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Modern forms of marketing as a way of handling legal restrictions on the pharmaceutical market in Poland
Source: report Modern and traditional forms of effective pharmaceutical marketing. Based on a survey among 350 doctors.

November 2010

Modern forms of marketing as a way of handling legal restrictions on the pharmaceutical market in Poland

Anna Grabara, Senior Research Executive

Monika Stefaczyk, Head Pharmaceutical Market Analyst

In the case prescription medicines, recipients of marketing messages are principally doctors. Thus, drug manufacturers use all means of reaching a precisely defined, narrow group of customers with their message. An effective chain of medical representatives, supported by the efficient distribution of products, has been a key to success for many years. The recent years have seen numerous changes which can result in certain modifications being made to the traditional Rx drug marketing model over the coming years. The current possibilities of using state-of-the-art and traditional forms of marketing were analysed in a survey which PMR conducted among doctors in Poland, whose results have been presented in the report entitled Modern and traditional forms of effective pharma marketing.

Legal changes and technology development as driving forces behind changes in pharma marketing
In the recent years, the pharmaceutical industry in Poland has witnessed numerous legal and technology changes, which require companies to redefine their marketing strategies. The following events and developments should be mentioned here: introduction in October 2008 of the regulation limiting contacts between the representatives of pharmaceutical companies and doctors: in accordance with the new regulation pharmaceutical representatives may not arrange meetings with doctors during the latters working hours, which used to be a common practice in the past and have to seek consent of a medical facility manager for such a visit a higher proportion of doctors using computers and the internet for professional purposes in accordance with out study, nearly 70% of doctors use the internet for professional purposes at least several times a week the development of customer relations management and IT tools supporting the individual customer approach increased role of the patient in making treatment-related decisions.

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Modern forms of marketing as a way of handling legal restrictions on the pharmaceutical market in Poland

Development of tools based on modern technologies

In view of the imposed restrictions, the pharmaceutical industry has been, more than in the past, interested in applying tools based on state-of-the-art technologies to boost the intensity and effectiveness of contacts between drug manufacturers and doctors. Many of these solutions have been, for years, successfully used in the western countries; in Poland however, due to a relatively poor access to the broadband internet a problem which also affects doctors, they still have remained at the fringes of marketing communication. These tools have recently attracted increased interest. The tools and developments in question primarily include: Electronic data carriers and computerisation of the health care system digitalisation of information and a wider use of IT tools provide a basis for many changes in the information distribution. These tools are instrumental in speeding up the data transfer while reducing costs, provided that the IT infrastructure and access to the internet are sufficiently developed. Internet unlocking the potential of the global network: the use of electronic mail to maintain personal relationship between the representative and the doctor sending marketing materials in electronic format, links, current news in the form of newsletters, etc. online portals and web services dedicated to doctors, which help obtain and exchange information on medicines, treatment, work, etc. online presentations of products (e-detailing), which often feature an interactive element or evaluation of the presented material with a view to obtaining feedback to be used to modify subsequent communication (see: Modern Marketing Strategies: Closed Loop Marketing below virtual trainings (e-learning) in which doctors can participate from remote sites without spending time on travel online presentations and lectures (webinars) online broadcast of events, e.g. conferences, symposia, lectures web sites of drug manufactures, which also contain sections addressed to doctors, on which detailed information on medicines, scientific publications, multimedia presentations of products, etc. can be found.

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Modern forms of marketing as a way of handling legal restrictions on the pharmaceutical market in Poland

Multimedia the use of transmission forms that are supplementary to printed materials, such as image, sound, motion pictures and the interaction with the presented transmission. These forms are used not only to enhance the transmissions appeal but also to boost the recipients involvement and, consequently, improve the retention of transmitted information. Modern Marketing Strategies: Closed Loop Marketing (CLM) these strategies rely on the combined strength of electronic data carriers, multimedia, the internet and advanced database systems. The systems involve the monitoring of marketing materials transmitted to a specific recipient and the recipients reaction. On the basis of feedback thus obtained the marketing and sales activities can be swiftly adjusted to match the customers (i.e. the doctors) expectations. Storing the relevant information on this type of interaction can be helpful in arriving at a complete view of the customer who they are, what type of information and transmission is preferred, what the customers background is. Using this information, product managers can segment the market on a day-to-day basis and create personalised communications which are adjusted to match the needs of narrow groups of customers. Mobile phone the individualisation of phone communication fuelled by the development of mobile telephony; the possibility of using texting as a simple, affordable and non-invasive technique for informing doctors of novelties and providing tips on how to obtain additional information is indicated sources.

Doctors surgery still the most popular place for seeing representatives
In the study conducted by PMR among doctors in Poland we asked our respondents questions about their knowledge of the specific forms of communication between doctors and pharmaceutical companies. It appears that the most typical place where doctors meet representatives of pharmaceutical companies remains the doctors surgery during working hours (99%) or off-working hours (97%), as well as meetings at scientific conferences (100%) almost all doctors have heard of this possibility. Phone contact (mostly involving the arrangement of subsequent appointments) and contacts during post-marketing surveillance are also among the generally popular ways of liaising with pharmaceutical companies (each garnering over 90% of responses). It should be also noted that the respondents are widely familiar with the modern forms of marketing: a vast majority of doctors, i.e. 9 in 10, have are familiar with group multimedia product presentations at workplace where a medical representative gathers a group of doctors in a single hospital or any other facility and presents the advantages of a new medicinal product in a multimedia presentation. Roughly three-quarters of doctors have also heard of similar presentations shown on laptops or portable devices (tablets, PDAs). Such presentations can be dedicated to doctors active in a specific segment or they can be in fact personalised to meet specific needs of the person based on the feedback obtained during past visits or on the basis of the capabilities for interactive modification of the presented materials in real time. However, recipients of communications are not always aware of the analytical mechanism behind the interactive presentation, so when asking about their knowledge of and contact with specific marketing tools we are unable to determine what type of technology they actually had contact with.

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Modern forms of marketing as a way of handling legal restrictions on the pharmaceutical market in Poland

The next group is comprised of all types of communication channels based on the internet: 84% of doctors have heard of receiving unwanted marketing information (spam), while 80% of respondents are aware of the possibility of receiving marketing e-mails with the addressees consent. 84% of respondents are aware of the existence of online trainings available to doctors; 74% of them know of multimedia presentations of products that can be watched on the internet, which also includes presentations based on interactive e-detailing, while 72% of respondents have heard of video-conferences with the participation of opinionleaders. Phone-related tools are the least known by doctors as a means of contacting representatives of medicine manufacturers.

Proportion of doctors who have heard of the given form of contact with pharmaceutical companies in Poland, 2010
Participation in sponsored conferences/trainings Personal visits of representatives at workplace during working hours Meetings at company stands during conferences/fairs Personal visits of representatives at workplace during off-working hours Meetings with representatives outside of workplace Contact via phone Postmarketing surveillance Group multimedia product presentations at workplace Online trainings E-mail - unordered E-mail - ordered Personal multimedia product presentations Online multimedia product presentations Videoconferences with participation of opinion leaders Infoline services and call centres for doctors Text message - unordered Text message - ordered 100% 99% 99% 97% 95% 95% 93% 90% 84% 84% 80% 76% 74% 72% 64% 63% 62%

Source: Modern and traditional forms of effective pharmaceutical marketing, PMR, 2010

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Modern forms of marketing as a way of handling legal restrictions on the pharmaceutical market in Poland

Oncologists most interested in e-detailing

Oncologists demonstrate the strongest interest in personal individual multimedia presentations (which are a form of e-detailing) 30% of these doctors would like to use this tool more frequently. Cardiologists are at the opposite end of the scale as only 7% of them would be willing to participate in such presentations more often, and a steep 63% of them are not interested in this form of obtaining information on medicines at all.
Interest in using individual personal multimedia presentations by doctors in Poland, by specialisation, 2010
Oncology (n=54)

30% 19% 36%

48% 3% 60% 61% 9% 63%

4% 39%

19% 3% 2%

Paediatrics (n=64)

Gynaecology (n=50) Neurology/psychiatry (n=51) Primary health care (n=54) Cardiology (n=54)

12% 12% 11% 7%

24% 22%

2% 6% 43%

37%

28%

2%

Would like to use them more often Would like to use them less often than now Don't know

Would like to use them as much as now Don't use and don't intend to use them

Source: Modern and traditional forms of effective pharmaceutical marketing, PMR, 2010

Research information
Information presented in this article is based on the quantitative results of the market survey performed by PMR Research, which are presented in full in the report entitled Modern and traditional forms of effective pharma marketing published by PMR in November 2010. The survey was performed in the period from June to August 2010 using the CATI (computerassisted telephone interview) method. 350 full-length interviews were completed. Selected specialisations included in the survey: primary care doctors (including family doctors, internists, paediatricians)
Pediatricians working primarily as primary care doctors were classified as such. The remaining ones are classified as pediatricians.
1

paediatricians gynaecologists psychiatrists and neurologists (together considered as a single group) cardiologists oncologists. At least 50 interviews were conducted for each group of doctors.

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