• Home
  • About Steve Woodruff
  • Contact
  • Let’s Talk!
  • About Impactiviti

Impactiviti blog

Best Practices in Vendor and Project Management

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Pharma Web Branding, Part 8 – BMS
A few sales/training nuggets »

ePharma Summit Sum up

February 1, 2008 by Steve Woodruff

ritz-c-phil.jpgThe 7th annual ePharma Summit took place at the Ritz-Carlton/Philadelphia on Jan. 28-30. The first day was for pre-conference workshops. The event is put on by IIR (who did a fine job organizing and running it), and it was very well attended (between 200-250 registrants).

I attended the first full conference day (29th), but was called out of town for the second day, unfortunately. There was a an interesting lineup for that second day; here is an excerpt from a review of the lunchtime address by Steve Case (co-founder of AOL, now head of Revolution Health):

Steve Case, chairman and CEO of Revolution Health and co-founder of AOL, yesterday lamented pharma’s hesitation to embrace interactive and inject a greater share of promotional budget into online initiatives.

“It is astonishing to me how under-invested this industry is in digital media,” Case told delegates at the 7th annual ePharma Summit in Philadelphia. “This is crazy.”

I have a fascination with digital media, and enjoy marketing, so I try to keep my finger on the pulse of this part of our world. And I share the frustration of Mr. Case. Our highly regulated industry makes it very difficult to take full advantage of the rapidly-evolving and collaborative web.

Nonetheless, some companies are dipping their toes in the water. Here are a few tidbits extracted from the Tuesday talks:

– Microsoft is trying to address the gnarly problem of on-line storage of, and access to, private health information (through technology called the Microsoft HealthVault). This is a huge and complex undertaking.

– Here was an interesting rule of thumb given out for funding innovative methods – use 70% of the marketing budget for proven means; 20% to improve current means; and 10% to do experimental stuff

– J&J apparently has a “tax” on its marketing budgets – a percentage goes into a “pool” for innovative approaches, and operating companies apply for those funds by proposing new ideas. These innovative approaches have to include measurement of results, and lessons learned are to be shared across the J&J family.

– A few companies are successfully using text messaging for compliance and/or marketing.

– A few companies have begun to experiment with YouTube-type user-generated media. This one (about RLS) was not user-generated, but it is creative and fun.

A number of the talks, however, were not particularly thought-provoking – standard platitudes about determining brand objectives, listening to customers, trying to do new things, gaining trust, etc. etc. And some of the speakers had appallingly bad slide designs – hey folks, Powerpoint has been around a long time, and it should be common knowledge by now that light green, yellow, and faded grey really don’t show up well on screens when projected!!

Over lunch, I enjoyed speaking with someone who has mainly worked with creative marketing endeavors outside of pharma, and we commiserated about the conservative nature of an industry so highly regulated and scrutinized. Oh, well, digital marketing will rush forward regardless, and pharma will slowly adopt whatever it can in due season!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Posted in Healthcare, J&J, Pharma, Pharmaceutical | Tagged digital marketing | 1 Comment

One Response

  1. on February 7, 2008 at 11:50 am Lesly

    Steve, we didn’t have a chance to meet at the Summit, I’m conference director, but wanted to thank you for coming and taking the time to write up this post.

    Thought I’d quickly comment on some things about the conference, we’re really proud this year that we entirely sold out registration, great participation from Big Pharma, Agencies, Publishers, and Tech Firms.

    In regards to the presentations, we’ll be making them available on our site. I’d like to think that overall, the presenters created some great slides, but I think the Hotel’s A/V just didn’t do them justice.

    Again, wanted to thank you for coming, we hope you’ll keep giving us feedback, and letting us know what new trends and topics are facing the industry throughout the year so we can be sure we cover them at our next summit.



Comments are closed.

  • Welcome!


    Steve Woodruff
    sw
    President, Impactiviti
  • Testimonials


    “Steve Woodruff is one of the most “networked” people I’ve found in pharmaceutical training. His communications are always smart and targeted, and I value his professional partnership.” -Jennifer Zinn, Director, Worldwide Marketing, Clinical Laboratory, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics

    Read More Testimonials
  • Subscribe to our e-newsletter

    Sign up for the Impactiviti Connection!
  • Subscribe to the blog!

    Subscribe in a reader
  • Subscribe via e-mail

    Subscribe to Impactiviti blog by Email
  • Recent Posts

    • Try Out the Random Vendor Generator!
    • Clocks, Toddlers, and Project Management
    • What are you delivering (via LMS)?
    • Today’s Pharma News 8/18/2017
    • Today’s Pharma News 8/16/17
    • Today’s Pharma News 8/15/17
    • Today’s Pharma News (8/14/17)
    • Lighting “afar” in Nashville – LTEN 2017 re-cap
    • Let’s Stop Committing Training Malpractice!
    • Getting Ready for Nashville 1-2-3-4!
  • Archives

    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • August 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • June 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
    • January 2010
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009
    • May 2009
    • April 2009
    • March 2009
    • February 2009
    • January 2009
    • December 2008
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • September 2008
    • August 2008
    • July 2008
    • June 2008
    • May 2008
    • April 2008
    • March 2008
    • February 2008
    • January 2008
    • December 2007
    • November 2007
    • October 2007
    • September 2007
    • August 2007
    • July 2007
    • June 2007
    • May 2007
    • April 2007
    • March 2007
    • February 2007
    • January 2007
    • December 2006
    • November 2006
    • October 2006
    • September 2006
    • August 2006
    • July 2006

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • Impactiviti blog
    • Join 30 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Impactiviti blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: