Oxford Insights

Four key trends which will shape the future of pharma | OxfordSM

Written by Paul Lindsay | Apr 4, 2019 4:00:00 AM

Thinking about any brand launch requires you to consider what will change before or close to launch, we believe that keeping 4 key customer trends in mind will increase your chances of a successful launch in the rapidly changing world of pharma.


Creating a Launch Strategy

Launch teams who seek differentiation beyond the drug will stand out from the crowd.

Challenge yourself and your team to be crystal clear on WHAT you offer and HOW you give customers an unmatched experience. Walk in their shoes. Understand their health condition as if it was your own. Then, and only then, build your launch plan.

To do this well, you will need to:

  • Partner with tech companies to put technology in the hand of your customers which enable them to personalise their experience. Ask yourself – how can I best involve customers as much as possible in the process?
  • Innovate to deliver patient focussed solutions that increase their sense of empowerment to manage their own health. This may involve the use of AI to aid diagnosis or to help patients track and adjust their treatment
  • Be clear on how your brand fits and meets a unique need. Paint a picture so they can understand the role your product plays in how they manage their health and context of the competition

Don’t forget to be agile

No discussion about launching a new drug or device would be complete without saying something about being agile. We hear this term a lot these days, so what does it mean to be agile when launching a new pharma product?

Being agile is:

Quickly apply learnings from one market to the next and sharing across brand teams

Our clients who harness and learn from their launches – sharing best practices (and failures) along the way – are the ones who experience a higher rate of launch success.

The specific approach, using task forces or having a dedicated team, matters less than having a way to tell what is going well and what needs to be adapted. This includes understanding your customers and their journey before launch to provide the best customer experience after launch.

Over the past 3 years, we have helped a number of healthcare brand teams develop and launch products by tapping into trends and putting the customer first. If you would like to learn more, please do get in touch.