Big Pharma Finally Taking Big Steps to Reach Patients With Digital Media†

Highly Regulated Industry Slowly Mobilizes With Blogs, Twitter, YouTube

Advertising Age, May 11, 2009 — Big Pharma is lumbering into the digital realm, using a growing chunk of its $4.7 billion DTC dollars to reach patients and prescribers on blogs, Twitter and YouTube.

What might be considered a yawn-worthy move into new and social media is nothing short of a revolution for the highly regulated pharmaceutical industry, and the mobilization is happening everywhere: Johnson & Johnson keeps a respected and popular blog;

The Reputation Challenge: Building Corporate Reputation to Drive Business Performance

By Aneysha Pearce

Prophet, May 1, 2009 — Corporate reputation must be built. It must be supported and managed. And, it must be an authentic reflection of the business — its culture, value system, and behaviors. Businesses that expect to experience the kinds of success achieved by best-practice organizations will understand that truth. And they will create and live the kind of meaningful purpose that will allow them, too, to more effectively reap the benefits of a strong reputation.

Tropicana Discovers Some Buyers Are Passionate About Packaging

IT took 24 years, but PepsiCo now has its own version of New Coke.

New York Times, February 22, 2009 — The PepsiCo Americas Beverages division of PepsiCo is bowing to public demand and scrapping the changes made to a flagship product, Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice. Redesigned packaging that was introduced in early January is being discontinued, executives plan to announce on Monday, and the previous version will be brought back in the next month.

Google, Campbell Soup, J&J Tops in CSR

Marketing Charts, November 10, 2008 — Google, Campbell Soup, and Johnson & Johnson top the list of American companies that the US public sees as most socially responsible, according to the 2008 Corporate Social Responsibility Index (CSRI), from the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship and Reputation Institute.

You Call That Innovation?†

New Survey Shows Consumers Value Unique Products -- Not Just Line Extensions

Advertising Age, November 10, 2008 — As everyone struggles just to stay above water, now is exactly the time to redistribute your resources to develop unique products that deliver a new consumer experience and create a franchise capable of long-term, significant growth. Try offering new benefits or delivery systems through real innovation.

Ads for Respected Brands Hit Racy Sites†

Brandweek, November 4, 2008 — As celebrity slip-ups continue to serve as fodder for a slew of gossip sites and blogs, more mainstream brands are finding their way onto these sites, despite their often-racy content. The big question is whether content of this variety is simply becoming more acceptable for marketers given its popularity, or whether negligent ad networks are placing messages on sites many brands would rather avoid. Both could be the case, said several media executives.

Three Marketing Initiatives Key to Breakout B2C Brand Growth

Marketing Charts, November 4, 2008 — Placing disciplined focus on three key business-to-consumer marketing initiatives and executing them properly helps top brands achieve “category killing” performance and can make a difference in market-share growth of up to 30%, according to research from the Marketing Leadership Council, a division of the Corporate Executive Board.

“Breakout Growth: Practical Lessons from Brands that Consistently Outperform Competitors,” sheds new light on how certain brands -despite fluctuations in economic and environmental conditions - are able to to exhibit breakout performance, growing at two to three times their category average.

Why Pharma Fears Social Networking†

Brandweek, October 19, 2008 — Although a majority of marketers have embraced online social media and user-generated content efforts, one industry is conspicuously not taking advantage of the gold rush: pharmaceuticals.

The reason: Marketers fear that user-generated content will include complaints about injuries caused by their drugs’ side effects. The law requires these “adverse events” to be reported to the FDA. The FDA’s adverse-event databases are regularly combed by lawyers looking for potential class-action suits.

Thus, drug marketers have stuck with a decidedly Web 1.0 model, in which customer interaction is kept to an absolute minimum.

This head-in-the-sand approach may be about to change. A debate is raging in the drug business as to whether companies should adopt... continue reading

J&J Takes Baby Steps Toward Social Media†

Camp Baby is company's latest attempt to woo Web-savvy moms.

Brandweek, April 14, 2008 — Earlier this month, Johnson & Johnson invited 56 influential mothers/bloggers to an all-expenses-paid trip to a three-day conference in New Jersey where they had breakout sessions on everything from wine tasting to infant eye exams.

Pricing Pills by the Results

Drug Company Offering a Type of Money-Back Guarantee

New York Times, July 14, 2007 — Drug companies like to say that their most expensive products are fully worth their breathtaking prices. Now one company is putting its money where its mouth is — by offering a money-back guarantee.

Johnson & Johnson has proposed that Britain’s national health service pay for the cancer drug Velcade, but only for people who benefit from the medicine, which can cost $48,000 a patient.