Pharmaceutical Branding: ‘To Brand or Not to Brand’

Abstract

The UK pharmaceutical industry has witnessed many changes in the last ten years, adapting to new government regulations, price competition and parallel import from Europe. Many theorists in the mid-1990s forecasted the end of sales forces and direct marketing techniques in favour of small divisions focussing on specific Primary Care Trusts. Two quantitative and two qualitative arms to the research were used. In the GP quantitative surveys, a statistical preference towards the use of medical sales representatives and advertising was found. Brand loyalty was revealed as a reason for prescribing more expensive branded medicines over cheaper generic alternatives. Advertising was found to influence GP prescribing in addition to direct selling techniques. The majority of pharmaceutical companies have restructured or currently undergoing the process to make the field force teams more effective. This paper has uncovered the existence of brand loyalty among healthcare professionals and investigated the marketing methods commonly used to communicate these brand messages. The paper has uncovered a significant level of change and uncertainty over the last ten years but clearly identifies the effectiveness of traditional direct marketing techniques and predicts the rapid expansion of direct to consumer marketing to secure the future many pharmaceutical brands.