Doctors ranked pharmaceutical companies with their best practices in digital marketing…’Pfizer’ ranked the top from the foreign companies and ‘Hanmi’ and ‘Daewoong’ from local companies.
Medigate conducted a survey for 2011 physicials… different awareness level of pharmaceutical companies for different specialties. 

[관련기사=의사들이 꼽은 디지털마케팅 잘하는 제약회사...외국계 '화이자' 'GSK' 국내 '한미' '대웅']

For three consecutive years, Pfizer, a foreign pharmaceutical company, has been rated as the top company by doctors in their evaluation of digital marketing activities. Following Pfizer, GSK, AstraZeneca, and MSD received favorable assessments in that order. Among domestic pharmaceutical companies, Hanmi Pharmaceutical has maintained its top position for four consecutive years, with Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Chong Kun Dang, and Il-Dong Pharmaceutical also receiving excellent evaluations in sequence.

On the 12th of the month, the medical portal Medigate released the results of a survey titled "Physicians' Online Usage and Digital Marketing Awareness," conducted over the course of one week, from August 16th to 23rd, among 2,011 physician members.

Among the 2,011 participating physicians, 750 (37.3%) worked in general hospitals (100 beds or more), 341 (16.9%) worked in hospitals or specialized clinics (less than 30-100 beds), and 920 (45.8%) were from private practices.

By medical specialties, the distribution among the surveyed physicians was as follows: Internal Medicine had the highest count with 508 individuals (25%), followed by Family Medicine with 303 (15%), General Practice with 182 (9%), Anesthesiology with 97 (5%), Pediatrics with 91 (5%), Obstetrics and Gynecology with 90 (4%), Orthopedic Surgery with 83 (4%), Psychiatry with 74 (4%), Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation with 73 (4%), Otorhinolaryngology with 72 (4%), Urology with 71 (4%), and Neurology with 71 (4%). Additionally, various other specialists in fields such as Surgery, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Radiology, Plastic Surgery, Neurosurgery, and more participated in the survey.

Over the past three years, there has been a consistent trend in the top three preferred sites for medical information updates. Among these, specialized websites for physicians were the most preferred, accounting for 71.5%. The usage rates of medical news outlets and individual pharmaceutical company websites have shown a slight increase compared to the previous year.

In particular, in hospitals with over 300 beds, there is a relatively higher tendency to use domestic and international journal or association websites. On the other hand, in private clinics, sites operated by pharmaceutical companies and specialized websites for physicians were reported as the primary sources of information.

Following last year, Pfizer and Hanmi Pharmaceutical continue to stand out as pharmaceutical companies with excellent digital marketing activities.

Foreign pharmaceutical companies rated highly for their digital marketing activities, with Pfizer securing the top position for three consecutive years at 58.8%. Following Pfizer, companies like GSK, AstraZeneca, MSD, and Novartis also received favorable assessments.

In this survey allowing multiple responses, the evaluation of excellent companies was based on various digital marketing strategies such as web symposiums (webinars), e-details (product and disease information conveyed through websites), virtual calls (video details by pharmaceutical representatives), emails, and KakaoTalk/text messages. GSK received a rating of 28.3%, AstraZeneca 22%, MSD 21.8%, and Novartis 18.2% in these specific categories.

The results showed that Oganon received 63.9% as an excellent company in web symposiums, AstraZeneca obtained 43.6% in e-details, Novonordisk acquired 16.5% in virtual calls, Sanofi got 13.7% in emails, and Novonordisk also secured 7.2% in KakaoTalk/text messages.

Furthermore, when analyzing the proportion of physicians who rated the digital marketing activities of these pharmaceutical companies as 'excellent' based on whether they were in private clinics or hospitals with over 300 beds, the companies with a higher ratio of private clinic physicians were Novonordisk, GSK, and MSD. On the other hand, companies with a higher proportion of physicians from hospitals with over 300 beds were BMS, Abbott, and Roche.

The rankings of foreign pharmaceutical companies in terms of digital marketing awareness varied according to their primary products across different medical specialties. While Pfizer, as the overall top company, showed the highest recognition in most medical departments such as Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, General Practice, Anesthesiology, and Orthopedic Surgery, the distribution and percentages were quite similar across these specialties. However, in Urology, GSK achieved the highest recognition at 62%, and in Ophthalmology, Novartis secured the top position with a recognition rate of 62%.

In addition, in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pfizer secured the top position with a recognition rate of 60%, while Bayer held the second position with a recognition rate of 44%. Similarly, in Psychiatry, Pfizer was the leader with 59% recognition, but Janssen followed closely in the second position with a recognition rate of 51%.

Among domestic pharmaceutical companies, Hanmi Pharmaceutical has secured the top position for four consecutive years with 53.3% of physicians rating their digital marketing activities as 'excellent.' Following Hanmi Pharmaceutical, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Chong Kun Dang, Il-Dong Pharmaceutical, and Yuhan Corporation received excellent evaluations in that order.

Specifically, Daewoong Pharmaceutical had a rating of 42.4%, followed by Chong Kun Dang at 16.5%, Il-Dong Pharmaceutical at 16.4%, and Yuhan Corporation at 15%.

Among domestic pharmaceutical companies, in evaluating excellent companies based on different digital marketing strategies, Daewoong Pharmaceutical obtained 61.2% for web symposiums, GC Pharma received a rating of 43.1% for e-details, JW Pharmaceutical achieved 24.5% for virtual calls, Dong-A ST got 7.9% for emails, and Boryung garnered 11.1% for KakaoTalk/text messages.

In the analysis of the proportion of physicians from private clinics and those from hospitals with over 300 beds who rated the digital marketing activities of these companies as 'excellent,' the companies with a higher ratio of physicians from private clinics were Daewon Pharmaceutical, Chong Kun Dang, and GC Pharma. Conversely, companies with a higher proportion of physicians from hospitals with over 300 beds were Boryung, Jeil Pharmaceutical, and Dongkook Pharmaceutical, among others.
 
The pharmaceutical company with the highest recognition on medical specialized websites is Hanmi Pharmaceutical, known as 'HMP,' securing the first position. Following closely in second place is 'DoctorVille.'

According to this survey, the awareness of pharmaceutical companies on medical specialized websites saw a 1.6% increase from last year, with Hanmi Pharmaceutical's 'HMP' maintaining an unchanging top position at 65.5%. The awareness survey was conducted based on the selection of sites that participants have visited at least once, allowing for multiple responses.

The second position was held by Daewoong Pharmaceutical's 'DoctorVille' with a recognition rate of 54.5%, which saw a decrease of 2% from last year. Third place was taken by Il-Dong Pharmaceutical's 'Hudaak' with a recognition rate of 34.7%, marking a 2.1% increase from the previous year. 

Pfizer's 'PfizerPro' secured the fourth position with a notable advancement, rising by 14.6% from last year to achieve a recognition rate of 34.4%. This surge for Pfizer pushed MSD's 'MSDConnect' to the fifth position with a recognition rate of 28.3%, causing it to drop from its previous fourth place.

Particularly in this survey, differences in recognition rates based on the size of affiliated medical institutions were observed. Among physicians from hospitals with over 300 beds, the top-ranking companies with high recognition were Amgen's 'Smart Amgen' securing the first place, followed by Novartis' 'MedHub' in second place, and BMS' 'BMS On' at the third position.

The membership rate on pharmaceutical medical specialized sites exhibited a similar yet distinct pattern compared to the recognition rates. The top position for membership, like the recognition rate, was held by Hanmi Pharmaceutical's 'HMP,' securing 47.5%. Following closely in the second position was Daewoong Pharmaceutical's 'DoctorVille' with a membership rate of 37.8%.

The third position was secured by Il-Dong Pharmaceutical's 'Hudaak' with a membership rate of 20.2%. The fourth place was Daewon Pharmaceutical's 'Detox' with a membership rate of 12.9%, and the fifth place was Chong Kun Dang's 'MediView.'

Even after the pandemic, physicians continue to show a preference for 'digital marketing,' and a combination of online and offline 'channel mix' appears to be effective. According to a survey by Medigate involving 2,011 physicians, 85.5% of them responded positively to the impact of digital marketing on prescriptions. Furthermore, a significant proportion expressed a desire for a visit from sales representatives after obtaining information online. These results indicate the effectiveness of a blended approach utilizing both online and offline channels.

Even after the transition to the COVID-19 post-pandemic phase, it has been evident that in pharmaceutical company marketing targeting physicians, 'digital marketing' continues to play a significant role. This is attributed to the analysis indicating that online digital marketing has a positive impact on physicians' specialized prescription practices.

The medical portal Medigate presented the results of a survey titled 'Physicians' Online Usage and Digital Marketing Awareness' conducted from August 16th to 23rd among 2,011 physician members. Among the participating physicians, 37.3% (750 individuals) worked in general hospitals (100 beds or more), 16.9% (341 individuals) worked in hospitals or specialized clinics (less than 30-100 beds), and 45.8% (920 individuals) were from private practices.

The continued usefulness of online platforms and a willingness to engage in future marketing, both online and offline in one-on-one interactions, have been observed.

The top activity, as indicated by physicians when asked to choose the most beneficial among pharmaceutical companies' sales and marketing activities, was offline symposiums and seminars (40%). Following that, web symposiums ranked second (32.4%). Sales representatives' visits for product details ranked third (20.1%), while e-details via websites for product and disease information ranked fourth (7%). Video details with pharmaceutical representatives ranked fifth (0.5%).

However, when physicians were asked about their willingness to participate in future sales and marketing activities by pharmaceutical companies, allowing for multiple responses, offline symposiums and seminars were still the top choice with 70% of respondents selecting it. Notably, web symposiums (webinars) were a close second, with 67.3% of respondents choosing this option, showing that there wasn't a significant difference between online and offline preferences.

The third spot was claimed by product detailing through sales representatives' visits (40.4%), followed by e-details via websites for product and disease information (32.5%) in the fourth position. Video details with pharmaceutical representatives held the fifth position with 8%.

Overall, physicians exhibit a preference ratio of 60:40 in favor of offline activities, although there has been a slight decrease in this preference from the previous year's ratio of 63:37. Particularly in future pharmaceutical company marketing activities where participation is intended, the offline and online ratio stands at 51:49, closely approaching a 1:1 balance.
 
The perception of valuable marketing activities by pharmaceutical companies among physicians has shown an increasing positive inclination towards the usefulness of online strategies when compared between 2017 and 2023.

In 2017, the evaluation of the usefulness of face-to-face marketing activities such as offline symposiums and sales representatives providing product details stood at a high of 84%. However, by 2023, this assessment dropped by 23.9 percentage points to 60.1%.

Conversely, in 2017, the assessment of the usefulness of online activities such as web symposiums and online product detailing stood at a low of 14%. By 2023, this evaluation increased significantly by 25.4%, reaching 39.4%.

Even after the COVID-19 pandemic, there continues to be a positive assessment of the impact of digital marketing on prescriptions.

The preference for digital marketing translated into increased prescriptions. The question regarding the impact of digital marketing on prescription witnessed a substantial rise from 83.5% in 2022 to 86.6% in 2022. Despite a slight decrease to 85.5% in 2023 after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, a consistent positive evaluation remained evident.

The percentage of respondents who answered 'yes' to the question about whether online promotional activities by pharmaceutical companies influenced prescription increases was notably high across various hospital sizes: 81.6% for hospitals with 300 or more beds, 86.3% for hospitals with 100-300 beds, and 82.4% for hospitals with 10-300 beds, including specialty hospitals.

In particular, for clinics with 30 beds or fewer, in 2023, 88.5% of physicians responded 'yes,' marking a 2.2% increase from the previous year and a cumulative rise of 7% over three years, indicating a consistent upward trend.

When examining the impact of digital marketing on prescriptions by medical specialty, 85.5% of all respondents reported that online promotional activities had a positive impact on prescription increases. In particular, physicians specializing in family medicine, plastic surgery, pediatrics, urology, surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, dermatology, and ophthalmology were analyzed to have a higher-than-average impact from online promotions.

The question regarding the primary factor influencing prescription changes due to digital marketing activities indicated that web symposiums ranked first (70.2%), followed by E-details (22.6%). Combining the top two factors, the total was 90.9% for web symposiums and 75.5% for E-details. This suggests that a combination of web symposiums and E-details is effective in online marketing activities.
 
When asked about the most effective way for pharmaceutical companies to deliver product and disease information, doctors indicated a preference for a method where they first acquire information online through webinars, emails, websites, etc., and then have sales representatives visit for additional detailing. This approach was favored by 39% of doctors.

The second most preferred method involved sales representative visits for detailing, followed by additional information received online, accounting for 29.2%. Additionally, 12.6% of respondents indicated that online product information via webinars, emails, or websites was sufficient without the need for further details through visits.

The method of receiving all information regularly through sales representatives showed the lowest preference at 8.8%.
Regarding the increasingly popular Kakao Chnnel, the number of participating doctors wo registered on Kakao Channel reached 848 out of the total participants, accounting for 42%. This indicated a 10% increase from the previous year. Dermatology, Plastic Surgery, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, and General Practice showed response rates higher than the average among medical specialties. 

by Woon Jo