See what we’ve been up to

closerlook sent our digital strategist, James Ellis, to the 2012 ePharma Summit in New York City in February. Below is his recap of his experiences and observations from the three-day event.

I represented closerlook this year at the ePharma Summit. For three days I blogged for the Summit's website and took notes on everything from the topics covered in breakout sessions to conversations I overheard in the halls. The Summit was attended by 1200 professionals from pharmaceutical companies, tech and marketing agencies, as well as other companies in the industry.

Day one focused on tactics, e-mail, mobile, video, etc. Each expert had a different take on how to use his or her favorite tactics, but one message ran through almost every session: every tactic you use, no matter which one it is, could be more effective if you segment and target your audiences.

This isn't news, or at least it shouldn't be. It's as groundbreaking as (and directly related to) knowing your audience. But segmentation was pitched as the acai berry to your favorite tactics. It makes e-mail response rates double. It helps sales reps influence healthcare professionals (HCPs). It drives emotional triggers. It flushes away unsightly belly fat.

Did you know that HCPs are most likely read their e-mail after 6:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays? So now we're supposed to send all our e-mails at 5:50 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays? That's a great approach unless you want to reach pediatricians, who love to read their e-mail early on Tuesday mornings. If you don't segment, you're effectively choosing to ignore one group or the other.

What went unmentioned was how to segment. The basis by which you should segment, the data to use to determine your segments and what manner of segmentation might result in these kinds of quantum shifts in response rates.

Segmentation needs to be seen as a foundational issue. Without it, any tactic, no matter how sexy or cool, will not be as efficient as its potential. It's like asking to leave money on the table. The next hot tactic or channel isn't immune, so let's stop pretending that being on Quora or Pinterest is enough without a proper segmentation strategy.

After the first full day, you'd think that everyone would get the message about the virtues of segmentation. If it wasn't already obvious, the numbers made a very convincing case. But days two and three were billed as more macro views of digital pharma marketing.

The next two days fell into the following buckets: presenters who sought to inspire and succeeded, those who sought to inform and succeeded and those who failed at either informing or inspiring.

Pharma is a dry world, where inspiring stories seem to be rare (which is testament to something, surely). So the most inspiring stories tended to come from outside of the pharma world. What seemed to move the crowd were presentations from Andy Smith on the Dragonfly Effect and Kevin Kelly on the Quantified Self. Kelly's discussion split the audience into those who felt like they saw the future and those who saw science fiction. But perhaps even an argument is preferable to passive acceptance.

Informing this group couldn't have been easy. So few companies are willing to open the kimono enough to allow for useful information to get out. Most campaigns that were discussed were done so in the most general of terms, focusing on a single aspect of the campaign that might not even be relevant to its success.

The two sessions that proved the most informative were those that eschewed any attempt at sexiness. A panel discussion on mobile that turned into a half hour on the value of text messaging had two campaign examples that were well dissected and analyzed. The buzz on the floor reflected the surprise in how effective using decades-old technology could be in achieving broad reach and measurable outcomes. The other session was a blueprint on how Daiichi Sankyo is building their relationship marketing program. Scott Wearley walked us step by step through their process of coordinating all the programs, both HCP and direct to consumer, into one sophisticated system. It wasn't some sales pitch or a glossed-over CEO overview; it was the presentation of someone who was in the room, shaping the project and making the hard decisions that lead to the project's success.

This conference may have felt like other recent conferences in both subject matter and tone, but they all help create a snapshot of pharma marketing here and now. Some wait for new revolutions to acknowledge the change that is really happening every day, while others see these more stable periods as opportunities to incrementally improve every aspect of their marketing. This was their conference.

FEATURED BLOGePharma Summit RELATED BLOGDigital Pharma