Despite Sunita Narain's report, the world seems to be still divided in two age old categories—the Coke people and the Pepsi people. Children all over India are seen drinking their favourite cold drink. Again, despite several allegations, Ramdev Baba, the most powerful health brand of India, continues to enjoy unshaken trust of his followers. When the reports claimed that the medicines prepared by Baba contained animal bones, even the most stubborn vegetarians refused to believe them.
The point is not whether these reports are correct or wrong. The point here is what makes these brands enjoy the trust of their consumers even in the midst of controversy? How do they build a bond of trust which seems almost unbreakable? That's the power of a brand and the fruits of relentless efforts that have gone into brand building. The fact is that these brands are no longer non-living entities but are friends, guides, mentors or philosophers. Consumers choose to trust them and expect them to not breach this emotional bond of friendship.
Branding in pharma
In pharma brand building, principles are no different from those of FMCG brands. However, they need to be applied with necessary modifications. (No cut paste here please!) When done so, the pharma brand has a higher tendency towards building an emotional bond with its customer be it a doctor or a patient. After all, there are a lot more 'feelings' associated with health. A doctor is always interested in a patient's feelings. He often asks, "How are you feeling?" We often 'feel' sick or we 'feel' better. Every brand manager must understand this 'feeling bond' that patients share with his medicine and strengthen it further. That's how he builds his brand.
Building brand personality
Internationally, efforts to develop brand personality starts as early as Phase II of clinical trials. Fosamax, a brand of alendronate, was much faster in articulating its personality. The brand Fosamax is meant for osteoporosis. The personality of the brand had to be that of a strong person, the person who can support you, especially when the bones have decided otherwise. The brand's basic promise lived upto the brand's personality which is ageless indepen-dence. Clinical papers written on Fosamax studied the 'independence factor' of a patient while he went about his day-to-day activities. FCB Healthcare, the advertising agency working on the brand, developed several pieces of communication that depicted strength. This strengthened robust masculine image of Fosamax.
Fundamental steps in brand building
Understanding the needs of the patient is the first crucial step in brand building. The next important task is to understand the key opinion leaders' views or needs on the disease and the molecule. Thankfully, the physicians' needs do not differ much from their patients'. In fact, fulfilling his patients' needs is the fundamental need of a physician. The second most important step is to understand the competing brand's personality. What are the gaps left by the competition that can be filled?
FCB Ulka Healthcare, had an excellent experience while working on 'Calcium Sandoz Woman'. The brand was targeted at women above 35. From purely rational perspective, Calcium Sandoz Woman did not have anything special to offer. Several other brands in the market were doing quite well. While talking to consumers, we realised that none of the existing brands in the market had a personality of a 'friend' who could understand her. She wanted someone who understands her. She wanted something that was developed especially for her keeping her needs in mind. The entire Calcium Sandoz Woman communication was developed to build the 'bridge of understanding' between the brand and the consumer. The very brand name, Calcium Sandoz Woman suggested that it was exclusively for her.
Behind a successful brand…
The essentials that go into the making of a good and strong brand name are brand name decisions, brand vocabulary, colours, style and packaging. Kantabai certainly cannot be the name of a 25-year-old young executive working in a BPO. Probably, it's the name of domestic help at your home. The name says it all. It is the first one to give the personality to the brand. Brand name is one such element which will remain constant throughout the brand's life. While other elements such as packaging, price and promotion are all subject to change, the brand name is the one enduring means of identifying a product and subsequently a crucial role in building and maintaining consumer loyalty. The word Viagra is masculine. It is formed by phonetically strong alphabets. The 'gra' in Viagra gives it male character. Lilly wanted to launch its brand for male erectile dysfunction which was positioned against Viagra. While Viagra acted for four hours, Lilly's tadalafil could act for 36 hours.
Thus, it took care of the female partner of the patient (unlike Viagra). The personality of tadalafil, therefore, had to be feminine. They chose to name it Cialis, a name formed by phonetically softer alphabets. It gave feminine personality to the brand and strengthened the brand promise.
The vocabulary of a brand gives the brand its character. Munnabhai sounds like the real Munnabhai, the minute he says Vaat laga dala. The brand vocabulary comes alive from the claims that it makes, the baseline it uses and the clinical papers it publishes. Colours are also extremely important in pharma brand building. While the colour orange connotes stimulant action, blue connotes sedation. Green and light blues connote safety, while magenta and red connote power. All of us know that a picture is more powerful than a thousand words. The butterfly of Trika evokes feelings of serenity and peacefulness—just what an anxious insomniac needs. Thus, illustrative style and mnemonic are considered the pillars of non-verbal communication.
Packaging is the brand's attire. While FMCG industry keeps experimenting with packaging, the pharma world seems conservative. In today's day and age packaging has to be perfect to win the loyalty of the consumer. When Tylenol launched its line extension for arthritic patients, it developed a unique packaging, especially for them. Opening the cap of a medicine bottle is the biggest difficulty for an arthritic patient. Tylenol made this task easy and lived up to its image of a caretaker.
Science is at the heart of every pharma brand. While retaining this scientific core, pharma brand must develop its own personality and its own character. It helps a brand strike the right chord with its consumers and prescribers, which is cherished through-out the brand's life.
Happy branding!!!
