Richard Bates argues that: 1) Overly relying on "best practice" branding processes can result in unengaging brand ideas, as the focus becomes process compliance rather than creative thinking. 2) True brand differentiation comes from understanding customers' emotional needs, not functional benefits of the product. This requires a creative mindset rather than strict adherence to templates. 3) Marketers should be given freedom from rigid processes to pursue insightful thinking that challenges customers and creates imperative for them to change behavior.

1. FEATURE RICHARD BATES
Free spirit
Liberating creativity
from process can result
in maximum impact for
brand positioning
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2. FEATURE
A
re better brands really created through the product and therefore not sufficiently
adopting best practice and bringing a substantive to make a difference.
more professional approach to brand Consequently, the greatest opportunity to
positioning? Some in the pharmaceutical create a clearly differentiated, defendable brand
industry would argue that, in many cases, and gain competitive advantage is to focus on
despite spending considerable time and money patients’ and/or physicians’ emotional needs.
on improving their marketing capabilities and Defining these needs in any given treatment
learning how to create ‘world-class brands’, situation is complex. They cannot be elicited from
pharmaceutical marketers still struggle to research in the same definitive, linear way as
develop truly differentiated brand ideas. functional needs. They need to be derived from
Pharmaceutical marketers have long recognised multiple sources; from reading between the lines
the benefit of brand marketing to help support and drawing connections between disparate facts.
their product’s value proposition and gain sales
by differentiating them clearly in the marketplace.
To their credit, many pharmaceutical companies “To bring together these
have been open to learning as much as they
can from outside their sector, looking to brand insights … requires a more
powerhouses like Diageo and Unilever to define
best practice. This has led many to focus their
creative, problem-solving
efforts on developing their own ‘best-in-class’
brand development processes. Such processes do
mindset”
provide a useful framework for building brands
and sit well with the predominant scientific, To bring together these insights to define
rational, cultures within these organisations. a brand’s emotional space, and then create
However, the unfortunate truth is that many a brand idea to express how the product fills
of these ‘best in class’ processes are more it, requires a more creative, problem-solving
orientated towards delivering against internal mindset. This cannot be achieved by carefully
governance goals and procedures. This means following a process and working hard to find the
marketers do more but think less, resulting in best ideas to fill each template, however good.
them developing less engaging brand ideas. It requires a different mindset, in the same way
The reality, even for the likes of Diageo and that, while a logical, deductive approach will
Unilever, is that process can never provide solve a Sudoku puzzle, it will not help with a
more than a foundation for the development cryptic crossword. But how do you achieve this?
of a great brand. Great brand ideas are not Based on the experience of over 60
created through diligent process compliance pharmaceutical branding projects, those teams
or being an ever more professional marketer. that are better able to detach themselves from
Diageo and Unilever have developed some their company’s process and templates are
great market-leading brands, such as Johnnie able to create more successful and engaging
Walker, Guinness, Dove and Axe, but so, too, brand ideas. These teams have avoided
have many organisations that take a far less developing ‘box blindness’: relying on process
‘professional’ approach to brand development. to steer them through brand creation and
The common factor is that the successes are using boxes on the required brand templates
all generated by marketers with more creative to guide their thinking. Instead they have,
minds and aptitudes. Arguably, it is brains, quite literally, been able to think outside the
not processes, that create great brands. box, and focus on what really matters when
developing a brand, ensuring their idea is as
differentiating and compelling as possible.
“At its most basic level, a A stronger idea starts with a clear definition
of the problem. What is required is an emotional
brand is a navigational tool, need that the brand can be perceived to fulfil
better than any other product. It must be a
designed to help customers need important enough to the customers that
if a brand presents a compelling proposition
make choices” (ie supported by a credible functional
rationale), they will change their behaviour
At its most basic level, a brand is a and choose your brand over others.
navigational tool, designed to help customerss In order to identify and clearly articulate such
make choices and lead them to identify one needs, more time and effort must be focused on
brand as best able to meet their needs. understanding potential customers and less on
However, in pharmaceutical markets, as the perceived benefits of the product. What drives
in most sectors, it is increasingly hard to customers, both rationally and emotionally?
find clear functional differentiation between What are their needs, frustrations and fears?
brands. If it does exist, it is often short- Understand what choices customers have
lived, or limited to a very specific aspect of by getting to know your competitors as well
Pharmaceutical Marketing Europe March/April 2010 www.pmlive.com/europe 29

3. FEATURE RICHARD BATES
for most new pharmaceutical brands
An insightful mind looks to discover: is that they are entering markets with
Misconceptions – things that customers believe no substantial product differentiation.
are true but which are not true at all They are also trying to convince customers of
their value derived from a host of complex data
Contradictions – things that customers say or believe comparisons and mode of action explanations.
which contradict their actual behaviour or vice versa In this environment, they need a brand idea
and brand executions that are capable of
Tensions and Frustrations – things that do not work or are simply and powerfully conveying their value
missing and are unmet rational or emotional needs in a way that stands out to, and resonates
with, their chosen target customers. This is
Loves and passions – things that your customers
best achieved by encouraging brand teams
really love about a market or a brand
to be brave, and giving them the freedom to
do less, think more and be more creative.
Make shifting – solutions that customers patch together because there
This article is not suggesting in any way that all
is no product or service that gives them exactly what they want
processes should be ignored. Having a framework
is useful, particularly in explaining the process to
Compromises – identifying the compromises or
non-marketers in the organisation. The danger
trade-offs that customers regularly make
lies in believing that the process is the answer. As
the functional differentiation between products
Total turnaround – something that reverses an existing view of the
gets narrower and regulatory cost reduction
market or situation completely, destroying myths or preconceptions
pressure on the sector increases, brand teams will
have to become more inventive to differentiate
as they know themselves. This encompasses their products and justify their value propositions.
not just their data, but what needs they are Processes do not engender inventiveness.
trying to own in the therapy area, how they
are communicating them and foreseeing how
their approach may change over time. “Enable marketers to
All of this amounts to having a deep market
insight; insight that can inspire the development understand what insights
of the brand idea by better defining what the
brand will resolve for customers. This clear look like and give them the
focus is best achieved by treating insight
as a permanent state of mind and not a
freedom to pursue them”
stage in the process, and by using market
research to inspire and inform thinking, rather To be more creative, marketers are going to
than relying on it to define the answer. need freedom from, and the skills to become less
However, insight on its own is not reliant on, the templates and procedures that
enough. Many brands have the insight, they come with ‘world-class’ brand building processes.
understand the market dynamics and their The payback will be twofold; more compelling,
competitors, but they fail to make choices. better-differentiated brand ideas capable of
Which customers, insights and needs are delivering greater competitive advantage and
important and which can be left alone? A sales from a given marketing spend, and a
brand needs a single, clearly defined target. reduction in the cost of brand development.
Instead of expecting marketers to understand
CHALLENGE CUSTOMERS what comprises a good insight and a good brand
Once they have identified their target, brand idea, simply through diligently following each
teams are typically tasked with developing and every process stage, huge efficiencies
a brand positioning idea that is ‘unique, can be made by enabling them to understand
differentiating and credible’. All too often, what these insights look like and then giving
this leads to ideas that simply present the them the freedom to pursue them.
brand as ‘better than’ or ‘new’. What they No two brand-development projects are the
need are brand ideas that challenge and same. Therefore, unnecessary steps can be
disrupt customers’ thinking, through what skipped, and the scale and scope of those that
they stand for, or how they are executed, or remain can be tailored to deliver exactly what
both. Brand teams need to be braver, and is required to move the thinking forward.
to recognise that it is only by challenging a Pharmaceutical companies must identify who in
customer’s thinking that a brand can create their marketing organisations have the right skills
an imperative for them to act differently. and aptitudes to bring the most out of their brand
Challenger brands are not a new idea. However, processes, and then use them as specialists to
they are often seen as the exception rather than lead their brand development processes forward.
the rule, in the preserve of brands trying to
compete with a well-established, dominant market The Author
leader, like Avastin, for example. Yet the reality Richard Bates is European pharmaceutical lead at Clear.
30 www.pmlive.com/europe Pharmaceutical Marketing Europe March/April 2010