DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CONSUMER AND PHARMACEUTICAL BRAND BUILDING

Consumer brands appear to have a different longevity to the brands that exist within the pharmaceutical world. Fast moving consumer good (FMCG) brands can last decades and even centuries while pharmaceutical brands are thought to last only a very short period of time. When looking at a typical consumer product category, for example, cereals, soap or toothpaste, it can be seen that within the US marketplace, the leading brands in 1925 still led the category 60 years later (Kellogg, Ivory and Colgate). Similarly when assessing the longevity of the most known brands in America, over 25 per cent are older than 50 years, another 25 per cent have been around for more than 75 and a further 10 per cent are over 100 years of age. Consumer brands therefore not only last a very long time but continue to compete within their given category if enough attention is given to them. In relative terms, consumer brands also have short research and development (R & D) cycles, as well as short pre-marketing cycles, which can then be followed by decades of profitable brand building. The traditional product brand lifecycle does not need to exist as the brand is treated as the asset and strategy and brand management are seen as vital to ensure the brand creation focus permeates the whole organization. In contrast, within the pharmaceutical world of brands the R & D cycle is long, risky and extremely expensive. Product and patent creation can take at least a decade and this is then followed by a one or two year pre-marketing window before the product brand is launched. What traditionally then follows is massive investment in sales force coverage and frequency of target physicians and approximately 10 – 15 years of sales. As patent expiry approaches, some attempts to manage the lifecycle of the product brand occur through galenical development but as soon as the expiry date is reached, the product is cast out and treated as a cash cow for the next molecule coming through the pipeline. 1

Brand destruction occurs when corporate resources are withdrawn internationally even though, perhaps, patent expiry only affects the US in the immediate near future. In essence, the product is the asset (rather than the brand) and R & D and sales management are the vital ingredients to success rather than brand expertise. What is little known, however, is that some pharmaceutical brands do have staying power, for example, Premarin from Wyeth was launched in 1942 and did not reach peak sales until 2001, a full 59 years later while both Augmentin and Sandimmun reached their peak sales more than 20 years post launch.