Research suggests that advertisements play an influential role in brand marketing. Huge amounts of capital are invested by the companies with the hope to recruit new customers as well as to retain the existing customers. Being a core marketing tool, advertising attracts potential customers that are vital for business growth. Dynamic advertising is an effective way to influence the memory of the consumers and eventually nudge their propensities to buy. The company needs to develop an advertising plan since the strategy will provide direction on how to fulfill goals, how to reach the target audience, and how to allocate the budget. 

Marketing in pharma 

When it comes to drugs, there are a lot of regulatory limitations on the direct advertisement of pharma products. In addition to these, the laws are different for countries which makes it impossible to have a common strategy. Advertisement of drugs cannot be done by the means of any notice, signboard, book, circular, label, wrapper, or any other document confidentially, and any announcement made orally or by any means of producing or transmitting light, sound or smoke. Hence, the two dominant strategies of marketing are  

• The one where the physician can promote the brand, and  
• The other where the medical representatives promote in clinics and hospitals which involves a medium of communication which is quite restricted.  

Currently, direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical products can only be advertised in Brazil, Hong Kong, the United States, and New Zealand. According to the FDA, types of prescription drug advertisements include product claim advertisements, reminder advertisements, and help-seeking advertisements.  

How do the customers decide to buy? 

A variety of factors affect the buying decision of the consumer. It also depends on the type of consumer – existing or potential customers. It’s particularly important to understand crucial links between elements like visual attention and memory. Elements like logos, colors, luminescence, edges, packaging, and fonts seek visual attention. These help in improving the consumer’s memory of the brand. Studies suggest that potential and light customers tend to give more attention to the brand’s advertising because they are unaware of the brand. Naturally, they are more capable of identifying the brand and recalling it than the heavy usage/existing customers. For an instance, when light users view an advertisement for Crocin, one would always go and notice the blue stripe, the white color of the tablet, shape and try to remember it since they weren’t aware of the brand before. Whereas a heavy user knows that it is blue colored and will always subconsciously purchase it without giving much attention to advertisements. In this case, the advertisements are being ignored by heavy users. 

Another aspect of the advertisement is the high level of motivation to process any brand information to the users. This paves the way for greater involvement of users with the brand. A prior brand user stands more chances to recall the product since they are familiar with the structure of the product in terms of visual identification like a capsule color and size. Brand familiarity also has a tricky effect on users. A brand‘s advertisement has to go inline or around the competitor’s advertisement for similar products. This makes it easy for the user to identify which product is being advertised and then insert creative elements or personalised storylines to make it different from the competitors. For example, if the capsules are green-yellow colored, then try embossing your brand logo or name creatively in a different color to stand out but also it should be in the same league as your competitors.  

Taboo advertising is an alternative type of advertising that involves a deliberate attempt to gain attention by creating distinctive advertisements that cut through the competitive clutter. Taboo is a more focused construct, yet a taboo theme can elicit the reaction called provocation, offensiveness, or controversy or create a shock appeal which is again a different perspective of marketing. 

Besides the type of advertising, there are small details that help to register the product in the user’s memory: 

• Understand the color strategy which incorporates 3-5 colors for effective recognition. 
• Always have a fixed color palette for your brand that makes it easily identifiable by consumers. For example – a capsule that is bicolored and a company logo in 3rd color.  
• Try to have exquisite, aesthetic packaging for your product to make it elite and draw the customer’s attention.  

• Design easy logos that can be remembered well by the customers. 

Takeaway  

Though pharma marketing is strictly bound by regulations and follows different routes of brand promotion, the fundamental principles of marketing remain the same. A well-designed marketing strategy based on the type of product and the target country audience and covering all aspects of branding gives maximum brand visibility and leads to successful campaigns. 

References: 

1) Available from: https://www.mondaq.com/india/food-and-drugs-law/265212/advertisement-of-drugs-in-india-an-overview 

2) Available from: https://www.ethoseo.com/pharmaceutical-advertising-strategy#.X1uE0HkzbIV 

3) Simmonds, L.; Bellman, S.; Kennedy, R.; Nenycz-Thiel, M.; Bogomolova, S. Moderating Effects of Prior Brand Usage on Visual Attention to Video Advertising and Recall: An Eye-Tracking Investigation. J. Bus. Res. 2020, No. February, 1–8.