Rx to OTC Shift : A Challenge to be managed smartly

Rx to OTC Transition is need to be understood (At least for me):

I tried to explore the idea of using some specific taglines by the health & wellness products advertised these days like “Trusted by Doctors”, “Recommended by Doctors”, Doctor’s Trusted Choice”. I am surprised to see that most of the above related taglines are used by those brands which never had taken the doctor’s route of promotion in their marketing practice. I understand the idea of using such type of taglines in terms of brand positioning in consumer domain as Indian Consumers preferably buy in the idea of relating healthcare brands to doctors. It’s a perfect pitch for Indian Consumers especially when that category is crowded by several reputed players and brands.
But I always wondered why these kinds of branding strategy are not adopted by the brands which made shift from Rx category to OTC category. I have this feeling that this kind of strategy is well suited for those brands which shifts from Rx to OTC category. The logical reasoning in support of this feeling is very simple:
1. Since the brand has been in Rx category for many years so it must have enough supporting data to highlight the ‘Doctors relation with the brand’ when they shift to consumer space. And it can be strongly communicated to consumers without any hesitation keeping in mind the support of medical fraternity the brand has earned in its life in that domain. At least it could make stronger pitch than those brands which never took the medical route but highlighted the planned finding of some surveys by saying “ 8 out of 10 doctors recommend XYZ brand for ABC diseases” (You know what I am talking about)
2. Secondly and importantly that brand should not lose connect with medical fraternity. So the shift has to be planned in such a way that the brand does not lose the doctor’s support and able to influence the consumer while it is positioned in that space.
3. At one point of time in their life the consumers will go for doctor’s advice for most of their healthcare choices. It may come later for a brand but this stage is bound to come and has to be visualized and planned in its marketing practice. As the offended medical fraternity can undoubtedly shake the base of the brand.

Following the above points, my perspective of using the taglines (highlighted above) in sync with Brand repositioning strategy can play an important role for those brands which are shifting from Rx to OTC. I believe adoption of such strategy could help in resolving the most prominent challenge which a brand has to face while making such shift.
The big challenge for a ‘shifting brand’ is to keep the support of medical fraternity intact. Generally in India, when a health product is advertised Directly-to-Consumer, the doctors shy away from recommending those brands. And it’s quite understandable that they have to justify the patients visit and the consultation fees by prescribing some unknown brands to them. And the brand going for such transition would like to avoid the situation of losing the support from doctors.
I understand that going directly to consumer gives a larger space and higher business potential to the brand and it is also understandable that it extends the life of that product but it does not mean that the “Prescribers Base” is left to die. Also not to forget that the product life cycle for healtcare brands is not as simple or similar as of FMCG. I believe that over the period of time these brands has to come back to seek the support of doctors in their last stages as consumers perceive doctors as an all time authority for healthcare choices. Initially it may be fine as it shifts to a larger base of consumers but once it reaches on its maturity; “Doctors rule that stage of PLC for healthcare brands”. And if the doctor’s base are not kept intact or engaged throughout the brand’s life it can backfire. I have seen some big brands which made shift and did exponentially good in the initial stage of shift but then these started falling down in later stages and were forced to come back to doctors to demand their support.
The idea of the blog originates from the recent shift of Pediasure from Rx to OTC segment. Pediasure is a strong brand for Kids nutrition which is well accepted in doctor’s domain and I am dying to see how they manage this shift. There is another strong brand from a BIG MNC which is operating in Doctor’s domain at present and planning to shift to OTC segment; I would love to see the brand positioning and shifting strategy of that brand.
The idea also originates from the success of Revital which shifted in OTC segment in 2002 without using any strategy which capture the prescriber’s base of the brand during its transition. But It merits mention here that it has not reached to that maturity stage where (as per my opinion) a brand has to go back to the doctors for their support.
Although I am not a marketing guru but the strategy which is adopted by Non Medical Route Brands (as described in start) so far can be very well explored by the brands shifting Rx to OTC with sharper strategy.
Nevertheless I buy the idea of doctor’s or medical linkage in the promotion of all healthcare brands because of 02 reasons:
1. Indian consumer lacks in healthcare information/knowledge. Or They are too busy to understand or interpret all the health attributes of the products and science behind the product.
2. A brand can not provide all the information or make consumers to understand all the health benefits of product because of its promotional limitation. And using doctors connect or medical linkage is a strategy to sum up all the health benefits of the product in an easy manner and present it to consumers by using some doctor related taglines (in wide terms ‘positioning’) so that it can influence the inferential process of decision making of consumers. It helps them in avoiding the situation or the long process of educating them on the science of the product too.

hariom@viamediahealth.net

I always been a Fan of Extreme and Self- Negative Promotion

Brand advertising or its TVCs always attracted me. When DD metro was talk of the town which used to feature movies on every Friday and Saturday and people used to see movies while shouting upon the TVC intervals; I used to enjoy those TVC intervals irrespective of their proper interpretation. I remember that my first favorite ad was of Pepsi when Aamir slips into a shop to steal a Pepsi Bottle while shop shutter is coming down….. It was thrilling…Finally Aamir impressed the girls (one of them was Aishwarya Rai who was not Miss World at that time) in the Ad…and I loved that slogan of Aamir.. “ YEHI HAI RIGHT CHOICE BABY AHA”…(Its matter of time that Aamir opted for Coca Cola later on). The slogan which was song by Remo Fernandes got wide popularity. However I liked their later slogans too like “ Nothing Official About It”….. Few knows that Coke was the official sponsor of the 1997 Cricket World Cup held in India (along with Pakistan & Sri Lanka)….. this was the first AD which I interpreted correctly. Since Coke was the official partner of Cricket World Cup (which is a big opportunity for anyone to brand itself) and Pepsi was not officially connected with the world cup. So what best could be the idea to catchhold the young generation. ..Obviously there was “Nothing Official about Pepsi” but it clicked well. The idea was to connect with the young population and their then mindset and I understood correctly that its not TVC ..Its a Brand War.

When I read today’s news of how Nokia all of a sudden getting out of choices for the younger generation; the above chain of episodes circulated in my mind. Somehow Nokia did not foresee the trend and attitude of the present generation which is easily being understood and tapped by Virgin, Spice and Micro Max. Today’s generation is trendy, highly stylish, full of ‘esteem needs’ and lives on EXTREME. This extreme style of living of present generation needs to be understood more. Gone were the days when “self-negative advertising” was always kept out of discussion. And..see..now, how it is being explored by few smart brand promoters. The Micro Max Ad which is an extreme self-negative promotion…..but a HIT in the generation…. “ REALLY SORRY for Launching Micro Max”…. Not to forget the case of Virgin Mobile when a group of friends plays mischievous with each other…. Appreciated the efforts of Nokia who taught us about using mobile and its applications.. but somehow we are growing faster mentally than what Nokia apprehended.

Hariom Tyagi

htaygi@viamediahealth.net