Pharmacuetical Branding

  Branding is such an important aspect of business that even boring products such as pharmaceutical products, drugs and medicines can become interesting and exciting, when Branded properly.

  Pharmaceutical industry branding is no new. For decades, a pharmaceutical company’s brand success formula was simple: discover a drug that was needed, introduce it to the doctor via a sales rep, and watch the prescriptions get filled.

  Now to assure large profit margins the drug brand or name is patented, which can assure decades of profits for the pharmaceutical company if branded properly. Then when a generic brand comes out many patients and even doctors will not use the generic brand, stateing it is not the same and does not have the same effect. True, or psychological branding?

  Pharmaceutical companies are are starting to work on developing the pharmaceutical branding even before the product is fully tested and ready for production. In the past few years it was unherd of to see or hear pharmaceutical drug commercials on tv or radio. Now they are branded and marketed even during trial phases of the drug.

  Pharmaceutical branding is an important way of creating awareness among the public to the potential benefits of drugs and medicines. The marketing process and branding give the public ready knowledge of what the product is about and thereby induces them to request that particular brand of medication when their Dr. is treating their illness.

  A great name or Branding can increase the value of a product brand and in turn the revenue, where as a poorly chosen branding can lead to a bad branding and ultimately disaster for the product. Naming a drug or medicine is not the same as naming a consumer product. For example if the product is sold internationally how will it translate on other languages?

  A very important part of pharmaceutical branding is the product logo design. When someone sees a logo they have been branded to automatically think posative or negative about that company and therefore their products. The logo shape and colors also can effect a target populations perception of that company or it's products.

  Then comes packaging, and other psychological branding issues such as the pills shape and color. If a pill is large, and might seem difficult to swallow, dark colors such as black will be avoided because they make it seem even larger. If the pill has high toxicity levels, then a "hot" color such as red is avoided because it subliminally gives off a feeling of threat.

  So as consumers decide to buy or not we consciously and unconsciously think about the branding we have of products. Right down to the medcations we take.