For years, multicultural marketing has been discussed in pharmaceutical circles. However, most companies have yet to fully realize the potential of an integrated, patient-level multicultural approach. We have all seen or heard of national brand ads that have alternate images or are delivered in different languages in an attempt to be more relevant to multicultural markets. Savvy planners also have examined belief and value systems to help guide their campaigns. Not surprisingly, marketers then work to place these ads in geographic areas that appear to have the audiences they want to reach. While this is perhaps a simplistic overview of campaign implementation, it sheds light on several key questions that should be considered in the planning process: • What are the diagnosis, treatment, and non-treatment rates across ethnic groups for the condition my therapy treats? • Where exactly do underserved populations live? • What is the persistency rate among different therapy groups? • How do products in my category perform across different constituencies (i.e., first generation)? • What is the penetration of my brand across multiple ethnic groups in various geographies (MSA, ZIP)? • How does the ethnicity of a physician correlate to the ethnic breakdown of his/her patient population, and is there a change in prescription filling or writing behavior as this mix changes? The Benefits of De-Identified Patient Data While primary market research can be valuable in planning a multicultural campaign, you cannot rely on it to reach the level of granularity required to answer these types of questions. Today, de-identified patient data offer important new insights that can provide the basis for comprehensive multicultural targeting. By joining HIPAA-compliant, de-identified healthcare data with consumer demographic and psychographic information, you can now look at the actual healthcare experiences and behaviors of millions of patients by their ethnicity. This type of analysis identifies key opportunities and lays the foundation for refinement of campaign messaging, forecasting, ad placement, and other tactical interventions. Let’s consider how answering the questions posed earlier can result in more focused, relevant, and efficient programs. To start, it is essential to get a grasp on how different ethnic groups are currently diagnosed and treated. By using a blend of medical and consumer data you can understand the size of diagnosed but untreated populations, and identify the potential to serve these groups. It also is important to examine how patients who are treated behave. How often do they fill prescriptions? Does this differ across ethnic groups? What about diagnosed but untreated patients? How do you communicate with them? And measure their response? The answers to these questions may indicate that certain populations have barriers to continuing therapy that could be cost-related or due to a cultural factor. A source such as census data alone cannot pinpoint where underserved populations reside. By cross-checking diagnosis and treatment prevalance with ethnicity, geography, education, and wealth, geographic “hot spots" often are found where larger groups of underserved people live. This information can be used to focus ad buys in areas where they will truly have the most impact. In addition to identifying hot spots, knowing how different brands are used and the penetration of your product across ethnicities and geographies provides an even deeper level of information to adjust targeting schemes. And, of course, linking all of this activity back to physicians who are treating your key populations in specific geographies is vital to closing the loop across the promotional mix. Once these types of analyses are conducted, you can determine areas for deeper investigation, explore the unique needs of each ethnic group, select appropriate messaging, and measure the return on investment. De-identified patient data offer marketers the most unique and efficient way to answer these pressing business questions and reach multicultural patients with greater relevance than ever before. n De-identified patient data offers marketers the most unique and efficient way to answer these pressing business questions and reach ­multicultural patients with greater relevance than ever before. Bob Doyle, Vice President, Consumer Insights & Marketing Effectiveness SDI Leveraging De-identified Patient Data to Drive Multicultural Marketing SDI, a leading healthcare market insight and analytics firm, provides comprehensive de-identified patient-level data to pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device ­companies. For more information, visit sdihealth.com.

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