CANNES – While advanced channels like connected television offer new tools for precision, for pharmaceutical marketers, success is measured not by immediate return on investment, but by their ability to reach the right audience with a vital message over time.
For them, navigating this landscape is a calculated balancing act, said Erica Taylor, VP and chief marketing officer at Genentech, in this video interview with Mike Shields of Next in Media at Cannes Lions.
The company, a subsidiary of Roche, must weigh its significant investments in direct-to-consumer advertising against a marketing funnel where the final results may not be clear for months.
A tale of two audiences
The central challenge in pharmaceutical marketing is that the ultimate consumer is rarely the primary decision-maker. This creates a dual-audience dynamic that dictates every aspect of the advertising strategy, from the creative message to the media plan.
“Your decision-maker is typically a provider, a physician, the user, obviously, a patient,” Taylor said.” She noted that, while this isn’t entirely unique—pointing to baby formula being marketed to parents, not infants—the stakes are significantly higher when dealing with treatments for serious diseases.
“We have to think about the context of the disease state when deciding when does it make sense to go mass-market,” Taylor explained.
The long road to ROI
Even so, connected TV has emerged as a key tool, allowing for more precise audience targeting than linear television and helping to ensure that large campaign investments are placed effectively. The goal is not to drive an immediate transaction but to foster awareness, with a simple and clear call to action.
“Connected TV gives us an ability to really target and make sure that our investments are in the right place,” Taylor said. “The only call to action necessary in these spaces is [to] make sure you understand that there are options for your disease and ask about them.”
This targeted awareness is critical in a sector where the feedback loop on campaign effectiveness is unusually long. “By the time we learn of whether or not we’ve gotten the true ROI, like have we gotten actual additional prescriptions, it’s usually a minimum of 60 days,” Taylor said.
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