A guide to pharma digital media planning and buying in the 21st Century Digital media planning is a specific targeted activity to meet identified customer needs. It’s about clever and engaging ways of finding the right media opportunities, content and creative to put in front of specialised pharma audiences, whether they be rheumatologists, oncologists, nurses or patients. More than anything, you’ve got to marry the message and the medium in a clever way. Understand the context of what to put in your message and keep track of the proliferation and diversity of these on a market-by-market basis. You’ve got to combine a disjointed, complex and relatively unsophisticated media market with the strategic side of planning, messaging, content creation and creative execution. Earlier this year, Pharmafile published ‘Fueling a successful journey into cyberspace’, a piece by Refreshed Wellbeing’s co-managing partners John Hackney and Carl Engelmarc about pharma digital media planning and buying.

1. Service Insight
Fueling a successful journey
into cyberspace
A guide to pharma digital media planning and buying in the 21st Century
By Carl Engelmarc and John Hackney, Managing Partners at Refreshed Wellbeing
ost pharma marketers accept that advertising in specialist sectors like pharma some of the basics right.
M nearly all HCPs are online today.
While the pharma world has lagged
behind consumer brands in its use of digital
because most digital media buying and selling
is based on volume and they simply won’t get
the revenue required to create viable or
Stop mimicking traditional models
communications, there is an ever-increasing sustainable offers for their business model. The old model of “if I build it, they will come”
spend in digital media to reflect their is dead. Many marketers are still trying to
customers’ changing habits. So for a few years nothing really happened. mimic the traditional marketing and sales
Then a couple of years ago the likes of BMJ, models online, concentrating on activities like
What’s much more difficult is figuring out New England Journal of Medicine and interactive edetails, online sales calls, closed
where to find HCPs on the World Wide Web, Elsevier started following the HCPs online. loop marketing and branded websites. All
especially if you’re dealing with multiple Understanding that in so doing they could also these activities have their place and are
countries and regions. Stories abound of increase their advertising revenue through important tactics, but they shouldn’t be treated
marketers who have been let down by digital streams, they created online versions of as isolated events to simply tick the ‘digital’
traditional media agencies when it comes to their publications and journals. With that came box. Digital media should be considered as a
digital. Why is this, and what can pharma digital media packs, but with little expertise in specific targeted activity to meet identified
marketers do to ensure customers are engaged this area, to this day it’s still really basic stuff customer needs. It’s about clever and engaging
with their brands in the online world? like “buy a banner for two weeks” for many. ways of finding the right media opportunities,
content and creative to put in front of your
A potted history specialised audiences, whether they be
rheumatologists, oncologists, nurses or
To understand what the future holds for digital patients.
media buying in pharma, it’s worth “Whatever you do, and
understanding its history. wherever you appear, it has Plus if you do it the right way, the value out of
digital is enormous. We recently worked out
HCPs have been using medical portals for at
to be right for your brand that the cost per impression in digital, even for
least ten years, but most of the people running and your customers.” hitting specialists, can be somewhere in the
those portals were never really media savvy. region of £70-£90 a thousand. If you look at
Created by doctors and web designers, they offline media, it’s often up to around £800-
understood how HCPs wanted to interact with £900 a thousand for certain specialist
content, but weren’t as clear on how that could audiences and titles. And a traditional sales
be developed into a media proposition. These Then there’s all the local market publications, call can now cost between £250-£400 for a
first generation portals/websites were all societies and organisations that deal with two to three minute visit, depending on the
journal-like in their approach, focusing on particular specialist or therapy areas. Many are region and category.
medical information and news rather than trying to commercialise their offers, so there’s
providing viewers with useful tools and a growing opportunity for pharma brands with Stop keeping up with the Joneses
utilities. So they initially sold relatively these as well. But they too lack any real digital
random and basic things like eCME, medical media expertise. Just because there is an ever-increasing
education, microsites and edetailing, tailored plethora of shiny new gadgets, technology and
to mirror or mimic offline sales-led This all makes for rather grim reading if media options out there, it doesn’t mean this is
communications. you’re a pharma marketer looking to create the right thing for your brand. Whatever you
innovative and engaging digital do, and wherever you appear, it has to be right
Traditional media and advertising agencies communications platforms, but it’s not all bad for your brand and your customers.
couldn’t (or wouldn’t) advise on online media news. In recent years specialist agencies like
either. They had little interest in digital Refreshed Wellbeing have been formed to So before you jump on the technology
because their remit and revenue was focused provide European digital healthcare media bandwagon, take a page from traditional
on traditional advertising. Not only this, but strategy, planning, buying and monitoring. media planning and understand who you want
even now the big global media agencies aren’t to talk to (specialist type, therapy area, job
keen on online business to business First things first, though. Make sure you get title), why do you want to talk to them, what
18 Pharmafile Sales & Marketing Guide

2. Carl Engelmarc John Hackney
Managing Partner Managing Partner
are their online habits and destinations, how decide which ones dovetail into your target purpose with your selected media owners (and
are you going to reach and engage with them audiences. customers), else you risk spending a lot of
and what are the right messages and tone of money building stuff that doesn’t work for
voice for them. It’s very likely that you’ll find a high you. As mentioned earlier, static banners have
proportion of your customers with some of the become a very old-fashioned way to use
Only then can you plan and execute the right larger global or pan-European media owners digital. If you’re clever, there are many
communications in the most relevant digital and portals, but don’t stop at just dealing with tailored, customised ways to reach target
media channels. these, especially when considering a multi- audiences. You can use banners to ask
market or multi-region approach. questions to survey people, to challenge
Plan for success someone or get them to play a little game, so
In addition to all this, you’ll need to consider a the banner space becomes a gateway to where
Once you know your target audience ask broader reach for long tail search engine you want to take your audience.
yourself: optimisation and pay per click – tactics to get
• Are the messages branded or unbranded? a specific web property or proposition known Finally, get your digital creative agency and
• Will this be a high visibility branding to your target audience very quickly. your digital media planning agency to work
campaign? together from the outset. Better yet, find a
• Is this a more discreet unbranded campaign It’s all rather fragmented and you’ll need to specialist agency that can offer you both.
to get medical information out, perhaps to understand how all these companies and Ideally what you need is a team of experts that
leverage the benefits of a recently published organisations work because many of them understand digital media in general alongside
report? don’t really have off-the-shelf media specialist knowledge of the digital media
• Which touch points am I going to use and propositions. But that can only be of benefit to world for pharma, combined with overarching
how am I going to use them across a you, because you’ll be assured of negotiating MedComms and branded pharma strategists
spectrum of different communications the most bespoke and relevant solution as and creatives. This way you can seamlessly
opportunities? possible for your brand. blend everything together in a clever, holistic,
multi-faceted campaign.
More than anything, you’ve got to marry the Marry creative delivery with media
message and the medium in a clever way. planning The role of the ‘digital media planner’ rather
Understand the context of what to put in your than ‘press buyer has’ never been more
message and keep track of the proliferation Don’t forget to consider the type of creative important. It’s crucial to dovetail who you
and diversity of these on a market-by-market execution that will achieve stopping power want to reach, what you want to say,
basis. You’ve got to combine a disjointed, and high engagement factor with your target understand all the media owners, different
complex and relatively unsophisticated media audience in your desired media. Truly creative touch points and delivery channels with the
market with the strategic side of planning, ideas really do make your marketing spend go creative execution. The medium is not the
messaging, content creation and creative further. ‘The Link Between Creativity and message but you need to get both right to
execution. Effectiveness,’ recent research from the ensure success.
Institute of Practitioners in Advertising,
Once you’ve figured out your messages, create showed that creatively-awarded campaigns
a ‘glocal’ matrix of media owners. To achieve were 11 times more efficient than non- Carl Engelmarc and John Hackney are
real penetration amongst your target audiences awarded ones in driving market share growth. Managing Partners at Refreshed Wellbeing.
these may include large multi-national media Not only this, but campaigns that worked on
owners such as BMJ and Elsevier, smaller an emotional level were significantly more For further information about our services
local market or regional media owners, global effective than those working at a rational or visit www.refreshedwellbeing.com or
and local medical portals, local societies and information-giving level. Email us at hello@refreshedwellbeing.com
organisations that deal with particular
specialist or therapy areas and local media Typically digital creative agencies focus on
congress organisations in specialist therapist building cool stuff – that’s simply their
areas. Many of these have now invested in heritage. It’s down to you to ensure that your
great customer segmentation data to help you agencies create solutions that are fit for
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