Category Archives: Pharmaceutical

April 21, 2013 · 11:48 am

Building Brand Fans with Storytelling

People Thumbs upAt the center of all marketers’ brand ambitions sits the hope of creating a fan base. All brands have customers, the people that buy the brand, but few have a substantial fan base. The difference between fans and customers is behavioural. Fans are the type of customer that feel they are brand stakeholders. Fans go out of their way to buy and use a brand. They talk about the brand for you, harnessing the power of story through word of mouth. They position your brand better than you will. To your other customers they are the authentic voice of the brand, more so than you.

I wondered what powers a brand fan base. If storytelling is at the center of the brand fans activity, what do fans do to build their brand story? I looked at several types of fans to see what they had in common. A company creates four key activities  to build  brand fans that allow them to create the overall brand story. Fans are engaged in watching or viewing brands. They are very involved in sharing the brand with others. In fact this is central to a brand fan. Brand fans are involved with playing with the brand. Lastly brand fans are seekers and sharers of brand news.

“This simple model of branding can act as a checklist for your storytelling. You can see if all the brand assets are connected to enable customers to become brand fans”.

The diagram below represents a map of the overlap with a brand assets and essential brand activities. When this map is used to view a brand, Marketing departments can see if their brand will sustain the needs of brand fans. By ensuring these activities are supported and easy for potential fans to engage, there is a greater chance of creating a fan instead of a customer. Of course some of these activities are needed just to build a customer base but if you want to build a fan base you need to enable fans to connect them together. Social media and the rise of mobile and real time communications are allowing smart companies to build these activities into their marketing campaigns and fan base building tactics.

Brand Fann Venn

Lets look at some examples of fan based activities to see how these maps work. Sports fans are engaged in several types of brand activities. Sports fans of course want to watch their teams and of course there are now quite a few ways that fans can see sport. Live view is the best for a fan but often a treat for the die-hard fan. Television is the most popular way but mobile through smart phones and tablets like IPad are quickly becoming a preferred channel. Replay is also a need for the fan to be able to access viewing of sports events to supports the fans brand needs. This has created need in other channels like YouTube, Vimo, and Personal Video Recorders on Satellite and Cable as well as rewind TV. This represents how Sports fans are engaged in watching or viewing their brands.

The ability for fans to share their experience is a central brand activity. Fans want to align and identify with a brand and with sports its central. Sports fans have allegiance to a team and this creates feeling of belonging that stems from tribal activity. People want to wear the colors of their tribe and tell other people. Sharing used to be limited to colours and badges. Post game stories have always been shared by word of mouth just as great battles were told in around campfires. But today’s sports fans can indulge in storytelling about their team and brand in many ways. Fans are often leaders of their own followers, people in their lives who listen to them and are informed and influenced by them. So today’s brand fans need new ways of sharing their passion. Pictures via Flickr, twitter and Facebook enable this before during and after the event. Fans “Check in” at events on Facebook as statements of support and to broadcast their participation with a brand. Enabling fans to share what they see combines the need for watching and sharing. The better you are able to help fans share their participation the more the fans brand experience can by experienced by others. This raises brand awareness and is reinforces the fans identity with the brand.

A more recent brand activity essential to building fans enables fans to play with the brand. In sports this is a little easier than for other types of brands but as we will see still very achievable. For sports fans the computers, smartphones and tablets like IPad have built on a generation of fans who grew up with Xbox and PlayStation. In this way fans not only get to support a team but they get to become the team. This is the ultimate in control of a brand. Recently the ability to be able to share this gaming/ playing has become an important extension of the identity brands can create. You can paly online with others or share your successes on social media. In this way the statement people make using the brand through the game is embedded in their lives. This is part of the attraction of storytelling brands that enable people to use brands to live their archetype better.

Finally brands are able to capitalize on their thirst for new news about a brand. In sport newspapers, radio and television have reported on teams and players achievements. But in recent years the control of the news has moved from the selected few journalists and moved to the masses. In combination with our fans need to share watch their teams, news is being created as it happens. Twitter and similar services enable people to receive news as it happens. For the segment of people who are more passive this brand extension helps keep them connected.

This simple model of branding can act as a checklist for your storytelling. You can see if all the brand assets are connected to enable customers to become brand fans. Do you enable your customers to share brand images you have created? Do you celebrate when customers create their own images and share them? How do you create and support the creation of news about your brands? Are enabling your customers to play with your brand? What happens when you let your customers view your brand? If your can create a tactical plan that employs these aspects you set your self up to enable your brand to create fans. Of course you need an authentic brand story but customers need more than that to become fans.

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February 3, 2013 · 3:24 am

The Need For Story

Coulour Eye

Jonathan Gottschal puts it well in the “Storytelling Animal” that history is a story we tell ourselves but its only from one viewpoint  and the future is a story we tell ourselves that we want to come true. Phillip K Dick , the master of Sci Fi storytelling, said that reality is what you have left when stop believing in everything. Daniel Kahneman in his best seller “Thinking Fast and Slow” writes it best for me.  He says that our brains have evolved to seek out stories to make what we see and experience understood. Story then is our central learning and reference system.

“As a pharmaceutical marketer you need to employ both a compelling story and great evidence in the form of clinical studies to introduce a new brand.”

Kahneman continues by explaining that we can think of our brains having two controlling systems, an intuitive system and a rational system. The intuitive system is fast, quick to make judgement and  desperate to make a complete story to tell the slower, heavier processing rational system. It seems we have a general tendency to favour  the intuitive system and only when this fails to make sense of what we see we use the rational system. In order to keep us processing quickly we use little stories, well-known to us that are similar to the experience at hand. Even when we do not have a complete picture this system will create a story so convincing that we feel that it is real so that our rational system is convinced it doesn’t need to engage. This is why we feel so many situations are familiar. This is why we need stories.

For humans this gives us a big evolutionary advantage. We can make connections between similar events and “know” what to do when confronted by similar situation. It’s this process that tells us to be defensive when we see certain expressions on people’s faces. This system is so good that we can pick out dangerous people in a crowd and avoid them. Our minds complete the information in front of us telling us a story that reminds us that such people are to be avoided as we see the future flash through our mind with the man approaching and trying to steal the bag you are carrying.

Brands can benefit from this system too. Brands that connect inner stories with memories can tap into their associated  emotions. These emotions will sway our decisions whether  to desire brands or not. However when there is no story to a brand we create one ourselves and engage the rational system more to help us make choices. There is also a downside to our desire to have the intuitive system make quick decisions. It can mean that we fail to analyze all the available information settling for the seductive and easier life offered by the story to by the intuitive system.

Does this mean that by employing storytelling we are hoodwinked our audiences and encouraging them to make quick opinions of brands without deeper and more rational considerations? I don’t think that this is the true. Yes advertising can create sales when appropriate stories are used. Whether you intend to tell as story as part of your communication or not, consumers are wired to tell a story anyway. Storytelling only becomes persuasive when it is authentic and resonates. When brands tell stories that don’t seem genuine and the brand experience is counter to the story being told the we sense it and require more processing and conscious involvement to create action.

Writing in favor of authentic stories to aid communications, I think the power of story is captured by Kahnemen’s concept of Processing fluency. The ease that we process information and make decisions. By applying the intuitive brain’s inbuilt library of stories we are able to increase processing fluency using less mental energy and allowing the brain to move on to other decisions. When there is no clear story  there is a need for the slower rational system to help in the decision process and this reduces processing fluency and is less desired as it limits decision-making. Have you ever been in a shop and argued with yourself whether or not to buy something. The more you wrestle in your mind back and forward the less likely you are to purchase because your rational side is slowing the process down and your cognitive fluency falls. This can be a good thing preventing you from making a mistake but it also represents a lack of faith in the story told by the intuitive system.

In Pharmaceutical sales & marketing we are trying match both the intuitive and rational systems of our minds, We want the intuitive system to find ease and comfort in processing the story the brand tells but we also want to have concordance with the slower rational side of decision-making. The best pharmaceutical brands activate the intuitive system to create cognitive fluency and supports the deciding rational system with compelling clinical evidence providing the logic for clinical decisions. As a pharmaceutical marketer you need to employ both a compelling story and great evidence in the form of clinical studies to introduce a new brand.

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January 20, 2013 · 4:07 pm

The Pharma Story

iStock_000014853789Small

For clinical practice to change with the introduction of new medicines it’s clear that we need real evidence of the value each new medicine brings. However understanding this value is not always easy, as the value is always in reference to an existing medical option. Like all other times when we need to understand something we look for ways to help our brains make sense of the information we are presented with. Simple references are dealt with in a metaphorical way.  For example “This is a bit like that”. In more complicated conversations, archetypes guide us on a knowing path to help toward the expected outcomes of conversation. Wrap these up and you have the beginnings of a Pharma story. It’s the narrative that surrounds brands, value propositions and clinical evidence.

It’s highly probable that the work by Daniel Kahneman in ‘Thinking Fast and Slow” supports the thought that we naturally resist new ideas or concepts without a resonating story. Kahneman says this is due to our desire for cognitive fluency. Fluency is a state where the intuitive system of our minds readily processes information as it looks for meaning. Where meaning cannot be found the reasoning part of our brain takes over and enters a slower but more methodical approach to work out meaning. As he says the brain is lazy and likes a compelling story to guide it.

Changing medical practice requires compelling data and product evidence, but eventually to complete the complex and distant sales model we need compelling stories or short narratives. We need the intuitive system to give the green light for the rationale system to engage and make the changes suggested by the data. In the absence of a compelling story the intuitive system can create a story of its own with the potential for biased assimilation of data ie the use of data to support reasons not to use the brand. For this reason even the best evidence based brands can struggle to engage without a compelling story to carry the data into understanding.

Our jobs in creating the Pharma story are to generate significant advances in clinical data but also to enable cognitive fluency in the communication of it. Our minds are set to look for and create stories. Phama needs to connect its data with compelling stories that aid  understanding.

 

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May 18, 2012 · 2:47 pm

Batman and the Storytelling Map

In my last post I wrote about the Story Map I used to analyze stories and search for ways to incorporate brands into well known narratives. By using the same tools as Hollywood its possible to effectively place your brand inside a well known story which takes very little energy (and money)  to communicate its core idea to your audience.

In this post i’ll demonstrate the principles of the story map using the well known comic strip story and Hollywood blockbuster Batman. First, here is the story map in table form. Its easier to use on a computer this way but the four circle version lends itself to brainstorming and classroom formats. Choose the one that is easier for you to use.

Batman’s Premise
A wealthy businessman who as a boy who sees his parents killed becomes a masked avenger of Gotham‘s evil criminals. He battles for justice and a better society while risking his real identity becoming known.


I got to the premise by writing each of the nine lines to define the  story and choosing the voice words from each of them to get to the premise. Now I know its easy to do this for such an iconic story but I’ve also used it to generate the stories for my brands at work and some of the best know Pharma brands. I’ll post some pharma brands in the next posts.

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May 17, 2012 · 1:30 am

Storytelling Maps- Storytelling Creating Tools

What is a story made up from? Over the last few years of writing about storytelling in Pharmaceuticals and other major branding genres I have always struggled to answer the question in a simple way. Plato suggested that all stories  have  a beginning middle and end and Aristole wrote about pathos, logos and ethos. Others have shown that stories can be boiled down to seven major themes and its fascinating to see that Cinderella was told in Europe, India and China at the same time even though there was no possibility of the story having been passed from one region to another. Like the other  stories this was a “Universal Story” an understanding we are born with supported by our cultures and our humanity. Part of the universality of stories was explored by Carl Jung with his work on archetypes as universal characters who behave in well known and expected patterns.

Even knowing these elements of stories and what makes them good and bad, I still find it difficult to explain to people what the essence of a story is. Perhaps the story premise or long line is as close as you can get to the real essence of a story. It’s the boiled down content that everyone can easily digest. But this still doesn’t help me in the way I need to explain the ideas of storytelling and how they apply to building great brands. To help me I created the “Four Circle Story Map” as a way to breakdown the contents of a story into its building blocks. The Story Map can be used to either dissect story into its components or to build a compelling story from scratch. As all brand architects know get the brand story straight in the early days is vital to create effective brand communication and sales.

The Four Circle Story Map is based on Michael Hauge’s observations of how to pitch stories and plays to Hollywood. As I sat in my Swiss holiday chalet with the kids playing Memory behind me I stole a short time go over the Michael’s advice and read through many of my old Moleskin note books that go with me everywhere. I saw four circles overlapping to capture the interplay between elements Hauge suggest are key to pitching and therefore creating a story that leaves people wanting to learn more. The four major circles represent the key elements of a story. If it doesn’t have these then I don’t think you can tell a story. The are the hero or protagonist; the conflict; the story set up and the deep issues the story tackles. As you can see in the picture below those circles overlap in certain places like a Venn diagram. Where they intersect they cause interactions that define the hero’s opportunity; the story tension and the hero’s arc. Further overlaps define the protagonists motivation and the empathy that the protagonist employs in the story and of course the overlap of all these is the essence of the story.

A good story is defined by how a protagonist moves to resolve a conflict in its journey, employing empathetic traits to engage an audience and live true to its outer motivation. To make it easy to use as a tool the circles can be used as a list of question that create all you need to know to understand your story. I use this now to capture the elements of other people’s stories and the elements of great brand communications (stories) for Pharma and beyond.

  1. Story Set Up: What we need to know in the stories history
  2. Protagonist: Who is the protagonist
  3. Conflict: What conflict faces the protagonist
  4. Outer Motivation: What is the motivation for the protagonist (to win, to return, to grow etc)
  5. Deep issues: What larger issues does the story deal with ) poverty, injustice)
  6. Opportunity: What prize is on offer to protagonist
  7. Arc: how will the protagonist change over the course of the story (Frightened bystander to confident activist)
  8. Empathy: In what way will the protagonist take (humorous, powerful, likable)
  9. Tension: What is the unspoken feeling feeding the conflict based on the deeper issues the story talks to

By working through the nine elements you are forced to thing about the different interactions the elements have in the story. It will help you see if everything hangs together well and will help you get at really concise premise that you can use to catalyze your communications. When i’m creating brand stories I use this to see where the brand will be used. What role does it play in the story and to keep the brand in the story relevant and authentic. I think this helps you focus on who your audience is. How your brand will fit into their narrative and how you might want to tap into that life narrative with your communications.

To get started, try it on a film and then a brand you know well. When your set make some notes about your brand and have a go with the circles or list. Let me know how it goes.

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April 16, 2012 · 9:58 pm

Storytelling – Happiness Project

Inspired by Gretchen Rubin‘s Happiness Project, I wrote my own storytelling version.
  1. Tell stories about new things you learned to do
  2. Go deep on one or two things and tell stories about what you learned
  3. Research and Investigation is important to me. It helps me tell stories of who I am
  4. Feel free to think of ideas and tell stories about them. Even if your ideas are wrong you will improve on your number 1
  5. Sunshine is makes me happy
  6. Exercise makes me happy
  7. Giving is more fun than receiving but receiving well and telling stories of receiving allows others to give and tell stories of your giving (I learnt that from Bob Burg and John Mann in the Go Giver)
  8. I’m happier doing things today rather than tomorrow but I tell myself stories of the opposite and i’m a good storyteller!
  9. Even ideas that seem to be obvious should be told by you because you might make them accessible to others.

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February 25, 2012 · 7:45 am

Creating Brand Happiness with Storytelling

It struck me that happiness at any level is the result of many other feelings and actions. The diagram below is the simplest mental model I could create. It says that happiness is created from Trust, Choice and Freedom. I think brands are able to create happiness when they help us tell stories of trust, stories of choice and stories of freedom. If we want customers to tell happiness stories with our brands as actors in the story  we have to focus on  getting brands stories to overlap around trust, choice and freedom. That’s not to say people won’t be moved to buy brands without these stories but its likely they  will move quickly to other brands. Creating happiness allows you to create fans and generate long-term relationship.

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May 29, 2011 · 12:24 pm

Choice: A life Story

I have looked at why some people cope with disease better than others. Much of the research I have done points to parts of  life where people are affected by disease. There are consistent themes for people at these moments that surface when you  spend time analysing people’s stories, language, dialog with people they feel important and metaphors they express both linguistically and visually.

As you read people’s stories you can see the different events and emotions that they experience. While disease and people have different journeys, I have found one interesting area that seems to be common for people. Peoples ability to cope with disease seems to split people into two camps. There are “copers” and “non copers”. At  first I thought that this maybe due to some defining event or as a result of treatment or the stage of disease. I’m still looking to see what make some one cope with disease and how this has impact on the outcome of disease but a recent book suggested to me by Mike Baldwin suggest an intriguing hypothesis. In  the Art of Choosing by Iyengar Sheena she lays out the argument that choice is a fundamental driver for humans. It improves our ability to manage life. It seems  that we need to have or at least perceive that we have choice. In dealing with disease this could translate into those people who have a choice in how their disease is managed maybe in a better place to cope with it. Possibly this could lead to a better life in coping with disease.

Enabling patients to cope with disease may need physicians to offer choice, patient support groups to support choice, payors to allow choice and pharmaceuticals to create value in the choices. Understanding which choices are relevant to improving outcomes for patients and presenting these in a way that enables people with disease to make choices relevant for their lives is a goal for everyone dedicated to disease management. Stories of people with disease are one way of helping people understand the choices people have.

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May 27, 2011 · 8:35 pm

Influencing Stories- Secret Cinema

One of the great writers on Influence is Robert Cialdini. One of his rules if influence is Scarcity. A great example of this in branding is Secret Cinema. Shh… don”t tell anyone!.

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May 26, 2011 · 7:59 pm

Telling Stories: Communicating in Symbols and Pictures

We are surrounded by pictures, images and icons. More than any other time in human history we are overloaded by visual stimulus. No wonder marketing, sales and communications are difficult and don’t stick. At the heart of branding I have become very interested in our history and relationship with symbols and semiotics (the study of signs and the way they work to generate meaning). Signs, symbols and pictures have been used to tell stories and create meaning since before we could speak. I’m interested in how powerful images are able to transfer complex ideas almost in the blink of an eye.

Charles Revlon said ” In the Factory we make cosmetics. In the store we sell hope”.

Each of the well-known symbols carries meaning for the viewer. Symbolic meaning is both self and social allowing both public and private meanings to exist for the same symbol. Each time we engage with a symbol or brand we tell ourselves a story about ourselves . So the care we take creating associating our brands and crafting stories that give meaning to our brands are some of the biggest and most important activities we can do to help our brands live.

Symbols are increasingly used to convey meaning and are used from computer navigation right the way to brand icons and even a country or culture. Companies like Innocent have been able to grow their brand image by engaging in storytelling associated with its core brand identity. The same can be said for Apple, Starbucks and Disney.

The key distinction for brands with symbolic appeal is that they have managed to tell stories that customers use to complete self-identity changes at an emotional level. Not all brands can make as much of these “fit my style of life” stories but those that can become enduring and create long-lasting loyalty quickly.

Pharma brands have a hard time creating meaning with brand symbols. Brands that are  consumer or patient focused have been created like Viagra, Bayer Asprin. Outside of consumer brands it seems much harder for pharma use our in built ability to understand symbols to create brand loyalty. I firmly believe that pharma products should be assessed on their on their evidence based efficacy and safety to enhance outcomes for patients but there  is often still choice between several brands. Can symbols be used to influence these brand moments and choice?

A deep understanding of the lives of patients will uncover metaphors for how disease and treatment interacts with their lives. It’s also equally important to understand how physicians and treatment delivery impacts patients lives and throws light on other aspects of disease management. Certain symbols already have been “coded” into the lives of patient and physicians and have meaning. Using these will enable brand stories to be told quickly and simply with inbuilt meaning. I think these symbols can create a longer lasting interaction. For example, symbolic ways of showing when to use a brand or which type of patients may be better than the smiling elderly patient that seems to represent most pharma brands. We have to go beyond just creating a logo as a brand identifier.

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April 16, 2010 · 9:32 pm

Negotiations, Storytelling and Brand Planning

I recently went to  a great course on negotiations. If I boil what I learnt down to one key learning it would be that negotiations rely on our ability to create trust, be authentic and create value for each party involved. The first two are part of my Brand storytelling manifesto but the third, value creation, makes a great addition. During the course there was much discussion about the role of stories in negotiation, Stories that showed authenticity. Stories that develop trust.

I thought about brand planning as a negotiation and developed the thought that the stories we tell to help people connect to our brands can fall into four categories.

Value Creation
Value Claiming
Value Avoidance
Value Destroying

The most successful brand plans I have seen were those that unconsciously told stories of value creation. But all to often I see brand plans of value avoidance or worse value destroying. The biggest change though needs to come from the move away from value claiming (how much can I get) and cerate plans that create value (How can I add value).

If plans are only as good at the implementation then stories that demonstrate the elements of good negotiation are needed in a great plan. We need to think how these stories tell the audience to trust us, show that we are authentic, that appeal to our emotional drives and create additional value for the listener.  When we get these right we create brand equity and these act as negotiation anchors. Get it right and you create value for you and your customers. If you consistently tell value claiming stories or worse destroying stories you create negative negotiation anchors and this I think in contrast to value creation is the difference between creating brand fans and transient customers.

It would be interesting to look at the stories your brand plan communicates. Is it consistent with your advertising and communication plan? Ask yourself,  what value are you creating for your customers and how do you tell them about it?

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December 24, 2009 · 7:38 pm

Storytelling Thank You

Here is the is the last post from the New brand stories for the year. Here are the people and websites that have influenced me this this year. Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting.

  • Seth Godin
  • Robert Cialdini
  • James Borg
  • John Marshal Roberts
  • Dan Roam
  • Stephen Denning
  • Margaret Marks
  • Mashable.com
  • Twitter.com
  • WordPress.com
  • Linkedin.com
  • Thomas Kelly (Ideo)
  • Stephen Marchant (Chameleon Communications)
  • Matteo Camprini (MCCGLC)
  • Syco TV (XFactor)
  • Snow Patrol (Lorrach Concert)
  • Phil Attkinson
  • Lance Armstrong
  • Kung Fu Panda (used the today is a gift quote so many times this year)
  • My Wife Jo and our two children George and Harriet (ultimate inspiration)

I haven’t provided links as I’m sure your able to look up these authors or people as you wish.

There are many more but these people all gave me great thing to either write about or think about. Have a great holiday with your families and a peaceful start to the new year. As ever I would love to hear ypur thoughts on storytelling, branding and marketing either online or though the contact tab on the blog.

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November 18, 2009 · 4:23 pm

Varied Visual Volume

I have been searching for different ways to inspire and motivate people for many years. In both work (pharmaceuticals and academic chemistry) and sport, great communication has been the key at inspiring moments.  One of these moments keep coming up and I have started to look carefully at the inspiring power of music and why it is so effective as a communication channel.

Song are after all rhythmic stories. They appear in all cultures and have a deep history with humanity, animals and even insects. Humans use them to simplify stories and make them more memorable. Animals and insects in a similar way communicate meaning in a meaningful way by varying the volume and pitch on noises in a repetitive rhythmic way.  It seems that this varying of volume and pitch is more memorable than spoken stories. It seems that stories and songs can activate memories and communicate feelings and convey meaning very quickly. They tap into our inner library of meaning transporting the listener and powerful enough to create emotions of happiness, sadness and laughter. They can also create movement with marches and dancing. Just think of the story told by an Olympic athlete standing on a podium and receiving a medal and  the national anthem plays . See Chris Hoy in photo.

Chris Hoy Winning one of three Gold cycling medals at Beijing 2008

The power of songs and the stories they carry evoke meaning within people in the way that we would like our communications to be understood by customers. We want our communications to be understood and to motivate customers. This is especially true when communicating complex information.  So its worth analysing why songs are so effective and how they can help. One answer came to me while watching a Snow Patrol concert in the sleepy village of Lorrach, just over the German border from Switzerland , where I work.  The way in which the music and song is varied in volume and visual representation gave it inspirational qualities. Varying the volume an using ranges of simple lights to video gave meaning and memory to the songs.

I wonder if this is something to explore in our storytelling quest for better communications. Can you vary the volume your story is told at? Can you vary the visual impact you story has. I’m thinking that varying the visual volume may make stories more memorable, long-lasting and inspiring.

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November 8, 2009 · 9:53 am

A Tale of Two Pharma Brand Stories

There are two types of discussion when selling and in Pharmaceuticals sales  it’s the same. The first type of discussion between the company and the physician is best termed a “no conflict story”. In this case there is a medical need which a physician seeks and only one or two companies have a credible solution. The second type of discussion is a “conflict story”. In this case there is no initial medical issue seen by the physician and only when a company raises an issue with the current status quo effectively, evidenced based,  will a physician be convinced to do something different.

1. Issue- Physician- Company- Resolution (No Conflict Story)
2. Physician- Company- Issue- Resolution (Conflict Story)

There is an important difference between these two stories / or discussions and its vital to understand which of these your company will be best places to use to communicate your brand from.   

No Conflict stories

In these conversations a pharma brand finds a willing and receptive audience. There is a need that the physician has which only the brand in the story can resolve.  I’m using the phrase “No Conflict Story”  to describe that the story the company needs to tell will not meet resistance by the physician because the physicians and patients need is great and the current options are limited.  These brands often have novel modes of action and may be first in class molecules. Either way the objections to the company story are usually based on long term safety data (often missing at launch) or the associated long term value.

Elements of a “No Conflict Story”

  1. Unmet need generally greater than conflict stories
  2. Number of therapeutic options are limited
  3. Long term outcome data often missing
  4. Story depends on science story – MOA
  5. Objections often based on value over long term
  6. Brand offers clear therapeutic advance

Conflict Stories

These situations are more common in the dialogue between pharma brands and Physicians. In these situations the pharmaceutical company has to communicate brand value in an area where there is already established competition and where the unmet need is lower than with the “No conflict story”.

Why Stories?

I use the word story to represent the communication between a company and the physician. Its an interesting analogy because there seems to be a key element to the communication that is often seen in storytelling but I have yet to see used in pharma communications. The key to telling a successful story in these cases is to raise conflict with the current status quo.  Successful brands raise this conflict in the physicians mind to such a level that when the conflict is resolved by the brand in the story the resistance to change or the “Motivation Barrier” is crossed and uptake is much more likely (See figure1). If the brand story is told without raising sufficient conflict the motivational barrier isn’t crossed and the brand is less likely to be used.  It’s no longer possible to create marketing communications that simply list product attributes.

Pharma brands need to be relevant to physicians and stories are a perfect way to communicate meaning simply and quickly.  I have discussed many aspects of creating different stories (See other posts) but I think the most important point is that the customer should complete the story for themselves. The communication should raise an issue (Conflict) and provide a brand that can resolve this. The way in which it resolves the issue should be created by the customer and used to close the communication.

Fig 1

Conflict story

Elements of a “Conflict Story”

  1. Conflict stories originate out of the need to change a status quo with an already satisfied customer.
  2. Conflicts can be rational where you have better data that the competition. Superior evidence based medicine (EBM) at a similar cost.
  3. Conflicts can be emotional where you have better patient outcomes like Quality of Life (QoL) or you brand makes the physicians treatment options easier or you provide value for  payors.
  4. Conflicts can be both rational and emotional at the same time.
  5. Different diseases have different levels of emotional and rational unmet needs.
  6. If you can’t answer either better emotional or rational reasons for change you will not motivate change and the status quo will remain.
  7. Delivery of a story can be key:
    1. emotional issue, rational data giving emotional benefit
    2. Rational issue emotional benefit leading to a rational choice

Understanding the type of stories “Conflict or No conflict” and the elements inside each of these stories is essential to build motivating marketing campaigns. They will cut through the clutter of other non motivating brands and allow yours to be effective.  This process will also help you control the marketing expenses making each customer contact more productive.

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October 14, 2009 · 10:19 pm

Hiaku Poetry- Small but Perfectly Formed- Communication

Haiku dragonflyAt a birthday party last night my friend Phil, asked if I had heard of Haiku (Japanese poetry) storytelling. I hadn’t but it sounded really interesting. It’s a poem or story told in 17 syllables broken up in to 3 lines  (in English) or groups of 5, 7 and 5 syllables.  There are lots of rules to this effective writing skill, the basics are here.

Look at this posts title again if it were Hiaku it would look some thing like this.

Haiku Poetry
Small but perfectly formed
Communication!

It’s not elegant or even Haiku but I really like the simplicity it forces you to create. You can use this technique to write the premise for your story or brand and shows that often more is less in communication. Can you write your brand communication stripped down like this and if people really understand it why would you use more.  Here is a proper Haiku:

An old pond!
A frog jumps in-
The sound of water.

Thanks Phil for putting me on to this. I used it today to help a team with positioning – it worked really` well.

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June 11, 2009 · 6:49 pm

Project M- Metaphors in business and branding

A slight departure from the normal post. I’m starting Project M. Its a quest to hear and share great metaphors and quotes you use to help people understand your business and brand strategy.

Yesterday is history…..
Tomorrow is a mystery….
but today is the present and that’s why they call it a gift
Represents the do it today attitude

His thoughts were slow
His words were few
And never made to Glisten
But he was a joy
Wherever he went
You should have heard him listen
Reminds the effective communicator in all of us

Please fuel Project M with verbal and visual metaphors for business problems. The only rule is that when you share your happy for other people to use.


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June 9, 2009 · 9:04 pm

Right Time- Right Message

One key in storytelling is getting the chapters in the right order. Can you imagine your favourite book with all the chapters mixed up.? There are two parts to this. One rational and one emotional (left brain and right brain). Fulfilling these needs of our two thinking sites makes communications more understandable. To feel comfortable we need the flow of a story, the sequence, to “make sense” or play in a logical order. In previous posts I have discussed the need for a theme or story premise built from metaphors,analogs and observations.

I wonder if there is more we should look at to understand the right order and contents to make effective communications. I happened to look back at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and saw a connection between this story sequence and a ladder of human needs. Maslow broke human motivation down to five basic frameworks. Physiological, safety, Loving /belonging, esteem and self actualization. He also showed that the lower needs must be  met  before high needs are recognised and acted upon. Its our desire and drive to fulfil these needs that creates human motivation. If we want to motivate humans we have to communicate on these needs.

Maslow pic

In health care communications I think the logical sequence of communication chapters may not always follow Maslow’s content for emotional drivers that motivates us. I wonder if the hierachy of needs in some way should be reflected in our brand storytelling.  An example of these needs in action would be recognising that an associate recntly experiencing a relationship issue is unlikely focused, listening or looking for channels that communicate aspects of self esteeme. It seems obvious but its a nice example of  the impact of the order. Consequently is it a surprise that when communicating in health care if we don’t transport our customers with our brand stories from physiology, safety to loving/ belonging though to esteem and self actualization- the feeling of solving problems.

Now I’m not saying pharma communications need to fulfil physicians ultimate hierarchy of needs but the analogy is worth noting. If the base of the pyramid isn’t complete we can expect to move beyond rational concepts such as physiology and safety. If we can drive some aspects of our coms through this towards esteem and self actualization concepts we are more likely to get longer lasting change.  Think if your able to communicate and support these levels of needs through your brand to help customers feel comfortable in the last three layers.

How does storytelling help

Storytelling seems able to touch each of Maslow’s needs quickly, easily and completely even in a short paragraph. By evoking images in the mind of the readers through storytelling they are transported through each of these needs with finale ending in self actualization. There are a couple of example to illustrate this principle and show it in action. I don’t believe these films adverts were put together using storytelling or Maslow’s needs in a conscious way. That means that great communication probably does this already and by breaking down both the way that we tell stories and how we use them to motivate change you can build these consciously into your brands and reap the benefit of communication.

From advertising two examples sprang to mind. Bodyshop and Dove. In the Dove commercial the brand essence of  natural beauty responds at a physiological and safety level by making us clean and addresses higher needs by evoking intimacy. But taking a moral stance on the visualization of beauty Dove is able to enhance self esteem (real women in adverts) through to the morality of  beauty image of teenagers effecting self actualization. Higher orders of need are communicated to drive a deeper connection (brand motivation) with the customer.

Bodyshop does the same with natural, responsibly made and tested bathroom products. They could stop at well made products but by starting with the basic needs and communicating through the higher needs on confidence and moral issues of sustainable and environmentally responsible brands the customer again has a deep bond to the brand. It wont be for everyone but if your inner story aligns with the brand story you will most likely become a fan. In developed parts of the world peoples story goes beyond physical aspects and so should your brand.

From the movies where great stories are told I sub mitt Forest Gump. If you haven’t bought this film yet, treat your self at the weekend. The premise of the film is a small disabled boy with a dysfunctional family is bullied at school, develops hidden talents. He meets a girl and looses the girl. Unconsciously he  shaped America, realizing in later life who he is, what the world is and how he is fulfilled. Have a look at  the clip below its a great example of hierarchy of needs in action.

forest gump

http://www.zuguide.com/index.php#Forrest-Gump

Lastly I just read a book on the Smoothy company Innocent. Once again the combination of a good story that emulates aspects of Maslovian thinking has turned three peoples start up business into a major success in Europe. As you peel away the Maslow layers you can see how this brand works to be more than a fruit drink. Communication drives from basic needs of eating and drinking to the need to look after your health (5 fruits  a day) and our problems doing this in today’s busy world. moving past this they have built a strong sense of community around there brand (more than the fruit). There is a certainly a communication level that saying I’m looking after my self and the planet (through natural fair trade ingredients). Once again it makes a simple commodity drink into a great brand.

innocent

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March 26, 2009 · 11:28 am

Brand Sense

Starbucks

Starbucks

Brands connect with customers through sensations.  Some brands are heard and some are seen.  Advertising uses these senses the most and may be too much.  What about the other senses?  A taste brand like Hagen Das bring in a third sensation and made a difference.

Harley Davidson is another brand that builds on its story by using cusomers sense to enhance the experience. The leather and viration of the engine all weave together to become part of the Harley story. 

Are there brands that combine more sensations.? Starbucks gets close. In Starbucks coffee houses the sensory assault begins. The smell of coffee blended with taste of carefully crafted offerings coffee and assorted foods is matched with music specially selected for Starbucks customers. Even the layout of most shops allow customers to engage in “people watching” as an entertainment.

 In each of these cases the brand story is enhance by focusing on different senses. Its not just about ears and eyes. the other sense make a difference to the brand as well. I think by carefully considering which sense enhance your brand your able to evoke strong associations to the inner story library we use to make sense of the visual onslaught advertising hits us with.

So consider your senses and what stories they can evoke. If those stories align with your brand story then use them to enhance your brand. The more senses you can use to generate your brand story the more memorable and differentiation you will get.

Especially in pharmaceuticals the use of senses is under utilised. In your brand planning and advertising campaigns think how you can use different channels to exploit the way that senses connect customers to brands like the examples above.

Go on then you know it make Brand Sense!

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March 17, 2009 · 5:51 pm

Anatomy Analogy and LAPS

Here is an interesting idea I dreamed up on the plane the other day.  I was looking for inspiration for solutions to some work problems and my mind wondered to biological systems. I thought ” what does this problem remind me of in anatomy. That gave me the Idea of looking at biological systems to solve business problems and the other way around. I called it Life Analogy Problem Solutions (LAPS). So here was the first brainstorm of associations.

Biological system vs Non biological problem
Cardiovascular                                              Traffic queues at junctions
Dementia/ Neurology                                 Information Management/ flow
Respiration/ Asthma                                   Global warming
Biochemistry/Enzymes                              Construction
Fatigue/ Metabolism                                   Energy conservation
Renal/ Hepatic                                               Waste management
Cell differentiation                                        Education/ learning
Haemostasis                                                    Finance

Its interesting that thinking of these unrelated concepts creates mental pictures and words that can be used to tell better stories about solutions that people can understand easily.  I think it also may be a springboard to more open thinking about problems and solutions. I know that there have been quite a few of these analogies made before and in some fiance language we talk about hemorrhaging cash- is that a coincidence. The metaphor works because of the mental picture. Keep the story going and you have the solution to the problem as well.  Perhaps we need to look in the health care world at other stories being told in other industries to see if the metaphors and premise transfer?

Here is an example in pictures
That old tree (January 8, 2006)

Source Flikr http://www.flickr.com/photos/steffe/84010716/

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