Presentation Abstract

The pharmaceutical industry faces a future in which the current commercial models no longer work. The changing regulatory environment, increasing price pressure and the need to create competitive differentiation – all on a global scale – require a new way of looking at how companies understand and anticipate the needs of multiple stakeholders who play a role in a product's commercial success.

The path to marketing innovation is no longer a linear series of events; rather it is an ongoing exercise in collaboration. Given stakeholder input is considered at every turn, the amount of innovative ideas generated has increased exponentially.

Our current marketing and innovation processes lack an ability to organize, communicate and refine ideas collaboratively across teams - instead, our processes rely on ad hoc management of insights. This new view of the marketplace demands coordination, cooperation and collaboration, both internally and externally, and often across international borders. As the link between marketers and customers, the market researcher is well positioned to help companies identify a marketing strategy and messaging that will fit this new world. Now, there is a generation of new tools emerging to transform how market researchers and business teams develop and explore new ideas, organize those ideas, and ultimately optimize those ideas.

This session will discuss how market researchers can bring truly collaborative, game-changing innovation to the market research process to drive actionable insights in an organization. Boehringher-Ingelheim will present a case study that will demonstrate how these new approaches were utilized and effectively overcame internal and external collaboration challenges to deliver clear and actionable results. 

The audience will learn:

• How to effectively harness innovation and creativity within your organization so that actionable strategies can result
• How to quickly and precisely identify ideas and messages that will be compelling to your customers, provide differentiation from your competitors, and improve upon existing messages in the market
• What methods remove the overlay of customer assumptions and allow you to truly collaborate with your end customers to identify their preferences, transcending international boundaries

Speaker Biographies

Jeff Gustaitis is a veteran in the pharmaceutical and marketing research industry. Jeff is currently responsible for BI’s Cardiovascular franchise of products overseeing all strategic & tactical research including the launch of Pradaxa®. Previously, Jeff played an integral role in the growth of the blockbuster drug Spiriva®, including a highly successful DTC campaign. Prior to Boehringer Ingelheim, Jeff began his career at Purdue Pharma and Forest Laboratories.  Jeff has a M.B.A. in Marketing from Fairfield University and a B.A. from Hofstra University. 

Charu Chaturvedi leads the global Life Sciences vertical and works across pharmaceuticals, biotech, medical device, and hospital clients on business initiatives including product planning, messaging, and sales collateral development. Prior to Affinnova, Charu worked in areas of innovation related to global product development and marketing with American Express, Deloitte, and GE. She has over 15 years of industry experience in Life Sciences, Consumer Packaged Goods, Financial Services, and Technology.  Charu has an M.B.A. from Columbia University Graduate School of Business and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.