Healthy Skepticism Library item: 5179

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Publication type: news

Empirical Evidence Displaces Common Belief that Clinical Decision-Making Process is Purely Scientific
Ipsos Insight 2006 Jun 17
http://www.ipsosinsight.com/pdf/Ipsos_Insight_Emotional_Drivers_Case.pdf

Notes:

Ralph Faggotter’s Comments:

This industry insider’s view provides insight into how non-rational precribing decision-making can be.

See http://www.ipsosinsight.com/knowledgecenter/health.aspx for more.

Full text:

see the PDF – http://www.ipsosinsight.com/pdf/Ipsos_Insight_Emotional_Drivers_Case.pdf

Case Study

Empirical Evidence Displaces Common

Belief That Clinician Decision-Making Process

is Purely Scientific

Discovering New Brand Value

The Marketing Challenge

Clinicos,* a leading international research-based pharmaceutical company, was looking for a way to gain

more in-depth understanding of emotional drivers among clinicians for one of their brands, which was

underperforming in the market. With their market share declining in a competitive set, Clinicos needed to

reverse the downward trajectory. Previous qualitative and quantitative research had failed to establish an

explanation. The Company felt there must be an intangible, emotional component contributing to poor

performance – a negative perception of the brand’s identity. The challenge was how to measure it. The

Company envisioned a research solution that would dig deeper into the emotional connection to the brand,

such as has been done successfully in advertising research with Ipsos ASI’s Emoti*Scape.TM

The Ipsos Insight Approach

To determine clinician’s impressions of the Clinicos brand, the research focussed on the emotional drivers

for brand choice and personality drivers. The objective of this online approach was to delve into the hard

and soft drivers of the brand, map the drivers within the competitive landscape and identify the drivers that

determine market share.

Using a comprehensive identikit of attributes covering hundreds of variables, the research tool enabled

clinicians to piece together an identification or picture of the brand and its competitive landscape. One

hundred fifty clinicians were exposed to a randomized subset of 90 attributes in the identikit. The second

phase of the research used a series of sophisticated statistical techniques to explore the relationship between

attributes. This in-depth approach then tied back to the more standard brand attribute market research test

results so Clinicos could compare how much their sales were driven by rational thought versus emotional

ties to the brand.

Clinicos was able to gather significant information on which emotions were tied to their brand, what the

negative emotions were, and why their brand was perceived negatively. They were also able to compare the

results across their competitive set. By exploring a multi-dimensional map of the space that a brand occupies,

the research delivered strategic direction for improving positioning, communication and marketing strategy

and ultimately, the relationship that clinicians have with the brand.

*pseudonym

The Results

Marketers often perceive clinicians as purely scientifically oriented in their decision-making, but Clinicos’

research showed the extent to which emotions drive clinicians’ brand choices: 53% of clinicians prescribed

or chose not to prescribe Clinicos’ medication based on rational thought, 47% made their decisions based

on emotions.

The emotional insights from the study were shared with the advertising

agency and used as a basis for developing creative concepts for a

new promotional campaign. The research results were also incorporated

into quantitative concept testing research and, based on those results,

Clinicos selected the concept that scored well on the emotional attributes

that were determined to be key drivers of brand choice. The emotional

attributes have also been incorporated into Clinicos’ brand equity

tracking study.

Ipsos Insight Health

Ipsos Insight, the flagship marketing research division of Ipsos in North America, has industry specialists

serving companies in the following categories: consumer products; health and pharmaceuticals; financial

services; technology and media; agrifood; energy and utilities; and lottery and gaming.

Ipsos Insight Health represents the pharmaceutical practice within this division of Ipsos, providing custom

and syndicated research to prescription and non-prescription drug manufacturers as well as biotech and

healthcare providers. Ipsos Insight Health’s innovative research techniques and vast global resources support

you in charting the course for successful market entry and category leadership for your brands.We specialize

in sizing the market potential for new prescription drug introductions, branding, and communication,

as well as in-market performance monitoring.

To learn more, please visit www.ipsosinsight.com/health.

Contact Ipsos Insight at 1.888.210.7425 or email info@ipsos-na.com.

Healthy Skepticism Library item: 5179

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