit a-numeric ID printed
on the pack and a web site to go to. Patients could visit the site and verify the
authenticity of their prescription, register themselves as patients with the company,
answer some survey questions, receive product or reward coupons, and have disease
targeted information sent to them in the future. The company would know that this
drug pack had been prescribed by the doctor and may learn something about its
patient population. Machinery required to print on individual packages is already
being used to print individualized expiration dates and could economically be adapted.
Consumers would enter these unique IDs through a company’s internet web site, which
would provide informational benefits to both consumers and managers. Coding of the
pharmaceutical products will be easiest to implement on OTC drugs and on blister
packs of prescription drugs. Blister-packed prescription drugs are usually done only in
IJPHM
1,3

3 13534 51876 4
228 Expires 4 / 08
lot# 227077E
promotion_ID: 35E67T05551
Figure 1. For more information, verification and
Mockup of proposed coded promotions visit the internet site below:
ID packageing www.healthydrugs.com/Bayer/Avelox.

products that have a set regimen to follow, such as anti-infectives. Obviously, this
system works best on packaged drugs and supplements and would be harder to set up
for a pharmacy dispensed tablet. Partnerships with pharmacies would be required here
to assign a unique ID in with the printed label (or documents) made at the pharmacy.
Pharmaceutical companies could broker deals with the pharmacy chains to include the
web site info and the lot code numbers on the information sheet. This would then allow
the patient to respond to the marketing offerings and research surveys.

Applications in pharmaceutical marketing

In the pharmaceutical industry, there has been a traditional triad relationship among
doctors, patients and pharmacists. As medical professionals are the ones who directly
treat patients for their ailments, their recommendations are highly regarded.
In addition, medical doctors play an important role in decision-making process in
planning pharmaceuticals that are carried in the formulary of their individual/group
private practices and/or hospitals. Consequently, pharmaceutical companies in general
invest a handsome amount of resources in personal selling and other related marketing
activities for promoting pharmaceuticals to the medical practitioners (Liu et al., 2004).
With the growing internet technology and more sophisticated corporate web sites, a
fourth player, i.e. the pharmaceutical company, can play a more important role in
product promotion, marketing research, and customer relation management (CRM).
This relationship among pharmaceutical parties is even more pronounced due to the
physical disconnect from direct dealings with the patient; therefore, the pharmaceutical
firm is somewhat displaced from their patients. The web-enabled product ID system
will link pharmaceutical manufacturers and customers and further facilitate
interactive communications between them.

Providing a means for product validation and database marketing

Insuring the safety and validity of genuine pharmaceutical products is becoming more
difficult in light of the rise of drug counterfeiters, repackaging/re-importation and lack
of proper chain of custody. The FDA estimates that counterfeit drugs may account for
10 percent of the global medicine supply and suggests criminal sales in tens of billions
of US dollars (Cockburn et al., 2005). Pharmaceutical companies trying to deal with
these issues are considering increased education of the public, lobbying governments Web-enabled
to write and enforce laws, and developing new tracking and validating measures. Some product ID
inventory tracking and validating control measures proposed have included RFID
tags, chemical tracers, microdots, microprint, and holographic foils seals. To date no system
uniform solution has been adopted by companies or mandated by their governments,
although the World Health Organization is working towards recommendations.
The coded packages discussed in this paper would work in much the same way that 229
computer programs have users enter a validation code before using new software. When
a patient receives his prescription, he would go to the company’s web site from anywhere
in the world and enter the unique ID code. If the drug were valid and truly made by that
company, then the site would verify the prescription. If not, then the patient would be
advised to contact his physician and pharmacy. Drug companies would keep track of
codes entered, domain IP addresses, and how many times a specific code was entered. If
the same code is entered on the web site more than once, the site would question the user
in order to prevent counterfeiters from using a valid code over and over again.
Meanwhile, powered by the web and data mining technology, pharmaceutical
marketers may even deepen their customer relationship through maintaining customer
database and activity tracking. By utilizing unique printed packaging ID codes linked
to a particular product’s lot and/or distribution, marketing managers will be able to
collect targeted feedback from responding patients. Every company with either
internal or external customers practices some level of CRM, from in-house spreadsheets
to multi-million dollar custom systems. Some of the common CRM providers are Seibel
(now Oracle), Salesforce.com, and newcomer SugarCRM. All CRM companies offer
varying levels of customization and different corporate rates and fee structures. CRMs
purpose is to allow the collection and management of customer data that helps
management draw conclusions and drive decision making.
The coded ID system described here, once developed and integrated with a company’s
current CRM system, would allow collected information, once analyzed, to be accessible
from any touch-point, be it web sites or contacts by sales people. Both customer services
and customer feedback provide information on, for example, the rate of on-time deliveries
and drug refill, which may serve as proxy measures for monitoring customer satisfaction.
As such, pharmaceutical corporate web sites can function as valuable information sources
for patients who will be able to learn more about current industry news, clinical research
discoveries, and company directions/strategies through surfing the web (Liu et al., 2004).
Customers, in turn, may seek further clarifications and/or information when needed.
Educational programs and consulting services may generate leads for future sales. From a
database marketing perspective, patients are pharmaceutical company’s life partners.
Patients go through stages of lifecycle and their needs change at different life stages. As
the baby boomers age, for instance, pharmaceutical marketers will customize their offers
to tailor to the changing needs of baby boomers. The process would represent an example
of customer life cycle in CRM.

Facilitating interactive marketing communication and viral marketing

When customers log into the corporate web site, they can communicate with
manufacturers as well as with other customers through comments posted there. An
important function of the uniquely coded ID system is to draw customers to the
company’s web site, where a corporate chatroom makes available access to other
IJPHM internet users. As a marketing tool, it engages buyers in interactive communication to
1,3 promote a company’s products and provide information on how they are used and where
they are purchased. It can provide electronic coupons, generate awareness of, interest in,
and trial of a firm’s offerings and support the company’s advertising program and
traditional marketing channel. In addition, a company’s web site can also be an
electronic storefront with technological infrastructure designed to create a favorable
230 shopping and buying experience to convert online browsers into buyers and to facilitate
buyers to make transaction decisions or move potential closer to making a purchase.
The web-enabled ID system will become a powerful information source that involves
brand, product, and service recommendations from friends. It will take a role of viral
marketing to encourage customers to forward marketer-initiated messages to others via
e-mail by offering consumers incentives (discounts, sweepstakes, or free merchandise) for
referrals. In the early stages of consumer information processing, a marketer can stimulate
consumer need and help consumers to develop product specifications and supplier search.
The internet provides companies with an alternative medium to incorporate tailor-made or
on-request drug information in the office of the medical practitioners, and to promote
corporate image in conjunction with individual products (Bentley and Banahan, 1998;
Smith, 1991). More importantly, the manufacturers may also use the web site to qualify
prospects by asking site visitors to complete a questionnaire before they gain access to
web site information (Anderson and Narus, 1998).

Collect customer information and feedback for research activities

The uniquely coded ID system is also a cost effective means used for customer research
and feedback on product performance. When customers log into the web site, they
are allowed to request brochures, communicate their comments and questions to the
corporation and find other related information. Research has suggested that customers are
generally willing to participate in web-based data collection questions that are capable of
providing important information for business planning and decision. In addition, focusing
on serving existing customers and using coupons or discount opportunities to encourage
web surfers to become customers is an effective means in increasing response rate to
marketing research surveys (Zhang et al., 2000, 2001). Web linked patients will provide
specific feedback by logging into a web-based survey that is flexible and can be revised by
the marketing manager over time (see the appendix for the sample of survey questions).
Meanwhile, web-enabled technologies such as corporate internet presence sites have been
shown to provide the healthcare community with opportunities for better pricing, lower
costs for inventory, health-system wide communications, patient information
management, and more efficient patient billing and claims handling (Liu et al., 2004).
This web-enabled product ID system would help facilitate such opportunities.
Aside from pure marketing-specific responses, data can also be targeted towards
product research studies including serious adverse effects (SAE) and ongoing Phase IV
trails. This type of interactive web site service can be directly managed by in-house
marketing and research personnel or can be farmed out to their contractual research
organizations. Marketing managers could coordinate package IDs to various
distribution regions and then track web responses back to those regions and
channels. As such, customer response will allow pharmaceutical companies to get real
time data on the sales and distribution of their products.
 Moreover, pharmaceutical companies will be able to aid future research efforts from Web-enabled
Phase IV studies to fast follower programs. After a drug has attained FDA approval, product ID
pharmaceutical companies continue to spend millions of dollars in Phase IV studies to
grow the number of approved indications and follow up on various product system
developmental loose ends. Depending on the indication, a typical Phase III drug about
to gain FDA approval may have only been taken by several hundred to a few thousand
people. During the early years after approval, a newly prescribed drug may develop 231
SAE as the number of patients taking the drug rises into the tens of thousands. If a
company were to understand these SAEs earlier, it might be able to direct its Phase IV
studies towards this area of investigation. In addition, with the growing number of
niche drugs involving smaller patient populations, positive or negative trends may be
harder to identify.

Conclusion and caveat

The impact of internet technology is likely to go beyond the appearance of new online
pharmacies and distributors. It may lead to a more fundamental change in how
products are being marketed in the pharmaceutical industry. In the world of web 2.0,
marketing managers need to start developing cost effective interactive means to
maintain customer relations, keep track of customer database, and gain customer
feedback. They must strive to learn the underlining nature of their customers and what
will appeal to them. In this way, the educational and verifiable benefits of a coded
pharmaceutical product system will make a product stand out and give consumers a
benefit that they will value.
For many years, product packaging has typically included corporate information,
thus giving consumers a contact point to direct various complaints and suggestions.
Various shades of coded product IDs with web-based surveys have been appearing on
checkout receipts and food products for the past few years, and it makes sense that
pharmaceutical marketing managers start to utilize this technology as well. This paper
links the corporate web site to uniquely coded product packaging in the pharmaceutical
industry to perform key marketing functions. In particular, the web-based product ID
system is able to provide a means for product validation and database marketing,
facilitate interactive marketing communication and viral marketing, and collect
customer information and feedback for research activities.
As with any computerized solution, managers must be aware not to fall into the trap
of technology for technology’s sake. A web-enabled product ID system should be
deployed to ask specific questions and with a plan of action associated. Such systems
should be low cost and flexible but always ultimately directed at answering questions
critical to business. Benefits from tagged pharmaceutical products would support
marketing research activities, consumer promotions, authentication of a drug’s validity
by the end-users, and may impact the early reporting of unforeseen risks or benefits.
Consumers would enter these unique IDs through a company’s internet web site which
would provide informational benefits to both customers and managers.
The perceived lack of security of public networks is a big concern for consumers
using internet services (Wang et al., 2005). When dealing with personal data and
potentially embarrassing topics there are issues relating to consumer reactions to
product surveys. Privacy, especially on the internet, is often an issue. Consumers are
drawn to the anonymity of the internet when dealing with personal and private
IJPHM issues (Wrobel, 2002). Therefore, this data could be kept anonymous or linked to other
1,3 returning customer databases. DTCA regulations in the USA would need to be kept in
mind as well as the privacy concerns of the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act. Partnerships with independent privacy nonprofits such as TRUSTe
can help patients feel assured that their personal information is being protected and not
shared outside of the pharmaceutical company. Companies must not give the impression
232 that information given is part of an internet “phishing” scheme, which is an illegal act of
trying to digitally gather consumer information to be used in criminal activities.
A problem of consumer confidence about drug sourcing came about due to the
British Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease, in
the early 1980s. The traceability of foods on a global level was proposed by a system of
databases, unique barcode IDs, and personal computers linked by the internet (Wilson
and Clarke, 1998). Such a tracking system, in theory at least, would have been similar
to the ideas proposed here. There are several key points that should be kept in mind
when building such a system of coded ID product and linking those products to
corporate web sites. A summary of these points are provided as our conclusion:
.
develop product specific areas in a company’s web sites;
.
print unique codes on pharmaceutical lots that allow the tracking of
manufactured products and the registration code keeps out invalid patients;
.
patients can trust privacy guarantees or opt to remain anonymous;
.
patients can guarantee the integrity of the product by the web authentication;
.
rewards are given directly to patients in the form of coupons or discounts on
future purchases;
.
marketing managers have their web data linked to specific lots (time produced,
shipped when and where, shelf-life/expirations, prescription rates, regional data);
and
.
questions and feedback can be altered over time to focus research into new areas
as they develop.

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Appendix. Web sample questions

Do you feel that your physician has adequately explained and that you understand you
cholesterol medication?
W Disagree W Somewhat disagree W Not sure W Agree W Strongly agree
Click here for more information about cholesterol lowering agents.
Are you, or members of your family concerned with issues of weight control, low-carb diets or
aging?
W Disagree W Somewhat disagree W Not sure W Agree W Strongly agree
Click here for information which vitamins are targeted to these topics.
Would you be interested in receiving a free e-mail or phone text message to help you
remember to take your cholesterol medication?
W Yes – Enter your e-mail here if interested ____________________ W No thanks

About the authors

Christopher Browe, MBA (University of New Haven), is an Organization and Information
Controlling Consultant aiding the North American Pharmaceutical integration of Bayer and
Schering AG. With a microbiology degree from the University of Florida and 15 years of
pharmaceutical research experience, he has published in a number of journals, including Gene,
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology International,
American Journal of Hypertension, and Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters. E-mail:
chris_browe@yahoo.com
Cheng Lu Wang, PhD (Oklahoma State University), is a Professor of Marketing, at the
Department of Communication and Marketing, College of Business, University of New Haven.
His research areas include consumer behavior and international marketing. He has published in
over 30 refereed journals, including Journal of Consumer Psychology, Psychology & Marketing,
Journal of Consumer Affairs, Industrial Marketing Management, Management International
Review, European Journal of Marketing, and International Marketing Review, among others.
Cheng Lu Wang is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: cwang@newhaven.edu

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