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Marketing in its simplest words is satisfying customer needs in a profitable manner to the firm.

Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals

American Marketing Association

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Industry(a collection

of sellers)

Market(a collection

of Buyers)

Goods/services

Money

Communication

Information

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MarketingMix

Product

Price Promotion

Place

CustomerSolution

CustomerCost

Communication

Convenience

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Anything that is offered to the market for attention, acquisition, use or

consumption that satisfies a want or a need

1-Product is . . . . .

Dr. Taher Hamed

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a branding as:

“The process of establishing and

maintaining a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers”.

In its simplest definition, it is a name, term, symbol, feature or any combination of these. It is used/employed to identify the distinctiveness (special) of an offering (i.e., product, service, brand) from those of competitors.

The legal term for brand is Trademark.

Because product differences are now becoming not very uniquely existent, brands have been successful in creating a seeming tangible image of the product.

“Products are made in the factory” “Brands are what consumers buy”

◦Brands help to create an image about the company or its offering, then establish and fix this image in the minds of customers (Positioning)

◦Hence, brand management and positioning are totally interrelated.

Branding simplifies the complexity of the company, product or service offering via brand elements such as:

◦ Brand names◦ Logos◦ Symbols◦ Package designs Branding helps in the thought processes of

consumers when they are either considering purchasing or actually purchasing an offering.

As the function of branding is to distinguish the product or service of one provider over the other and thus allowing the consumer the freedom of choice, brands today, not only have consumer value, but also financial value that can be measured. ( Brand Equity)

When consumers purchase a product

repeatedly, it becomes a big value for the company (a valuable asset ) as long as the brand continues to provide for consumers the value that they seek.

Brand equity = the value of the brand.Several ways in which the value of a brand can be manifested or exploited to benefit the firm :

(a)Greater profits(b )market share ,

(c )lower production costs (d )clear and long-lasting position in the market place.

How to achieve brand equity:1-Skillful design and implementation of marketing

programs2-Strong brand leadership position in the market place

Unique Distinctive Easy to remember Easy to pronounce Relevant to the offering Positive about the offering

A-Introduction: Traditionally thinking…..A drug molecule, whether sitting in a test tube or injected into a patient, should have no personality. It should merely function.

Yet under the mastery of modern marketing world , nascent (new) medicines, before they become fully products and still far from approval and the open market, start to develop a character of their own.

Thus, the pharmaceutical brand – can develop at different stages in the R&D process. Much depends on the company, the product and the market, but generally-drug makers now realize that every product should have a brand.

Now more than ever, pharmaceutical branding has become crucial to creating distinctions in the mind of the patient as well as the physician. This is relevant everywhere in the world now, especially after drug makers started to engage in direct-to-consumer DTC advertising.

B-Different approaches of pharmaceutical branding: Branding in the pharmaceutical industry is not limited to the pharmaceutical products other types of pharmaceutical branding exist like:

i-Company branding: The company brand name adds great value to a brand especially with a strong and powerful company name. Recently, with the recent increase in mergers and acquisitions between the giants of the industry, big brand companies are absorbed and the company had a new name. Such re-branding is very common especially nowadays For example, Glaxo became Glaxowelcome, which then merged with SmithKline and became GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Another example is Hoechst which became Hoechst-Marion-Roussel then merged with Rhon Polank and Sanofi and became Sanofi Aventis, then recently…”Sanofi”

ii-Service branding: Pharmaceutical companies can create a particular service such as hotlines for doctors and patients (Cholesterol lowering agents), or home delivery service for certain specialized drugs ( New insulin pens). or several other programs as trade or pharmacist promotions.

Other consumer-targeted services could include support groups for diabetics, AIDS patients and others. Such programs are usually branded to promote their idea and move before competitor imitation.

iii-Person branding: At times, a pharmaceutical product could be branded after a person. For example, Gripe Water that is used for colicky infants was named after the Egyptian doctor "Garieb" who invented it. Several other examples include , "Robitussin", the cough syrup named after (Dr. A. H.Robbins) Johnson medical shampoo named after (Mr. Johnson) and many others. Traditionally, branding a pharmaceutical product after a doctor or inventor had the advantage of enabling the patient to visualize the inventor and develop a sense of security and confidence in dealing with a real human being, while recently, company brand names exceeded the importance of the inventor.Iv-Idea branding: The idea is the most simple concept of branding and sometimes the most difficult to establish and maintain. Examples are many in the pharmaceutical field such as childproof caps for children’ multivitamins and, creative drug pharmaceutical forms as Novalgin Oblong.

C-Why Branding came relatively late in pharmaceutical marketing?

Branding of pharmaceutical products has undergone a very different cycle of development than products such as fast moving consumer goods FMCG . The pharmaceutical industry itself is very different in a variety of factors than other industries with regard to its product life cycle, its end user, its laws and regulations and many other factors. In the past, there has been less emphasis on development of pharmaceutical branding. This stems from several facts, which include:

1-Unlike fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), drugs are a "rational" purchase. Consumers do not buy a drug because they are interested in the packaging or the name, which they usually do not recognize, but buy it because a physician prescribed it. Thus there is very limited freedom of choice.

2-The "consumer" of pharmaceutical drugs or the patient is not the actual decision maker or purchaser of the product but rather the product is recommended or selected by the doctor or the pharmacist.

-Thus there was a feeling that there was no real need to spend too much to brand pharmaceutical products, because healthcare professionals base their choice of a drug on a variety of factors least of which is the name, packaging etc.

-In turn, doctors are required to base their judgment on the suitability of the drug for the illness, the drug components, or its possible side effects for each case. Thus branding, until recently, had a much less important role in pharmaceutical marketing.

3-There exist many regulatory control authorities on pharmaceutical drugs that would make the freedom and creativity involved in the branding of other products and services nearly impossible to implement in the pharmaceutical industry.

-The promotion and advertising of pharmaceutical brands is limited to medical professionals, and used to be restricted to direct consumers till recently.

D-Why branding is getting so important in pharmaceutical marketing now?

Recently, there has been a much greater emphasis and

change in the importance of branding in the pharmaceutical industry. Many factors have led to this change in attitude for branding and they include:

1-The need for companies to recoup (return) the huge initial investment in the product and thus promote awareness and interest in a new drug.

2-The need for pharmaceutical companies to prolong the life spans of their products when they come off patents. The average research to bring a new drug into the market is approximately $100 millions and the maximum patent life is only 8 years. Thus pharmaceutical companies' need for development of brands would extend the value of their product.

3-There is also an increasing trend in the switching of some products from prescription to OTC drugs. In the OTC arena, branding becomes essential to the consumer's choice of product. Once the drug comes off prescription, there is an important need to establish the drug in the patient's mind so that they continue to purchase it.

4-There is a growing importance and concern for the consumer to be involved in the decision making process of their treatment. Direct to consumer DTC advertising is taking on a very important role in pharmaceutical industry, thus building a pharmaceutical brand name to the end consumer has become of great significance.

5-There is the ever growing competitive environment in the pharmaceutical industry, which necessitates the need for companies and products to differentiate themselves and branding is taking an ever increasing role in the process of differentiation.

E-Stages of developing a pharmaceutical brand name :

There are several stages in development of a brand name for pharmaceutical product and they, in a sense, have several names throughout their development. The lifecycle of a pharmaceutical product is rather lengthy and the product brand name develops rather late in the cycle.

1-Phase One: Throughout the stage of development, products are identified by a laboratory code which is usually alphanumeric. Like ( AM2201) ,It comprises a series of initials and a series of numbers; this identification maintains a level of secrecy and is non indicative of products use or value to avoid leakage of the product development process.

2- Phase Two: A generic name is developed for the product that reflects the chemical constitution and the indication use of the product.

3-Phase Three: Once the generic name is fixed, some

recommended trademarks are developed for the product, which are then presented to approval by regulatory committees. In each country, there exists a regulatory authority that is responsible for approving the brand names of products to ensure that they are not misleading or too similar to other generic names.

The trade name is chosen through several sources

and fits the product according to several criteria. The choice of the brand for a pharmaceutical product can range according to the following sources:

The source of the name

Brand name Notes

1-According to the chemical composition of the drug and from its scientific name

Capoten

Cefotrix

Ferose

Active ingredient (Captopril)Active ingredient (Ceftriaxone)Active ingredient (Iron therapy(

2-According to the disease drug is supposed to cure or relieve its symptoms

Migranil Treats Migraine

3-From the main benefit or action expected from the drug.

Mobilat Noflu Nospasm

Increase mobility

Stops flu symptoms Antispasmodic

The source of the name

Brand Name

Notes

4-From the form (Suffix or Prefix to the name)

Emulgel Reparil Gel

EmulsifiersGel drugsSuspension

From the brand benefit positioning against competitors

Retard Day and Night Selsun Blue

Sustained releaseA tablet in morning/night

Based on the color From the name of the company

Eipilat Entocid

EipicoCID

From the name of the doctor who invented it.

Gripe Water Robitussin

Dr. GhariebDr. A.H Robbins.