BRANDELOQUENCE!

This article by U NARAYANADAS on branding in the pharmaceutical industry is the fourth in the series that was published by Express Pharma Pulse and appeared in its issue dated May 26, 2005

While “marketing” may not have absolute control on the communications which take place in the customer’s office, many factors influence the modes of communications through which brands communicate with their customers, feels U Narayanadas

An American general visiting forward troops during the Korean War, had to engage an interpreter to address them. The general, seeking to grip the soldiers’ attention, told an elaborate joke, which lasted several minutes. Then, the interpreter said a few words and the assembly burst into laughter. After the speech was over the mystified general asked the interpreter how he translated the joke in so few words. The interpreter informed him, with a sheepish grin, that there would be no point in translating the joke word for word, so he told the soldiers that the general just told a joke, and they should acknowledge it with laughter.

The story may seem inconsequential, but consider the constant tussle between marketing and sales about implementation of strategies - especially communication strategies. 

A familiar complaint from 'marketing' is that 'sales' does not faithfully implement strategies. 'Sales', returns the compliment by whining that 'marketing' does not understand the realities of the market place. While marketing’s uncouth brute and sales’ glamour doll spar at each other, sometimes communications assume strange forms. Sales’ perspective in the story is that the proof of the pudding, after all, lies in eating it.

While marketing may not have absolute control on the communications which take place in the customer’s office, many factors influence the modes of communications through which brands communicate with their customers.

Missing The Wood For The Trees

A product manager’s eagerness to score a hit may sometimes cloud his/her better judgement. As a result he/she tries to project what she sees as the benefit, not necessarily what the customer desires. One such product manager insisted on using the hologram on a pack as the brand’s USP. It might have worked for a while, when the hologram was a novelty, but it was not the brand’s innate strength. 

The holographic seal offers, at best, an indirect benefit by offering the consumer the genuine article. The benefit, if any, is to the marketer as his objective is to prevent piracy. 

Beginning With The End?

Secondly the pressure cooker atmosphere, in which a product manager works, forces him to think of a mnemonic or tagline the moment a brand is assigned to him and not after he thought through a brand strategy, drawing it from an audit of the strengths and weaknesses of his brand and its competitors.

This, to use a familiar cliche, is putting the cart before the horse. Once the cart is put before the horse, the rest follows by weaving the communication around the tagline with the unseemly expectation that the cart would draw the horse! 

A product manager wanted to use the tagline ‘A tribute to womanhood’ for an oral anti-fungal for vaginal candidiasis! He was dissuaded from offering such a ridiculous 'tribute to womanhood', but long before another company marketing an iron supplement paid the same 'tribute to womanhood'. The hallmark of a professional is his/her willingness to experiment and change. But, most creative people have this weakness: they fall in love with their work early on and are reluctant to change. 

Sauce For The Goose And Sauce For Its Gander!

Thirdly, a bit of amateur product management from the company’s power elite sometimes influences brand communications. A senior official of a company during a discussion on packaging material designs for a new brand insisted that they use the ‘Colgate Ring’ in the designs! He liked it in Colgate’s television commercials.

According to him, the brand offered a protective ring to the patient - it did not matter in which condition it was prescribed. 

When In Doubt Apply Rule No.1!

Brands are mainly extended either to cash in on their popularity to step into other segments or shore up revenues from plateaued/flagging brands. There may be a situation where, in the new segment, the original product may have only a subsidiary role while the add-ons play a more important role.

For example, if a cough syrup is launched as brand extension of a popular antihistamine, the antihistamine may at best have a subsidiary role in the extension. Most textbooks assign a placebo role to antihistamines in cough mixtures. Therefore in such an extension, there would be no point in highlighting the original brand’s efficacy irrespective of its popularity. 

A brand should deliver on its promise to be successful in the long run. That should be the eternal Rule No. 1. 

The primary objective of the brand extension in the above example, i.e. the cough mixture should be to relieve cough not allergy. When in doubt, Apply Rule No. 1 should be the guiding maxim.

Charles Revlon, chairman of the Revlon Cosmetics is reported to have said ‘‘We make chemicals in the factory, the retailer sells hope in the store’’. The chemical mixed and packed in the factory transforms into a brand, picking up en route a name, an image, an identity, a mnemonic, a tagline and - even a personality! (Brand personality may be more applicable in case of durable and some non-durable consumer goods.) And, the brand communicates hope!

Mnemonics And Gestalts

Integration and application of ideas developed by two independent researchers helped marketers along in their efforts in brand building. For a consumer to patronise a brand he should recall it in the first place.

The German word Gestalt is hard to translate into English but roughly means an 'organised whole'. Dr Frederick Pearls, a Freudian analyst, developed the principles of Gestalt psychology and employed them in psychotherapy.

But Gestalt theory’s more mundane application is in advertising. If people are shown a near incomplete circle and asked what they saw in it, nine out of ten people would reply that it was a circle. Readers of this article will have no difficulty in reading the following paragraph and understanding its meaning. We do not know whether such a research was indeed carried out at Cambridge but the paragraph is self-explanatory. 

‘‘Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae, the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.’’

This could probably be the reason for some errors we see in print escaping the eagle-eyed scrutiny of the most intrepid proofreader.

The second important development was the Russian scientist Pavlov’s biological experiments. Pavlov set out to observe the effect of external stimuli on the gastric secretions of rats. The experiment was to ring a bell before offering rats their daily rations. The rats, conditioned to hearing a bell before their meals, continued to secret digestive juices in anticipation of food even when food was not served after the ring, for a few days. And in the process Pavlov stumbled upon the now famous theories of learning.

The principle behind development of mnemonics and logograms is a combination of Gestalt psychology and the results of Pavlov’s experiments. Its objective is to make people remember/recall a product or concept by looking at the proffered concept as an organised whole and remember it by association of ideas.

The writer is Marketing Manager, VINS Bioproducts Ltd, Hyderabad. E-mail: unarayanadas@yahoo.com 

BRANDING IS POSITIONING...

This article by U NARAYANADAS on branding in the pharmaceutical industry, the third in a series of four appeared in Express Pharma Pulse of February 03, 2005

One of the chapter headings in an interesting book called FORENSIC MARKETING is ‘Interrogate a brand till it confesses its strengths’! Should it not spur us to think, asks U NARAYANA DAS

..............................................

BETTER THAN SHAKESPEARE?

George Bernard Shaw captioned Caesar and Cleopatra’s preface with the poser: "Better than Shakespeare?" Shaw and Shakespeare may appear incongruous in an article on branding but consider this: poets and artists, playwrights and politicians all vie to have the public interested in their work. To achieve this, firstly their work has to have intrinsic merit and secondly it should have distinguishing features.

Bernard Shaw’s prefaces written in powerful prose are as popular as his plays. Shaw did not mean any disrespect to the Bard of Avon as the first sentence of his preface clarifies: “I shall be remembered as long as Shakespeare and Aristophanes or shall be forgotten a clown down the turn of the century.”

Bernard Shaw had merely positioned his play as different from Shakespeare’s. Some critics say that Shakespeare portrayed his male characters as weak-kneed and his plays had only heroines, no heroes. In contrast, Shaw’s delineation of Caesar was sharper and more masculine. Who would read Shaw’s play if it were to be in the same mould as Shakespeare’s and on the same subject?

MONA LISA A BREAK FROM TRADITION

Some art critics believe that Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa became as popular as it did because the ‘subject’ was a ‘departure’ from tradition. Divinity or nobility were subjects of art till then. da Vinci introduced a common housewife as his subject in Mona Lisa (She was the wife of a poor nobleman who commissioned the painting but could not pay da Vinci for it).

POSITIONING AND POLITICAL CONTENT

During the election 2004, Indian media was agog about political parties marketing their icons and philosophies as brands. The new age of marketing infected the media into branding (pun intended) political parties but political parties have all along been indulging in it explicitly or implicitly.

From Indira Gandhi’s 'Garibi Hatao' to the BJP’s (in)famous 'India Shining,' all such slogans have been positioning statements. India Shining was a case in point where a political party’s positioning statement did not find favour with its target audience and the brand was rejected. And in the US, presidential election campaigns are virtually conducted by Madison Avenue.

THE CONCEPT OF POSITIONING AND POPULAR PERCEPTIONS

The concept of positioning is closely inter-related with market segmentation, target marketing, product differentiation, consumer benefit and brand image. Brand image is what the consumer perceives of the attributes of a brand vis-à-vis brand identity - what the marketer intends to portray.

Chloromycetin is a good example of consumer perception as it is often confused with its generic content chloramphenical. Or the brand name Tossex, which is not a sex stimulant. The expression 'Ivy League' is often misperceived in India as standing for scholastic excellence akin to Harvard or Oxford. The facts are different: eight universities in the US north-east joined in a league to play annual sports tournaments. As the universities, which formed the league, have green ivy on their walls the tournaments are called Ivy League tournaments.

There are many definitions of positioning in marketing literature but the most apt seems to be the one given by Beckman, Kurtz and Boone in Foundations of Marketing: ‘Product positioning refers to the consumer’s perception of a product’s attributes, use, quality and advantages and disadvantages in relation to competing brands’. The operative part of this definition lays stress on the consumer’s perception of a brand’s attributes.

IF YOU ARE SURE, GO FOR THE ENEMY’S JUGULAR...

The note on H2 receptor antagonists in the British National Formulary mentions that cimetidine, ranitidine and famotidine have similar pharmacological and safety profiles. Cimetidine (Tagamet) the first to be introduced was a real chart buster and obviated the necessity for surgery for peptic ulcers by almost 90 per cent.

As the first to be introduced, Cimetidine had undergone post marketing surveillance by the time ranitidine made its appearance. For the introduction of ranitidine (Zantac), Glaxo needed a platform to overcome entry barriers and challenge the incumbent.

Side effects - especially its binding androgen receptors - observed with ’long term use of cimetidine in high doses’ (Goodman and Gilman qualifies its warning) came in handy to ‘knock its block off’, as the Americans would say in boxing parlance. Glaxo seized the opportunity and positioned Zantac as an anti peptic-ulcerant with a better safety profile.

The rest, as they say, is history! Tagamet lost 50 per cent of its market share in the year Zantac was launched. Zantac usurped Tagamet’s Guinness Book slot and the entire top brass including the Chairman of SKF the company that launched the wonder drug (that probably rendered many surgeons jobless), lost their jobs.

...OR CHOOSE TO BE A BIG FISH IN A SMALL POND

In India when Glaxo made a foray into the ‘vitamin B complex with C’ segment, the company positioned Cobadex as a ‘co-prescription B complex’. The suggestion inherent in the brand name seems to be the obvious explanation. (Interestingly, Nancy Powers’ pocket medical dictionary includes Cobadex as a steroid cream in its list of proprietary medicines marketed in Europe).

But a more logical marketing explanation would be the company’s intention to piggy ride with the antibiotic market, which accounted for 20 per cent of the pharma market (then). 

The company had to contend with a very strong number one in Becosules, followed by Surbex-T at number two, Becozyme C Forte, Beplex Forte and Stresscaps et al grouped together at a lower level.

Glaxo apparently sacrificed myriad indications (in which a ‘B complex with C’ could be prescribed) to be exclusively remembered as a co-prescription B complex. Pfizer launched an epic ’fight-back’, but was forced to make a course shift grouping Becosules and Terramycin together in all its subsequent promotions, a subtle acknowledgement of Glaxo’s positioning of Cobadex.

Glaxo’s aggressive entry however could not dislodge Becosules from its number one perch but achieved the company’s secondary objective of making the brand a big fish in a small pond. Marketing battles between the two - which may be called the Indian pharma equivalent of the famous Cola wars - expanded the market with Cobadex eventually settling at number two.

START A NEW CATEGORY

Jack Trout and Al Ries recommend in their 'Twenty-two Immutable Laws of Marketing,' starting a new category as the best way to launch a new product successfully. If it is not possible to start a new category, they say, start at least a new sub-category.

The advent of 'Schedule V' in the eighties brought about changes vitamin formulae. Zinc became a cameo as companies made a virtue of what they were allowed to include to compensate for trimming down vitamins. Similarly anti-oxidants was a successful attempt at sub-categorisation as multi-vitamin mineral supplements always had the few ingredients seen in anti-oxidants, but biotin and selenium, which were not considered important earlier, were assigned cameo roles in the new (sub) category.

THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING...

The objective of any positioning is to gain the elusive perceptual position in the consumer’s mind, often described as the black box.

The success of the strategy depends on the marketer’s ability to communicate the concept to the consumer and win instant recall. One of the chapter headings in an interesting book called FORENSIC MARKETING is ‘Interrogate a brand till it confesses its strengths’!

Should it not spur us to think? Taglines and mnemonics should emerge from a thorough audit of the strengths of a brand vis-à-vis competition.

The writer is a Hyderabad based practising manager and marketing consultant. Email: unarayanadas@yahoo.com

BRANDING BEGINS WITH A NAME!

This article by U NARAYANADAS on branding in the pharmaceutical industry, the second in a series of four appeared in Express Pharma Pulse of December 23, 2004 

A ‘Brand’ is considered to be a mixture of attributes some tangible, others intangible. All these attributes are condensed into and expressed in a trademark that differentiates it from others and is expected to create value and influence (buying) behaviour.

The perceived value of a brand depends on the viewer’s perspective: for the marketer a promise; for the consumer the delivery of that promise; for the business the security of earning profits; legally an intellectual property.

BRANDING BEGINS WITH A NAME!

The antecedents of branding may be traced to the days when cattle used to be tattooed with a mark to indicate their ownership. The objectives of modern branding are partly the same. A ‘Brand’ is considered to be a mixture of attributes some tangible, others intangible. All these attributes are condensed into and expressed in a trademark that differentiates it from others and is expected to create value and influence (buying) behaviour.

The perceived value of a brand depends on the viewer’s perspective: for the marketer a promise; for the consumer the delivery of that promise; for the business the security of earning profits; legally an intellectual property.

Additionally, brands aid customers to choose from a wide variety. Naming brands that pack so much value into them is a difficult exercise. It is not just coining a name but encrypting a concept that would unravel when the name is used. The famous positioning guru Jack Trout called one of his books ‘Get the Name Right’, but, essentially, it deals with encrypting a concept. Randall S Rozin, Global Manager of Branding at Dow Corning and an editorial board member of Journal of Brand Management, says that a good (brand) name is better than riches. In an instructive article on the dos and don’ts of creating names, he lists the interesting example of Chevrolet that wanted to name one of their cars Nova till someone pointed out that it means “Does not go” in Spanish. Similarly when Coca-Cola sought to name a citrus drink Urge in Sweden (Surge in other countries), it ran into legal problems as people with the same surname objected to it.

These examples may seem exotic, as Indian brand names may not encounter such problems at the moment. This may be so because we do not have any global brands (exceptions are few and far between). As the Indian industry looks towards wider horizons, hopefully, we shall soon create global brands. There is an entry in Drug Index listing Pamela as a brand of paracetamol and racemethionine. Let us hope that a Ms Pamela will not take umbrage at her name being bandied about associating it with an antipyretic.

THE WORKS BEHIND THE WORDS!

Carmaker Daimler exhibited the prototype of a new car to some of its dealers. One of them, an enterprising chap, offered to sell a third of the produce if the car was named after his daughter Mercedes. Thus was born the brand name for the most coveted automobile - Mercedes.

Here is a list of amusing and (maybe) instructive stories behind coining some other popular brand names. (See box.)

NAMING CATEGORIES

There are three broad categories into which brand names may be classified:

DESCRIPTIVE NAME: A name, which describes a product or service for which it is intended.

For eg: Abdec, Cetzine, Ostocalcium.

ASSOCIATIVE NAME: A name, which indicates a benefit or aspect of a product by association of an original or striking idea.

For e.g.: Acibloc, Mucolite.

FREESTANDING NAME: A name, which has no link with the product but has a meaning of its own.

For e.g.: A M P M, 11 P M.

The following may also be considered:

ABSTRACT NAME: A name that is entirely created and has no meaning of its own. Abstract names may also be classified as a sub-set of freestanding names as they too do not have any link to the product or service.

For e.g.: Avil, Zinetac.

COINED NAME: Any name that has been in some way created; such a name may be descriptive, associative or freestanding.

For e.g.: Allenburys, Kokkos (See below)

ACRONYM NAME: A name that has been coined by using an acronym of a larger unwieldy name.

For e.g.: Amul, Noida.

We find a majority of Indian pharma brand names falling in the descriptive category and few in the associative category. The two examples given above under the freestanding category do not strictly conform to the definition as they indicate the two times in the one case and late night dosing in the other. And it was difficult to find names under the other categories on a cursory examination of Drug Index. Occasionally, we find (mostly generic companies) prefixing or suffixing all their brands with a part (or full) of their corporate name.

This may be because we would like to play safe by giving the reluctant doctor a cue to remember our product, which limits our freedom to be creative. As we move into the next epoch, which does not permit copycats we might see more creativity in coining names that encrypt concepts.

THE STORY OF A GREEK SOLUTION

The writer was heading a marketing team that sought to introduce an amoxycillin and cloxacillin combination brand several years ago. The market was already choc-a-block with dozens of similar brand; some of them big names. The team’s objective was to launch its brand-successfully - into the crowded market. How does one do it without the doctor brushing it aside with: ‘Oh! Not another? I have enough of them’. With that the interview peters out and the field staff will not just lose morale but all interest in the product.

The team had many sittings to thrash out the issue. In one of the sittings the team went through the attributes of the product (which was not yet a brand) and decided to focus on its gram-positive spectrum, especially its ability to combat staphylococcal infections. The team tried the use of computer software that coined hundreds of names based on specified parameters. None of them was satisfactory.

An idea germinated when someone pointed out in one of the meetings, that the word staphylococcus emerged from two Greek words, staph meaning bunch and kokkos meaning grape. In fact, the microscopic picture of staphylococcus looks like a bunch of grapes. The explanation seemed to deliver a name. A concept began to take shape. The team decided that it would tell the doctor about shapes and Greeks. And, of course, solutions to his problems. (Else what would be the point in meeting him?) The interview would not be killed. On the other hand it would kindle the doctor’s interest. The company’s medical representatives were instructed to tell the doctor about ‘A Greek Solution for Coccal Infections’. The first page of the Visual Aid carried only the picture of a bunch of grapes and the caption: ‘A Greek Solution for Coccal Infections’. The brand was christened Kokkos. Doctors who would normally rush medical representatives through their detailing gave the story an interested hearing, were amused with its details and asked several questions or entered into animated discussions. Needless to say that Kokkos was a runaway success as a brand and far exceeded the company’s marketing objectives during the year of its launch. There were other components in the marketing of this brand and may be discussed elsewhere on occasion.

PRAXIS NOT THEORY

Book Review

HardKnocks For The GreenHorn (107+ pages with colour illustrations; price: Rs 599) and SuperVision For The SuperWiser Front-Line Manager (158+ pages with colour illustrations; price: Rs 799) by Anup Soans. Published by Asian Trading Corporation, Bangalore.

BRANDING FOR VALUE

When this blog was originally mooted it was intended to cover purely personal development topics. Later it was decided to extend it to other management topics. This article by U NARAYANADAS on branding in the pharmaceutical industry, the first in a series of four appeared in Express Pharma Pulse of December 9, 2004

BRANDING FOR VALUE

Brands have to be constantly nurtured and safeguarded against attrition by competitors, says U NARAYANADAS

AN EXCELLENT PRODUCT CAN SOMETIMES DELIVER A BOMB!

When this blog was originally mooted it was intended to cover purely personal development topics. But then it was decided to extend it to other management topics. And rather than waiting for topics in a particular order, to post whatever is at hand!

Product management is neither pure theory nor just practice. It is praxis! It is ‘practical application or exercise of a branch of learning’ - marketing. The scientist in the laboratory practices theory. The salesman in the field applies practical wisdom.

SELF ORGANISATION & TIME MANAGEMENT

Time management is a part of self-orgnisation which involves prioritising activities according to their relative importance and doggedly following those priorities.

HOW TO WRITE A RÉSUMÉ THAT COMPELS ATTENTION!

Curriculum Vitae or ‘CV’ is a marketing tool, just like a TV commercial. Just as you watch innumerable number of commercials on the telly, employers receive thousands of CVs everyday. You do not remember all the commercials. If you were asked to name the most you remember, you would come up with hardly a handful. This is because your subconscious mind screens and rejects many of them. 

ALNASCHAR AND PYGMALION

It is axiomatic to say that ‘developing a positive outlook is the first step in the process of self development ’. However it must be clearly understood that positive outlook without positive action (or effort) amounts to daydreaming and the two must be clearly distinguished. 

DEVELOPING A POSITIVE OUTLOOK

The first step in the self development process is to inculcate a positive outlook towards life. The success one yearns to achieve in life varies from individual to individual.