Role of pharma visual aid in pharmaceutical branding: An ultimate guide into designing best pharma visual aids.

Is your pharma visual aid performing?

Are doctors prescribing your pharmaceutical brands?

‘A good visual aid can be the best mnemonic.’

Pharma visual aids as the name indicates are the visuals that employ graphics, content, images, infographics and more to create a visual informative piece that pharmaceutical and nutraceutical companies use to inform doctors about their brands.

Whether it’s a company’s patent brand or a generic molecule or composition, several factors decide if the doctor will prescribe that brand or not. 

Keeping aside the composition benefits for the patients because that’s the main reason why a medicine or a supplement will be prescribed, in this post we will be discussing the role of visual aid in pharmaceutical branding.

Before we begin with that, let’s learn a little bit about any medicine launch since it is important to understand why a pharmaceutical company needs effective visual aids.

Let’s start with a new molecule or a new composition or a new supplement or a new pharmaceutical or nutraceutical or cosmetic formulation. A medicine is launched in the market for use by the general population once it is cleared by the drug authorities after different sets of clinical trials. Once the medicine’s efficacy and safety are accountable and the benefit to risk ratio is nearly cent per cent, a drug is launched in the market. Initially, a patent is granted to the company that spends years and investment into the research and development of that product. The patent gives that company monopoly rights for a certain number of years to exclusively manufacture and market that product in the approved markets and for approved uses.

Once the patent is expired, that product can be manufactured and marketed by any other company approved and licensed for the same. So, why are we talking about it here is because now there are so many companies and so many brand names selling the same composition for the same indications and with the same clinical results. So, whose brand will reign high in doctors’ prescriptions?

Let’s begin with the gist of this post, how can a visual aid help a pharmaceutical company get its brand the most prescribed. After all, in pharmaceutical marketing, sales depend upon prescriptions. And remember, Every prescription is valuable. If you want to thrive in the pharma business, make this your driving force.

We will be discussing point by point all the elements of a pharma visual aid (VA) and how they work. If you have any questions, feel free to mention them in the comment section below.

#1. Brand name:

Brand name is the company’s owned copyright brand name (if trademarked) with which any particular formulation of composition is sold in the market. It is illegal to use any other company’s brand name or similar in spelling or phonetic and hence every brand name has to be unique.

Qualities of a good brand name are:

• Attractive: It’s a common perception that a unique brand name will be liked by the doctors. It is true to an extent, but not always. Difficult names are hard to remember, even for a doctor since he has to have all the medicines and drugs up his sleeves always. So, the brand name should be catchy that cannot skip the doctor's pen.
• Small: Small and simple brand names are easy to remember, both for doctors and patients. It’s important that even patients get a grasp on your company’s brand name because they are the ultimate consumers. And there are many medicines like antihypertensive medicines, diabetic medicines and other medicines for chronic diseases that have long management periods. Patients tend to develop a psychological affinity for many brands and they are reluctant to shift to any other brand offering similar composition (a substitute brand). So, this can be an edge if you get a great brand name.
• Indicative: A brand name can either indicate the ingredient(s) or indication(s) or portion of its mechanism of action or a company. Indicative brand names come under a doctor’s pen immediately.

Examples:

1. Indication: Covishield (Shield against Coronavirus) vaccine, Covaxin (vaccine against coronavirus), Nogacid (Antacid), Digene (Digestive enzyme), Coronil (Nil coronavirus), Gascontrol-20 (Controls excess gas formation), Derma clin Kt (Cleans skin), Derma guard (Protects/guards skin cells).
2. Ingredient: Pantop, Pantin, Nupenta, Pantagon, Pantocip, Zipant, Alpanto, Pansure indicating their ingredient molecule Pantoprazole. Provanol indicating Propranolol, Gascontrol-PD SR (Sustained release formulation as indicated by SR that controls gas is another thing and PD indicates the ingredients Pantoprazole and Domperidone)
3. Mechanism of action (MOA): P-PPI (Pantoprazole as a proton pump inhibitor), Betacap (Propranolol which is a beta-blocker)
4. Company: Nicip (Nimesulide by Cipla), Pantocip (Pantoprazole by Cipla), Ciplar (Propranolol by Cipla).

The company CIPLA has used this edge of branding with great expertise where it sometimes uses both ingredient and company name or indication and company name or MOI and company name. Most of its brand names either have Cip as a prefix or a suffix.

The relevance of a brand name in marketing can be well understood by the fact that a company can sue another company for use of a copyright brand name. The brand name is intellectual property if registered with the concerned authority. A very recent example is:

“Maharashtra Firm Files Case Against Serum Institute Over "Covishield" Trademark”. Though the court rejected Cutis Biotech’s plea since its product Covishiled which is an alcohol-based hand sanitizer launched to capture the sanitizer market that bloomed during the time of the global pandemic, COVID-19, it is well understood how the brand name plays the game in branding and marketing.

Brand name in the visual aid:

Any guesses how a brand name on a VA page or presentation or a video or image can impact the branding? We would love to hear your point of view. So, please feel free to share your views in the comment box.

The brand name is the most important thing that a medical representative (MR) has to help the doctor remember and prescribe. VA is the MR’s first basic tool and he will never get a second chance to make the first impression for that brand in front of that doctor. It happens only once. After that, your reminders have their role plays but there is no second chance for the first impression.

Using brand name on a pharma visual aid page:

So, how to use a brand name in VA to make a mark on a doctor’s memory and have a lucid first impression. Well, the brand name should be bold, legible as well as audible (stand out loud on the whole visual). It should occupy a considerable amount of space on the VA page, not too less, not most of it. It should have a perfect combination of colours and fonts should not be fancy. After all, it’s not a calligraphy competition. Some small designing elements can add brilliance to the brand name, while too bold elements are demeaning as they make take the doctor’s attention towards that element and for a doctor, a clumsy element is just a piece of clutter. Element used to aid in recalling the brand name and if it can't do that, better leave the idea and use plain text but bold and beautiful.

If the point helped you, it’s great. If you need help, our team of creative designers at Aadya Enterprises are always there to help pharma companies grow through effective visuals.

#2. Concept:

Conceptualization in a VA means the second message delivered to the doctor through the visual, the first being the brand name. A concept is a thoughtful use of images or informational graphics to help deliver the message about the use of a particular product. 

Some descriptive examples are:

1. Portraying aged people if a product is intended to be used in geriatric population or children in paediatric products or females in products meant to be prescribed for gynaecological patients, pregnant females portrayed in products meant to be prescribed during the maternity period, and the like.
2. Display of mechanism of action of the molecule for example displaying how a particular medicine will interact with the human body (or veterinary in case of vet products), like blocking the action of acid in the stomach as in antacids, etc.
3. Portraying before and after effects as a patient in pain and happy when pain relieved in case of analgesics (pain-killers), skin with and without acne in skin purifying products, straining hard and relieved as in laxatives (used to treat constipation), etc.

Some VA concepts use a combination of all of this.

You can use multiple colours, fonts, design elements, vectors, graphics, it’s up to you as long as it uses minimum space, minimum elements and has the potential to deliver maximum output. There is no end to creativity. And as much odd piece of art you can come up with that educates as well as has a bit of entertainment, innovation are easy to remember.

If you can combine brand name and concept in a proportion that can leave a lasting impression on the doctor's memory, then the VA has done its first job.

#3. Punch line:

There’s a reason why it’s called a punch line and it is so because it squeezes the entire matter of the visual in just one line. Therefore, as captivating and informing be the one-liner, more are the chances of successful penetration of the brand name in the doctor’s mind and output in terms of prescriptions. The VA page detailing starts with the punch line where it is supposed to do teamwork with the brand name. During detailing, the brand name can be used either before or after the punch line as relevant to the one-liner.

The punch line sometimes use indication, sometimes use end-result, sometimes use a combination of both, sometimes rhymes with the brand name or is indicative of it and sometimes is a question for the doctor. Again, creativity knows no bounds. Some examples to help with are:

• Key to unlocking complicated urinary tract infections…
• PANGO: Makes the pain go…
• Are you looking for a potent hematinic?
• Tested and Trusted in Indian patients…
• A trusted formula against resistant bacterial infections...
• Trying to boost immunity of your patients....Try the best immuno booster...

 

#4. Content:

This is the most important content of the VA page. Though doctors have studied and have most of the drug names, indications, uses at their fingertips and they know when and to whom is any medicine be prescribed. So, what’s the point of content? It comes as a small excerpt as a recall for the doctor. But with content, you cannot expect a doctor not to be knowing. So, the content of the VA should be very concise and precise. It should not contain the broad details adding to the fluff. Some basic details can be used within sentences carrying bigger messages.

Rather than old messages which the doctor already knows, give him something new. Research is always On and if you can come up with the latest research on that particular molecule, then the doctor will give your brand a chance. But before coming up to the point of delivering content to the doctor, the MR should have generated interest in the product. Punch line and concept of the VA have done their job well accompanied by the MR’s confidence and other needed skills if the doctor is willing to hear about the product.

The content of a pharma VA is medical and hence better be accompanied by references. There are plenty of options to keep you updated. You can have access to free as well as paid journals and articles. Then, you can subscribe to newsletters and other means of subscriptions with research wings of different institutions.

Make sure that you only use the exact message of a clinical study in your VA. Do not manipulate any point for personal benefit. Even if a medicine is for sale, it is so only to help the patients in need. 

If you can access these details, it’s a piece of great news. Or you can always reach out for our help at Aadya Enterprises. We can help you exceed the doctor’s expectations with relevant and latest content to help you stand out from the crowd.

#5. Bottom Line:

The bottom line holds two elements, the first being a request to the doctor for his/her valuable prescription and the next being the promise of the product that it delivers. For example,

• The trusted hematinic for ages…
• Brings freedom from cough and cold…
• A complete health supplement….For all ages in all stages
• …Deficiency free healthy living…

 

Therefore, a pharma visual aid has five main components and all have to be used in the best proportion to deliver the best results.

Designing may not be your forte, but the product’s quality is always in your hands. So, as you work on the core quality of your product, we at Aadya Enterprises can help you get the best visual aids for your esteemed brands.