The Rx Factor: Strategic Creativity in Pharmaceutical Marketing

The Rx Factor: Strategic Creativity in Pharmaceutical Marketing, published in 1997 and revised in 2009, is a critically acclaimed Pharma marketing book written by Indian author Pavan Choudary.

For the first three years since its publication, The Rx Factor had stayed among the top three titles, from among 665 books on Healthcare marketing and advertising worldwide. It has also been recommended by Kip Piper- perhaps the best known Healthcare strategists in the world, who has served as Advisor to the US Presidential committees on healthcare in past.

Background

Indian Pharmaceutical Industry with more than 26,000 companies and more than a lakh formulation need innovative and creative marketing strategies to sell them. The competition, which has become fiercer in recent years, has sharpened the marketing styles of many companies. At the same time, the dissociation of the industry from advertising agencies, market researchers and other market- support organizations has left many noticeable chinks in pharmaceutical marketing. Through The Rx Factor, author Pavan has attempted to fill in these gaps.

Summary

For a marketing strategy to succeed in today's highly competitive marketplace, it is imperative to adopt a strategy that is unique and which will enable your product to stand apart.  According to the author, without creative strategies in today’s times, it is difficult to survive the unprecedented levels of competition.  But 'differentness' alone will not give results.  'Different-ness' with a purpose will certainly yield great dividends. What is therefore important is to be strategically creative with a predetermined purpose, not merely different. Thus, The Rx Factor is a purposive creative endeavour that emanates from a deep understanding of the realities of the market-place.

Divided into chapters, the book explain various do’s and don’ts for successful marketing strategy and marketer. The foremost thing which a marketing professional needs to understand is his consumer, very much in the same way as a good doctor must understand his patient. The doctor can dispense the right prescription (or, in  pharmaceutical parlance, the Rx) only when  he  has correctly  understood  the  nature  of  the  problem  afflicting  the  patient. A successful Rx is  one that  meets the  intended  purpose, namely ,  treat the  patient by tackling  the  problem at  hand. Similarly, the corner-stone of a successful marketing endeavour is an astute understanding of the market, which leads to a solution to the problems or exploitation of the opportunities the market throws up.

The book further elucidates the strategic approach that marketing professional must adopt. A successful marketer must know the pulse of the market. He must be totally cognizant with the social and psychological profile of the customer.  This knowledge and understanding of the market and the customer  will  determine  what  he  needs  to  do  to  get  his  product accepted in  the  marketplace. It will govern his choice of prescription.  This knowledge is the key to a successful marketing strategy, the correct prescription.  A successful strategy is one that   emanates from  market  realities  and  one  that  enables  the  marketer  get  his product  prescribed  or  accepted. What distinguishes a successful marketing strategy from one that fails is precisely what the author has chosen to call The Rx  Factor.

Rx factor is born out of Pavan’s years of experience in the advertising and pharmaceutical industries. He noted that ‘the book serves as a prescription for the success of pharma marketing practitioner and the pharmacy student as it describes how pharma marketing and selling work in the Indian context and how these can be improved.”

Reception

“I strongly  recommend  this  book  for  all  pharmacy  students   and marketing   professionals…it   gives   a   creative   landscape   for Pharmaceutical marketing filled with innovative and practical marketing strategies…a useful tool for the sales force in the pharmaceutical industry.” - Dr. B. Suresh, President, Pharmacy Council of India

“Written in a racy, 'un-put-downable' style (which one rarely comes across in a book emanating from India), one reaches the end only 'asking for more' and wishing that the author had included some more marketing examples and cases to reinforce many of his imaginative ideas. A book not to be missed.” - Express Pharma Pulse (Indian Express Group)

“Such examples abound and that is what makes the book refreshing and interesting.” -  The Business Standard