Glaxo and Pharma Social Marketing

David Schatsky | October 25, 2007, 11:01 AM

Interesting article by Jeanne Whalen in the Wall Street Journal about Glaxo's use of online support groups and social media to build the market for Alli, its OTC diet pill. (Glaxo released its financial results yesterday, anouncing a 5.8% drop in profit.)

Two-thirds of pharma brand managers we surveyed said they had fielded online patient-support programs programs lastyear, but only a handful identified these programs as their top tactic in terms of spending this year. (Most money goes to display ads, video ads and content sponsorships or advertorials). (See US Online Pharmaceutical Executive Survey, 2007:
Benchmarking Consumer-Directed Online Marketing Spending and Tactics.)

These programs are potentially very effective and inexpensive means of building awareness, trial and continued usage of drugs. According to a JupiterResearch consumer survey, about a third of adult online users said they connected to others or to the content others created online about health and wellness issues during the past year. For more, see my colleague Monique Levy's report from earlier this year:
Online Health: Assessing the Risk and Opportunity of Social and One-to-One Media.