Abstract:

This paper presents the results of a research project aimed at identifying the CoreValues ™ associated with UK General Practitioners' (G.P.s 1 ) treatment of angina pectoris. CoreValues form the output of a novel marketing research approach which utilises Attributional Analysis, a technique used in Social Psychology, to disclose human motivation through the computerised analysis of the causal beliefs made by respondents during interviews. CoreValues are central to the way individual pharmaceutical brands are differentiated in the minds of the G.P.s who prescribe them. It is the appeal that brands make to the CoreValues, singly and collectively, which determines which is most likely to be chosen most frequently. This research project has disclosed six Core Values associated with the G.P.'s management and choice of treatment in angina. The key finding is that different classes of anti-anginal treatment make varying appeals to the G.P.'s CoreValues, but no single class makes an appeal which compares with that of referral to hospital. Referral makes it's appeal broadly across three of the most powerfully motivating Core Values, whereas the individual drug classes tend to make their appeal to an impoverished set of less powerfully motivating Core Values. An appreciation of precisely what these six CoreValues represent and the strengths and weakness' of the different drug classes in making their appeal to G.P.s, should assist those involved in marketing anti-anginal drugs to optimise their positioning by maximising the appeal of their brands in future marketing programmes.