From our first notebook.

3 November 2016 · Consumer health

Wellness is the next trillion dollar industry. OTC drug sales lead the way!

The consumer health industry is anticipated to have a fast growth within the next few years and companies need to be aware of three (3) major trends, as outlined in a recent McKinsey report:

• The consumer market is changing: expect developing economies to dominate in growth of consumer health spending – approximately 70% of over-the-counter (OTC) drug sales growth is expected to come from emerging markets, half of that from Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
• Consumer behaviour and attitudes are changing: consumers use the internet to research a broad array of health options – 96% of American adults who use the internet use it to look up health information – and are open to many different health options, including ‘alternative’ medicine – the North American market for alternative medicine is $16.4 billion.
• The business landscape is changing: Retailers across all industries are expanding into health and wellness. Direct to consumer products and services are particularly ripe for disruption. A broad range of traditional and non-traditional healthcare players are diversifying their offerings in consumer health.

Source: McKinsey, Consumer Health & Wellness

In Greece, OTC drugs are a special category. Sold, almost exclusively, through pharmacies, although, prescription is not required. This market has shown important growth over the last five years. Recent legislation promises a more dynamic business environment, where, branding, marketing & advertising tools can be effectively applied. Consumers-patients tend to be well informed and demanding and thus responsive to modern and sophisticated, communication approaches.

Three (3) parameters are the driving forces for the growth of the OTC drugs market in Greece:

• Contemporary consumers-patients, following the global trend, practice self-treatment when it comes to minor/mild health conditions. They have more information to take initiatives in this direction, also considering the significant financial benefit, as this choice reduces medical costs.
• Pharmacists are under great market pressure due to price reductions and the decrease in the number of prescriptions. In their effort to boost sales, their focus has already shifted towards OTC drugs. Moreover, through the OTC drugs sale, the pharmacist can play an upgraded role, the "scientific advisor" one, often replacing the role of the doctor. This in turn, can potentially strengthen the pharmacist’s relationship with his/her customers.
• Pharmaceutical companies make their medicines more accessible to the consumer-patient, through the status change from Rx to OTC, after patent expiration. At the same time, big pharma that invest in research such as Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, GSK, BI, J&J, Bayer, Pharmaserve-Lilly and several local pharma companies have expanded their OTC drugs portfolio and offer novel & improved products to the public.

Last but not least, the deregulation of the OTC drugs retail prices, effective from 01.01.2017, will rapidly transform the OTC drugs market to a typical consumer market, with its pros & cons. Companies will have to modify strategies & adapt to a new marketing scene, most likely “fast-moving”, vibrant, open and free, however, aggressive and competitive.

The Greek OTC drugs market is definitely heading to Change. Change, if not feared, can be fascinating & fruitful and as Darwin said: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”

20 October 2016 · Trends

Why trends are important for business? Why identifying trends is the real new trend?

Scott Cook, a founder and former CEO of Intuit, once stated, "Even some of the greatest technology-led revolutions, or allegedly technology-led, really were only made possible because of trends already present."

Peter Bisson, Elizabeth Stephenson, and S. Patrick Viguerie, executives with McKinsey & Company, write [“Global forces: An introduction,” McKinsey Quarterly, June 2010]: "Most business managers, confronted with the global forces shaping the business landscape, also assume that their ability to sculpt the future is minimal. They are right that they can do little to change a demographic trend or a widespread shift in consumer consciousness. But they can react to such forces or, even better, anticipate them to their own advantage. Above all, they ignore these forces at their peril. Business history is littered with examples of companies that missed important trends; think digitization and the music industry. Yet this history also shines with examples of companies that spied the forces changing the global business scene and used them to protect or contribute to the bottom line. Companies ranging from insurers to energy producers did precisely that in embracing the growing social concern about climate change. So did Wal-Mart Stores in applying technology to automate inventory management and reduce costs dramatically for the company and its suppliers. The fact is, trends matter."

Bisson, Stephenson, and Viguerie argue that all good business people should find out what trends are afoot and exploit them. They continue: "Systematically spotting and acting on emerging [trends] helps companies to capture market opportunities, test risks, and spur innovation. Today, when the biggest business challenge is responding to a world in which the frame and basis of competition are always changing, any effort to set corporate strategy must consider more than traditional performance measures, such as a company’s core capabilities and the structure of the industry in which it competes. Managers must also gain an understanding of deep external forces and the narrower trends they can unleash. In our experience, if senior executives wait for the full impact of global forces to manifest themselves at an industry and company level, they will have waited too long."

There are plenty of examples of how companies/brands deal with trends.

Example 1: Mattel’s Barbie lost market leadership within a single year from the brand new competitor Bratz, because it failed to see how new youngsters are maturing much earlier in life.

Example 2: Tata’s nano car, the ‘cheapest car in the world’, designed to serve the rising middle class in India. The idea is simple: the average income of Indian is rising to standards where they can afford to buy a status item, such as a car.

Example 3: Based on the trend that "instead of just being in more channels for the sake of being in more channels, brands should be there with a clear purpose and value", the example of Antwerp’s Hotel Banks and its “Mini Fashion Bar” is perfect. All hotel rooms are stocked with fashionable apparel and accessories from the French fashion brand Pimkie. Hotel guests can use the bar as they would use the more traditional mini-bar, but with a fashion concierge available to answer style questions or get you that cool dress or jacket in a different size.

Example 4: People today want to know not only what a brand actually is, but the people behind the brand and what they stand for. Choices are plenty and consumers are looking for more than just a product or service. This can explain the dramatic rise of Tom’s Shoes, or the popularity of Studio 189, or the innovation of Recyclebank, which rewards you with deals and discounts from local businesses when you do something to help bring about a waste-free future. According to the 2015 Cone Communications/Ebiquity Global CSR Study, 90% of consumers would switch brands to one associated with a good cause and 84% seek out responsible products whenever possible.

Example 5: Identifying the emotional drivers behind decision making gives marketers an incredibly powerful lever to shape the best selling strategy. Brands should evoke an emotional response, leading consumers to make a purchase (or to register for a download, sign up for an event, fill out a form for more information, or any other conversion event). Brands such as Apple and Nike have used emotional triggering for a long time. A representative example of emotions-based marketing is the latest campaign of Always #LikeAGirl. Smart brands will ‘utilize’ emotions for meaningful positioning, differentiation and connection with consumers.

Examples are endless, since new trends are constantly emerging! Follow trends, do not ignore them. The only ‘follow’ that can make you ‘lead’!

9 October 2016 · Healthcare

One in three babies born this year will live to the age of 100!

Ageing population, NCDs & adherence to treatment.

Nowadays, we differentiate elderly and extreme elderly > 80yrs. The extreme elderly is the fastest growing sector of the population. A 3-fold increase between 2000 and 2050, is estimated.

Chronic & acute, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are on the rise, one of the reasons being, the ageing population. NCDs, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases & cancer, most likely, emerge in middle age and kill 38 million people, each year! NCDs are more probable after long exposure to adverse social, environmental, behavioural and lifestyle factors or exposure to common risk factors which act synergistically.

NCDs are highly preventable, but, if they occur, they have low cure rate and they require long term and often, expensive treatment. Increasing medication use with age is common to address specific symptoms, improve quality or extend quantity of life, or heal curable conditions; given the NCDs acceleration, the figures multiply.

Almost 20% of community-based elders (65 years or older) take 10 or more medications.
Boyd CM, Darer J, Boult C, Fried LP, Boult L, Wu AW. Clinical practice guidelines and quality of care for older patients with multiple comorbid diseases.

Approximately one half of elders who take at least 1 medication find adherence challenging. They may be adherent to some of their medications and non-adherent to others.
Osterberg L, Blaschke T. Adherence to medication. N Engl J Med.

Documented types of non-adherence include:

• Hesitance to initiate therapy
• Skipped doses and/or dose self-adjustment
• Over-adherence
• Medication discontinuation
• Inappropriate drug administration

Medication non-adherence is considered as a significant public health issue, since it leads to poor health outcomes and increased healthcare costs. As health care reform advances, the hope is that physicians will share medication management responsibilities following the patient-centred model of care, and thus, augment adherence levels. Using combinations of approaches and supporting clinical intervention with adherence tools will be necessary for most patients.

Measuring and quantifying non-adherence, not only in trials but also in clinical practice, is crucial for pharmaceutical companies to get to the bottom of medication adherence and devise ways to improve it!

6 October 2016 · Methods

Mobile surveys are here to stay!

Mobile is the primary route for people to access the internet globally (Comscore, The U.S. Mobile App Report 2014). Mobile accounts for 51% of the digital media (Internet Trends 2015; Code Conference, May 2015), and will soon replace desktops & laptops, since people, on average, complete 221 tasks per day on their smartphones, compared to just 140 on a desktop or laptop (Techmark, 2014).

Nothing is more certain than the domination of Millennials in spending, a few years from now. It's no surprise that these heavy spenders are more tech-savvy than older generations, which is clearly evident by their smartphone usage. The wise way to gain insightful information from this crowd, is via mobile phone surveys.

Mobile market research has plenty of strengths, however, only a few research agencies offer it and even less clients prefer it. Mobile methodologies have the potential to become a significant research and marketing ally.

Some straightforward strengths:

• Speed – quicker collection of real time data as compared to any other research methodology, since users are ‘connected’ 24/7!
• User friendly – easily understood questionnaires with interesting interfaces that make the survey completion more fun!
• Accuracy – the data collected is, no doubt, user generated!
• Good sample representation – 97% of the general population aged 15-65 own a mobile. This surely can guarantee random representative sampling!
• Value for money – the cost of conducting a mobile survey is definitely lower than a face to face survey.

Are you still wondering whether mobile market research is the most emerging methodology?

By Sophia Dassyra