THE INDUSTRY:
Pharmaceutical
THE CHALLENGE:
To successfully launch a new treatment protocol without cannibalizing the company’s current best selling treatment for the same health condition.
THE TASK:
Develop a consumer profile for each treatment and a differentiated communication strategic plan for both.
THE JOURNEY:
Deep dive • Research • Mapping • Differentiation • Strategic Innovation • Launch
THE STRATEGY:
After a deep dive to understand the differences and subtleties of each treatment option, we conducted a thorough research using a consumer centric approach by asking patients, doctors, caregivers and other stakeholders to share some insights on each of their experiences, including their particular pain points, with regards to the condition and its treatment. Then we translated the most relevant insights into different patient journey maps; each map highlighted moments in each patient’s journey that posed fundamental questions for everyone in the process.
THE APPROACH:
We designed a “strategy game” where team members had to make high stake decisions with regards to the wellbeing of others while having limited information to go on. The game became:
• A forum for decision makers to discuss strategic choices within a variety of high/low risk scenarios
• The way to clarify group mindset about treatment options
• A means to establish priorities after understanding the complexities all parties face when treating the condition.
It also helped the team understand how different stakeholders assess risk according to how their personal biases shape their reality; for example a: doctor’s thought process for prescribing a treatment to a patient.
THE RESULTS:
By recognizing the limitations of a “one size fits all” approach to patient segmentation, the client was able to determine that the communication strategy for this new treatment had to be aligned with both the patient’s and caregiver’s needs instead of previous determining criteria, like demographic profiles, previous treatment response, doctor’s point of view, etc., thus creating a communication strategy the clearly differentiated the new treatment from the existing one.
THE OUTCOME:
A patient assessment questionnaire was designed as tool to facilitate the “difficult conversations” between doctors and caregivers that were previously being ignored. Armed with a better understanding of the patient’s and caregiver’s needs and desires, doctors were able to prescribe the treatment option that best aligned with them.
By eliminating speculation and opening new and more honest channels of communication, we were able to create space so that both treatments could succeed in the market.
