Anyway, Ms. Rathika discussed with us about the communications department and their roles. The communications and market access department work hand in hand to engage with issues regarding the public and MSD. The communications department is the first point of contact for outsiders to engage with MSD and then only the appropriate request is channelled to the proper department for further action. The department also help to build the company brand from publicising the name up to creating demand from various bodies towards MSD. And with the recent merging with Schering-Plough, it is utmost importance for the communications department to bridge the understanding between SP staff and the MSD team.
Communications department also deal with corporate collaterals, which are mainly creating merchandises such as company notebooks, company pens, company mugs etc. that only have the company name and not a specific franchise or product. This gives a similarity and consistency of identity between staffs from different department, like a sense of togetherness. Other roles such as media relations, training, corporate info and dissemination are also under communications department. Communications also deal with the design and making of promotional items such as company buntings, greeting cards and paper bag for the use when dealing with the press media or public forums.
As an ethical company, MSD also engaged in many reach-out programmes to the society. These activities are also spearheaded by the communications department. One of the famous events are the launch of a cookbook for diabetic patients and in the subsequent year, a desert recipe book for diabetic patients. Check out the link http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Health/2012/12/05/Recipes-for-diabetics.aspx ! These books are distributed to diabetic patients in hospitals for free, and they even have to print a few extra batches due to high demand! Although it is purely a contribution for the society with no revenues in return, it is the MSD way to give back to the society.
Another known contribution by MSD is the lighting of KL tower to blue colour. Oh, so MSD even played with our iconic tower? Well with a meaning of course! The blue colour is in conjunction with the World Diabetes Day. I'm serious! Check out http://www.nst.com.my/streets/central/menara-kl-helps-combat-diabetes-1.172222 . MSD have to even write to a French company who manages the tower's lightings. Probably is the same company managing the lightings of the Eiffel Tower?
Lastly, MSD is also known to spread awareness on important issues such as HIV/AIDS via the campaign "It Begins With You". http://www.thestar.com.my/story.aspx?file=%2f2011%2f12%2f4%2fhealth%2f10023576&sec=health . This programme aims to reduce the stigma by medical students towards HIV/AIDS patients and to treat them indiscriminatingly when they graduate as future doctors. All these events require multiple partnerships and collaborations, which inevitably involves the communications department.
In the afternoon, we learned about how a market plan is devised and executed. A market plan consist of the market overview, the buying process, positioning statement and how to track and evaluate the marketing execution. It is really like planning for war. We really need to be detailed about who are the competitors and what are their pros and cons in the market plan. A simple thing we learned is that, if a product has no distinct difference than other competitor products, it becomes a commodity (like rubber, metal, produce) which only the price differs, and it becomes a price war. However, when you can have a significant benefit over another product, you will have a position for your product to sell better than the other products. That's all about positioning your product.
In the pharma line, it is always best to have the first-mover's-advantage, meaning to have the first product of its kind. For example, if the company has a new product in a totally new class of drug, which in MSD's case, the famous Januvia product, is the first DPP4-inhibitor drug to treat diabetes. Although there may be more work to do as the first-mover, such as explaining to customers about the new class of drug and building their trust towards this new class, it will be rewarding at the end as prescribers tend to habitually prescribe the same product once they're used to it. Therefore the first-of-its-kind product will be very stable in the market and can only be overtaken if the competitors' products in the same class of drug has a more highly favourable profile, which seldom happens.
Of course, once the patent expires for products like Januvia, generic companies will start producing cheaper versions of Januvia and hence snatch away a portion of the market share. But with products such as medicine which deals with lives, once you build the trust, people will be willing to spend more for quality medications. That is why marketing in pharma industry is very crucial.
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