So you’re launching a new drug into a semicrowded category, and you’ve got great data that’s played really well in market research. You’ve vetted everything from positioning to messaging to creative with your target. Things look good. Physicians say they’ll be “very likely" to prescribe your brand based on the evidence they’ve seen. Should be a slam dunk, and you expect your brand to make significant gains in its first year. Not so fast. Yes, health care professionals say they practice evidence-based medicine, and you’ve got the evidence that should convince them to switch to your brand. But you have to remember they also practice habit-based medicine. They write, recommend, or use what they’re comfortable with. Making a change can make them uncomfortable. Why? First of all, they’re human. Change isn’t easy for any of us, even for physicians with mountains of clinical evidence in front of them. I’m uncomfortable about switching my brand of running shoes. Consumer marketers spend millions persuading people to change cereals. Why would we expect health care professionals to embrace change any more easily? Second, they’re conservative. Remember that rule about first doing no harm? Health care professionals are taught to balance risk and reward, balance efficacy with safety. For even if the chance of a new drug doing actual harm is low, a physician’s relationship with his or her patients is on the line with every decision he or she makes. They’re not going to risk having a problem with a patient unless there’s a good reason to do so. Third, we’re not selling dishwashing liquid here. The brand propositions for leading consumer brands are wonderfully simple — tough on grease, drinkability, driving performance. The selling story for our brands is inherently more complex, more scientific, and often less clear. There’s a lot of room for consideration, thought, and ultimately resistance to change. So what can you do to make a health care professional comfortable enough to try something new, or to switch from what’s worked for them for so long? Making the effort to do some basic things can help grease the skids once launch time comes. 1. Understand Your Target What makes them tick? Are they early adopters or do they take their time? Do they typically use three brands in a category or are they loyal to one? Of all the market research that’s done prior to launch, key learnings about how your target practices every day can be among the most valuable. It helps your team understand the context in which your brand fits. 2. Start Early As a communications agency, we’ve often been called in to pitch drugs that are well into Phase III trials with a marketing team that’s already panicked about a fast-approaching launch date. And while we understand you’ve got to hold some budget until launch is a certainty, you need to start communicating well before that time. Get your data out in scientific channels. Hold advisory boards. The more time audiences have with your data and messages prelaunch, the less new your brand will seem when a rep walks in the door. 3. Let Thought Leaders Do Some Heavy Lifting Thought leader development and deployment may seem like a basic launch tactic, but we see brands over and over again that come to market without good solid support from the influential physicians in their category. Experts lend credibility and can be out in the market talking about the concepts and data that supports your brand. 4. Keep Your Content Simple, Focused, and Airtight Again, people are comfortable with what they know and what they’ve seen before. So if your brand messages are all over the place, physicians will scarcely be able to remember them, let alone trust them. Use all the channels at your disposal, from scientific meetings to rep details to online programs, to deliver your brand’s message consistently. 5. Make Your Reps Comfortable Like dogs…some physicians can smell fear. So if your rep isn’t comfortable with your brand’s content — the disease state, the study data, and practice habits — you can’t expect him or her to be confident during a detail. Invest in the training, the experience, and the right selling tactics to make your reps secure and comfortable with your brand launch. Change is never simple, even in this evidence-based, rational industry we’re in. But there are things you can do to make changing habits and brands a little more comfortable. n Get Comfortable, Everyone The brand propositions for leading consumer brands are wonderfully simple — tough on grease, drinkability, driving ­performance. The selling story for our brands is inherently more complex, more scientific, and often less clear. Abby Mansfield Senior Vice President, Creative Director Topin & Associates Inc. is a health care marketing agency that specializes in strategic marketing for health care, medical, and pharmaceutical clients; capabilities include innovative marketing, creative, production, multimedia, and Web development. For more information, visit topin.com.

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