Insight Mining and Brand Positioning

Visual Selection Exercise

Critical Business Issue

The client had filed for a neuropathic pain indication for their anti-seizure medication. This space was new to the brand team, and as a result, insight mining was necessary to understand the brand’s current image and the image of other pain treatments among key physician specialties. They also needed to understand how those physicians currently treated neuropathic pain.

Research Objectives
  • Determine criteria for having this brand considered as the treatment of choice for neuropathic pain
  • Understand the current brand image of this product and other pain treatments among key physician specialties
  • Review drug based on its performance as an anti-seizure drug, in addition to its performance for neuropathic pain
  • Determine perceptual positioning opportunities for the brand relative to treatment options employed by different physician specialties
Research Methodology

Using a visual protocol and projective techniques, In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) were conducted with physicians to better understand the functional and emotional benefits of each of the leading drugs in this space. Physician types included Primary Care Physicians, Internal Medicine Specialists, Neurologists, and Pain Specialists. We recruited a mix of physicians who preferred this brand as the therapy of choice, as well as physicians who preferred competing treatment options.

The techniques used in this research included a combination of guided discussions, workbook-based attribute exercises, and a visual selection exercise. This approach helped identify, visualize and leverage the brand’s emotional and functional benefits as an anti-seizure medication and then as a neuropathic pain drug.

We created a visual representation of the competitive space and how this brand could be positioned against the competition.

Clinical endpoints investigated included efficacy, safety, tolerability, drug-to-drug interactions, side effects, onset, duration, dosing and others.

  • Visual imagery selected by the physicians for the drug’s use for neuropathic pain repeatedly suggested the idea of freedom and revitalization – freedom to enjoy life, freedom to be active and social, etc.
  • Specific benefits that were frequently mentioned for this drug included: strength, victorious, hope, reliability, control, and flexibility.

In contrast, when the same exercises were applied to this drug based on its perception as an anti-seizure medication, imagery selected typically included incomplete images (a house with no garage) or dual images (requiring the aid of another to function properly). Findings indicated completely different perceptions of the drug as an anti-seizure medication versus a treatment for neuropathic pain.These findings were used to develop appropriate communications and messaging to ensure that key benefits were stressed and competitor benefits de-positioned.

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