Positioning and Communication

A large proportion of overweight people have been trying to lose their weight in every possible way. However, not every attempt was successful. Due to that, the pharmaceutical industry has been developing and testing a large variety of medicines that are specifically made to help people with weight issues. One of the newest drugs on the market is Metabical, a prescription drug developed by Cambridge Sciences Pharmaceuticals (CSP). Based on the results from clinical trials, Metabical has been proven effective for weight loss of overweight people.

The question is how willMetabicalbe introduced to the market? PULL MARKETING The main idea was to advertise Metabical directly to consumers in order to increase the awareness of the product. This strategy was based on pull marketing where the purpose was to attract the customers and make them approach the supplier or seller tlrst It is not an assertive way ot marketing in comparison to push marketing where a seller calls potential customers on the telephone asking whether they would like to purchase a product they might not actually need.

In 1997, the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has reduced restrictions on direct-to-consumer-advertising concerning drugs. Therefore, the effect of the pull marketing was tremendously positive for the pharmaceutical industry. (Buckley 2003). It is also visible in a study made by Prevention magazine, where doctors whose patients came and asked for a medicine that they had previously seen being advertised, had the tendency to prescribe that same brand of medicine (even though they had different alternatives in mind). Following pull marketing, the strategy included: advertisements on the internet, television and radio.

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Moreover, print media was being distributed at the same time as the drug was being launched. This distributionwas continued in the same manner throughoutthe first year of the campaign in order to maintain the brand awareness on a high level. After the initial advertisement strategy, additional 100 000 health care pamphlets were distributed. These pamphletscontained a reply card which, if sent, would provide the sender with a sample of the product. The goal behind this campaign was to show the potential customers that Metabical is suitable for people belonging to the BMI range of 25-30.

Body Mass index (BMI) is the most common index used for comparing weight and height. The calculations resents whether the weight is appropriate for the person's height. If the weight is not appropriate,the person can fall in the group of overweight or underfed (Tim J Cole 2000). As mentioned in the article, an abundanceof weight loss pills were made for obese or severely obese people. However, the group of people with the BMI ranging from 25-30 were not suitable for these pillswhich, consequently, did not have any effect on their weight loss.

Additionally, CPS has developed a support programme which will not only help in weight reduction but also help maintaining the healthy lifestyle. One of their key concepts in the campaign was: "Losing weight is tough. You don't have to do it alone. Let Metabical and your health care provider start you on the road to a healthy weight and better life. " Regarding the support programme, Printup has developed an online contest to attract more customers to buy theproduct and participate in the contest to win a prize. In this contest each user can Join in and compete with other users in reducing BMIs by the highest percentage.

Not only Printup was making advertisements for consumers, she also developed a strategy to target medical community where advertisements were placed on online edical websites and also printed out in well-known medical Journals. Several events were organized especially for medical experts prior to the product launch, one of which was a roundtable discussion. In order to spread the word of the discussion, coverage of this event was done by leading news organizations.

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