Pharmaceutical firms will not be able to rely exclusively on their three traditional success factors: strong R&D, aggressive defence of patents and use of a powerful salesforce to return to strong growth. New competitive advantages need to be identified to succeed in the industry and the authors propose that a brand logic should be leveraged. The paper defines what branding is, describes the advantages of developing brands in the pharmaceutical industry and highlights the key differences between brands in the FMCG and pharmaceutical industry. We recommend a three-step approach to develop successful brands and propose that companies focus more on corporate brands than on product brands.
