Physicians are notoriously difficult to interview deeply about their decision-making because they are extremely literal and left-brained. They are typically unable to explain their professional and emotional engagement in the disease process and treatment beyond medical training, clinical studies, comfort and habit, and sales rep inducements. This paper reveals how interview set-up and innovative projective techniques help to uncover physicians deeper beliefs and values, including symbols, priorities, memories, stories, emotions, metaphors, analogies, patient segmentations and archetypes. Furthermore, these techniques are also useful for other executive decision-makers, as well as for all respondents, depending on the research objectives.
As consumer healthcare costs escalate, the pharmaceutical industry continues to lose consumer trust. Pharmaceutical companies can reduce consumers drug costs as a route to improving the industry's image by reducing prices and thereby profits; or reducing the cost structure with lesser out of pocket consumer costs. As pharmaceutical companies can/will not reduce costs and profits and continue heavy investment in R&D, only option two seems plausible.The research industry, especially the Interactive market research industry, can help reduce the cost of bringing drugs to market through more cost effective recruitment and obtaining potential enrollee feedback before trial designs are written in stone.
Recently we examined the characteristics and emotional values in British pharmaceutical ads targeted at doctors. Through the images, symbols and messages, ads address readers values, needs and ideology (or outlook on their job and work). They influence Physicians by managing their impressions of the brand and their associations with it, differentiating their choices in terms of brand values and benefits, and so motivating and reinforcing prescribing. Ads seek to transform negative values and self-images of the prescriber into positive ones, operating through covert/implicit impressions as well as explicit statements or messages.