The “web 2.0 effect” complicates matters more for pharma, since other industries offer a much more flexible model for companies to interact and respond to their customers. It’s no fault of the makers of Advair, but there is no sanctioned venue for patients to provide immediate support or feedback to drug makers.

In the case of Advair, a patient has few options within brand to get immediate help with an asthma attack. They are only able to find other, un-proven avenues of support.

A possible solution may be areas on the homepage (this works especially well for Advair) for customers who are experiencing an attack and have questions about how Advair can help or links to areas in the site that speak to asthma control and reactions.

“People don’t want a relationship with tylenol, they just want their f*****g headache to go away”

The healthcare system is confusing and muddled, people latch on to others on many levels for guidance… yes pharma can get people to appreciate the services and value provided (and agree that pharma has a lot of work to do just to get close to this), but people go online to fight cancer together b/c they are scared, not because they love the medicines that are helping them fight.

Keep trying to convince me that people love their Lipitor or Crestor… they don’t, people hate having to lower their cholesterol and change their entire lifestyle to survive… no matter how much lipitor is written or how well it works.

You can cherry pick 1-2 medicines like Viagra and make an argument, but relationship marketing for pharma is fundamentally different vs. any other vertical/category… b/c the only good news is when something bad goes away with “manageable” side effects. Very hard to actually have a relationship in that context… at best you can be a consultant or advisor. I’ll settle for getting people to trust a brand or pharma company, but I don’t see ongoing relationship marketing and brand fanaticism happening quite the way you do- and even if it does happen- pharma can only go so far to enable that for risk of off-label promotion.. pharma will never be able to compare with the patient’s relationship with a doctor or pharmacist and in many cases, probably shouldn’t be fighting for that level of contact… but that is all just one man’s opinion.

However, I do disagree with you. I completely get your point about “negative-good”, but I think this only holds to a point. People only see their doctor when they are sick (negative), but if you tell them they can no longer see their doctor (as MCOs have tried to do), people freak out. Yes, there’s a more personal connection there since it’s a person, but people get tattoos of the Apple and Harley logos all the time and those aren’t people.

In addition, I think OTC healthcare brands have done this well. When I go to get acetaminophen for my daughter, I don’t even look at the generics, I demand Tylenol even though I know scientifically and intellectually that it is the EXACT same thing. It’s the same reason why people pay 30% more for Morton salt versus the store brand. Talk about a commodity. Why doesn’t this work for RX pharma?

One final thought, when Nolvadex was available as a branded product (one I sold as a pharma rep), it had a cameo logo on one side on a very small, white pill. When the generic first came available, there was a big backlash for almost a year because people who were substituted the generic got home and found they were given the “wrong” medication. They demanded the brand that got them this far in their treatment (AZ actually produced the brand and generic at that time, so I know they were EXACTLY the same). That was a simple icon. Consider when Viagra goes generic, do you think people will readily accept anything that isn’t a diamond shaped, blue pill? They won’t. Eventually, they will, but at first and for at least a year, they won’t. It’s a simple way to legally and without controversy extend sales after patent expiration.

This is a simple branding fix that pharma still hasn’t really embraced despite the fact that you can add color, laser etched images and tastes to pills now for virtually no cost. Imagine when someone gets switched to a generic that doesn’t TASTE like their normal pill. Do you think their loyalty will kick in then?

Imagine if we instead connected loyalty to a more meaningful, emotional activity like great customer service or an amazing support program. What loyalty might that drive?

Pharma does good work, but at the end of the day, people ALWAYS prefer to not be sick, even if there is a miracle by pill.