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Ahead of the marcus evans PharmaMarketing Summit  2020, Swati Bhaskar discusses 
how pharma marketers can embrace innovation and the latest trends in the market today

Copyright © 2020 Marcus Evans. All rights reserved.

May 7-8, 2020

JW Marriott Marquis, Miami, Florida

“Digital is embedded in pharmaceutical marketing, with marketers using it in numerous ways. Keeping pace with the changing ecosystem and adapting to it has become a key challenge, yet when it comes to embracing innovation, pharma is less enthusiastic relative to other industries. Digital channels are multiplying and consumer habits are evolving faster than ever. Pharma marketers face many constraints but they must embrace innovation. That is the only way,” advises Swati Bhaskar, Chief Executive Officer, Asentech LLC.

Asentech is a digital transformation agency at the marcus evans PharmaMarketing Summit 2020, taking place in Miami, Florida, May 7-8.

Why is pharma slow in adopting new innovations?

Firstly, pharma marketers are very savvy when it comes to allocating spend across the key moments of their customer’s journey. Any company touting innovation must successfully position its solution to enrich the outcomes of the expected customer journey. Secondly, they have budget constraints, and without precedence of success, they prefer to take a “wait and see” approach. They work in a highly regulated industry, and the challenge to get medical, legal and regulatory (MLR) approval on an innovative tactic is huge.

As an innovative solutions provider, the onus is on us to persuade them to take on this challenge. And there are many to do it. There are enormous benefits to adopting innovation.  They lead the change management process with various stakeholders including the MLR teams, and through this organizational learning, they push everyone to think out of the box to adapt innovation in their organization.

What transformative trends are you seeing in the marketplace today?

Smart assistants like Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa are two examples. Many content creators and media companies are embracing this channel. BBC announced that BBC Sounds users will soon be able to pause on one device and resume on Alexa, and vice versa. Pharma is struggling to adopt this channel and find good uses for it, but the potential is huge. According to some estimates, there will be eight billion voice assistants by 2023. Consumption patterns are evolving and people want information at their fingertips. They do not want to read an entire article to find the answer to a question.

That is the future we will be living in. With innovation in natural language processing and artificial intelligence, there is no doubt that we will get there. But this is a process and change is the name of the game! Google and Amazon are changing their algorithms every day to add and modify what these assistants can or cannot do. Given this vision of the future, marketers must consider a simple incremental application to get them started on the channel. Future developments in the market will guide how these applications evolve, but embracing innovation and working through uncertainties and budget permits is a reward in itself.

What is the best way for marketers to introduce this innovation into their organization?

Marketers need to think big but act small! Even if they work with big agencies, they should consider bringing start-ups into the mix to help with their innovation needs. They should co-develop a use case that makes the most sense given where their brand is. Let’s say, you are the marketing director of women’s health products and lack of awareness/stigma is your biggest barrier to growth. You can create multiple, short, high-value pieces of voice content using community leaders that champion women’s health, and stream it using your skill, creating brand presence without privacy concerns (similar to a billboard). You will have to promote this skill among the right audience. At the end of the day, these channels are a means for the brand to meaningfully connect with its audience, in a simple way, and on its terms.

What are your expectations of how Voice will change our future?

It is just another channel for engagement, but the true application of the solution requires an integrated approach. With voice assistants now available on mobile devices, we have the potential to reimagine patient and HCP workflows, to enable a better and more convenient user experience exploiting and integrating multiple channels, including mobile, voice, touch, SMS, chatbots and other native phone features.

Many marketers are taking on a leadership role to bring such experiences to their customers, and we are excited to help with their transformation needs.