Pfizer Intranet Portal

Appropriate brand strategy applied to products, projects and corporate are an obvious must. What about internal tools? They should not be ignored. Careful planning and brand objectives are relevant here as well, and the relation with the external brands should be considered too.

A good example for brand implementation of an intranet portal is the one applied by Pfizer for its manufacturing colleauges. A case study is presented by The Archer Group - the marketing agency.

Gilad Karni

Examples of Drop-Down and Sliding Menus

Drop-Down and sliding menus are among the first web design elements a customer is exposed to when navigating to branded websites

A great collection of interesting menus is displayed by Spyrestudios here.

Gilad Karni

Patients Can Talk Back With Sidewiki

Sidewiki is a feature on Google's toolbar that allows anyone to comment on pages as they surf the web. As a social media tool, Sidewiki allows other surfers to read these comments.

What does this mean for medical sites?

It means that patients and physicans alike can leave comments on branded sites with no pharma control. Consumers can report adverse events. Physicians can have on-line on-site discussions of off label use.

It is not clear yet how the industry will handle the situation. Benjamin Curtis of PharmExec reports ways to block the Sidewiki service. However, he adds that Google can probably work around them. This is going to be an interesting subject to follow...





Gilad Karni

Brand Family or Separated Brands?

You have a drug or a medical device which deserves and needs a strong brand recognition. And then you have the research and/or technology that supports the drug or device that can enjoy branding in its own right...

Should they have completely separated branding or related branding?

Technology and research form the scientific and medical support for the product. Bold branding of it might seem inappropriate. However, a recognizable connection between the product and its scientific foundation provides a strong link to the most important messages of the brand.

I think such cases need careful examination. There is no one right answer. The right approach depends on the therapeutical area, the type and scope of studies, and the strength of the existing brand, among other things.



For Saizen, a growth hormone made by Merck Serono, the approach to build a strong family brand was a good solution. The branding of scientific projects with relation to the brand family meant an immediate differentiation. In the mind of physicians, there was a strong relation between Merck's product and significant research.

Gilad Karni

Vintage Labeling

The International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago holds an interesting collection of vintage apothecary shop remedies. These were popular concoctions sold in retail shops with great success.

Shown here are some of Lydia E. Pinkham's patent medicines that enjoyed widespread popularity from the 1870s that remained common well into the 20th century.

Apothecary is a historical name for medical professionals who offered ingredients for medicine, patented medicine and general medical advice in the days prior to modern sciences of chemistry and pharmacology. They are considered the precursors to today's pharmacists.

Gilad Karni

PhRMA Code - Own It

The PhRMA code - is it a threat or an opportunity?

We marketeers want to do what we know best - to market our drugs, devices and data while using all available marketing tools. Obviously, limitations imposed by the PhRMA code might seem daunting and frustrating.

I believe these times represent change that is good for the industry, and the real wisdom here for us marketing people is to feel we are an integral part of the process and take an active role in owning the code and its implications.

Times of change represent difficulties but opportunities too. Those who are fast to understand the changing environment and first to lead and innovate will harvest their success.

Gilad Karni

Out of the Box Placement

Brilliant, isn't it?

Positioning of chicken soup as a cold medication alternative.




Seen on Drew's Marketing Minute

Gilad Karni

Optimizing Contact Area

Lets assume that during the lecture breaks in congresses the physicians are actually eager to go and spend time in your amazing branded booth. How do you make sure that the booth area can handle all the traffic in an efficient manner? How do you optimize contact between doctors and displays? Between doctors and reps?

One solution is to increase circumference. To enlarge the surface area that delegates face. Instead of one display, divide your showcases to a few dislays. One big display might have the ability to stand 10 physicians around it while three smaller displays can accomodate 20 physicians.

At EASD in Vienna, Tamooz has designed a booth for Bayer Healthcare that presented to physicians a wide product line of glucose meters. In order to simplify and at the same time highlight new devices, we have produced a few showcases with each one presenting all devices and at the same time highlighting the most important ones. Each stand was capable of accomodating 6 delegates at the same time, and the reps had easy access to product information on multimedia screens.

Gilad Karni

The Changing Media Landscape

If there was any more need to prove that the marketing mix has to take into account new and changing media options, here is an in your face facts and stats video presentation. It is a fun and clear presentation of the media landscape including convergence and technology.




Content by XPLANE, The Economist, Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Laura Bestler. Design and development by XPLANE, http://www.xplane.com/.

Gilad Karni

KOLs and Google Alert

A simple yet effective tool to help build good relationship with KOLs is Google Alert.


Building and maintaining good relationships with KOLs is key. A nice and easy way to help with that is the Google Alert feature, with which it is easy to spot any new publications or awards or any mention in the news. Simply add the name of your subject and get emails or feeds sent to your inbox.





Gilad Karni

How to Make Physicians Stay?

Presenting in congresses is a common part of the marketing mix, and an important exposure opportunity. Yet, you are lucky if physicians spend more than a minute or two in your booth area before moving on to the next booth or to the next lecture.

A good example for making physicians spend more time with the company booth is the LEO Pharma design at EADV in Berlin a few weeks ago. Here Tamooz has built a booth shaped as an airplane. As doctors came to see the structure they were invited into the plane, and once sitted on real plane armchairs, they were "captivated" for a session of movie and messages delivered by hostaces.






















Gilad Karni