Brand Positioning in a Competitive Space

Brand Positioning Filter

Brand Positioning Filter

PHARMACEUTICAL CASE STUDY
ASSIGNMENT: Insight Mining, Positioning
THERAPEUTIC AREA: Ophthalmology

Critical Business Issue

Client was developing a new product for use in treating patients with declining visual acuity that, without treatment, could result in blindness. The primary competitor was scheduled to launch 12 to 18 months before the client’s product would be on the market. It was imperative that an optimal position be developed in advance of the competitor’s launch to proactively deposition the competitor, while building a sustainable advantage for the client’s brand long-term.

Research Objectives

  • Identify current attitudes and behaviors around treatment of the condition among healthcare specialists
  • Assess physician reaction to client product profile to determine potential areas for positioning and subsequent message development
  • Understand key benefits/liabilities associated with existing therapies, and market expectations for products currently in development from competitors
  • Assess current perceptions of manufacturers developing products to treat the condition to determine if equity exists that can be leveraged or exploited
  • Conduct a workshop with client team to review findings and craft positioning and messaging options for testing with physicians in next phase research methodology

An iterative, three-phased approach was recommended to provide initial input in drafting strawman positioning statements (information gathering phase). This was followed by a facilitated workshop with the client team to help refine positioning options (construction phase) and finally, qualitative research with physicians to evaluate those statements (test phase).

Phase I consisted of telephone interviews with Retinal Specialists and Ophthalmologists. Phone interviews were recommended to obtain a quick read in a cost-effective manner, while ensuring a geographically diverse sample. Client’s product profile was forwarded overnight so participants were fully prepped for the interview. In this phase, questions were designed to define successful treatment, uncover unmet needs, understand expectations for products in development and gauge reaction to the client’s profile.

Phase II was a full-day workshop with the client team to share results of the phone interviews, develop scenarios representing likely competitor positioning, define the most likely launch environment and identify potential points of leverage for the client’s brand. With that background, the team was guided through a process of developing and then prioritizing positioning options as well as supporting messages for Phase III.

In Phase III, 4 to 5 positions with supporting messages were evaluated by participants based on being relevant, credible and differentiating versus competitive products. After prioritizing the positions, participants optimized their primary selection by choosing the most relevant/strongest support for that position from all the positions they evaluated. This process used individual velcro boards that could be easily substituted to build an optimized model.

Key Insights

  • Client’s product was universally viewed as an improvement over existing products and those coming to market in the near future.
  • The optimal position was derived from merging support messaging from more than one position.
  • Subtle differences in verbiage caused extremely different reactions among participants.
  • There is a fine balance that must be struck between being compelling and appearing too aggressive or over the top in the messaging in order to be seen as credible.

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