Comments on: Talking to Pharma, Online and Offline http://www.diabetesmine.com/2009/10/talking-to-pharma-online-and-offline.html A gold mine of straight talk and encouragement for people living with diabetes Mon, 15 Mar 2010 08:48:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Ben Atkins http://www.diabetesmine.com/2009/10/talking-to-pharma-online-and-offline.html/comment-page-1#comment-413489 Ben Atkins Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:13:34 +0000 http://www.diabetesmine.com/?p=11004#comment-413489 Thank you Amy and Allison for your post. I work in the pharma industry and I really appreciate the opportunity to listen and learn from blogs like yours. Thank you Amy and Allison for your post. I work in the pharma industry and I really appreciate the opportunity to listen and learn from blogs like yours.

]]> By: AmyT http://www.diabetesmine.com/2009/10/talking-to-pharma-online-and-offline.html/comment-page-1#comment-413024 AmyT Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:23:31 +0000 http://www.diabetesmine.com/?p=11004#comment-413024 All fixed now, Joseph, thanks. See also, John Mack's ( @pharmaguy ) call for input on policy development: http://pharmamkting.blogspot.com/2009/10/i-will-present-survey-results-at.html All fixed now, Joseph, thanks.

See also, John Mack’s ( @pharmaguy ) call for input on policy development:
http://pharmamkting.blogspot.com/2009/10/i-will-present-survey-results-at.html

]]> By: Joseph Flaherty http://www.diabetesmine.com/2009/10/talking-to-pharma-online-and-offline.html/comment-page-1#comment-412904 Joseph Flaherty Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:44:35 +0000 http://www.diabetesmine.com/?p=11004#comment-412904 The update link about the hearing on social media seems to be broken. Would love to check it out! The update link about the hearing on social media seems to be broken. Would love to check it out!

]]> By: Matthew Tendler http://www.diabetesmine.com/2009/10/talking-to-pharma-online-and-offline.html/comment-page-1#comment-412718 Matthew Tendler Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:02:14 +0000 http://www.diabetesmine.com/?p=11004#comment-412718 Pharmaceutical companies have their work cut out for them: They are not like other consumer product companies like Apple or Starbucks in that ultimately the physical products pharmaceutical companies make are much more important than how much love they have. Allison provided a perfect example of this: She "loves" Novo-Nordisk but sticks to Humalog anyway. In the other examples, if you LOVE Apple you'll go out and buy Apple products instead of Dell or HP. If you LOVE Starbucks, you'll choose Starbucks over the competitors 7 days a week. Does Novo Nordisk consider Allison's love for them (as a diabetic, not an influential blogger), but her apparent refusal to switch to their products, a win for their company? The barrier of switching is as tiny as asking her endo for a different prescription, but in reality she probably just sees no reason to change to the Novo Nordisk product. Apple knows that if people love them as a company, that these consumers will buy and switch to their products NO MATTER WHAT; whether the products are overpriced or inferior in technical specifications or both. Is the same true for a pharmaceutical company's products? If we use Allison as an example, no. Social media is still VERY important for pharmaceutical companies but I believe there are a different set of case studies that they should follow instead of Apple and Starbucks. Whereas people will sacrifice to buy products they love (for example spending more money on a Mac), diabetics, in general, will not sacrifice to buy from a company they love unless the benefits are VERY apparent. Pharmaceutical companies have their work cut out for them:

They are not like other consumer product companies like Apple or Starbucks in that ultimately the physical products pharmaceutical companies make are much more important than how much love they have.

Allison provided a perfect example of this: She “loves” Novo-Nordisk but sticks to Humalog anyway. In the other examples, if you LOVE Apple you’ll go out and buy Apple products instead of Dell or HP. If you LOVE Starbucks, you’ll choose Starbucks over the competitors 7 days a week.

Does Novo Nordisk consider Allison’s love for them (as a diabetic, not an influential blogger), but her apparent refusal to switch to their products, a win for their company? The barrier of switching is as tiny as asking her endo for a different prescription, but in reality she probably just sees no reason to change to the Novo Nordisk product.

Apple knows that if people love them as a company, that these consumers will buy and switch to their products NO MATTER WHAT; whether the products are overpriced or inferior in technical specifications or both. Is the same true for a pharmaceutical company’s products? If we use Allison as an example, no.

Social media is still VERY important for pharmaceutical companies but I believe there are a different set of case studies that they should follow instead of Apple and Starbucks. Whereas people will sacrifice to buy products they love (for example spending more money on a Mac), diabetics, in general, will not sacrifice to buy from a company they love unless the benefits are VERY apparent.

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