Yara Abboud

Metabical: Positioning and Communications Strategy for a new Weight-Loss Drug

Q & A

1. Who is involved in the decision making process? What is the decision making process for Metabical?

Since Metabical is a prescription drug for weight loss which can only be bought via a

prescription, the overweight patients are not the only decision makers involved. The health

care providers are also decision makers in this process for they are the ones who prescribe the

drug.

The consumer decision making process (J.Paul Peter & Donnelly, Ch3, p.49) for Metabical

goes through five stages:

a) Perceiving or recognizing a need.

According to the case, 65 % of Americans are overweight. Many perceive themselves as social

outcasts. Here Metabical ties in with a variety of needs in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: the need

for belongingness and love for companionship. After all no one likes being excluded. Exclusion

can also negatively impact one’s self esteem. So it also ties in with the need for self esteem and

self actualization since excess weight negatively impacts hiring, wages, and job promotion.

b) Alternative Search: Once the need for love and belonging, and self esteem is

recognized the overweight individual collects information from marketing sources like ads, or

public sources like newspapers and magazines. The consumer might even ask his health care

provider about it. He/she might even ask their overweight friends i.e. group sources who tried

many diet drugs before. Then the consumer processes information after having been exposed to

it, having been attentive, and having understood and retained its message.

c) Alternative Evaluation: The consumer here compares Metabical to the other

competitive products: OTC products, product Alli, ephedra. Here he/ she would see that OTC

products have several side effects since they do not go to the stringent FDA approval. Ephedra

for instance is linked to several cases of heart death. Alli although FDA approved has side

effects like liver damage if consumed with too much fat, while Metabical has the least side

effects. Also consumers would consider the 3$ price of the Metabical with respect to others, the

benefits that go with it like the 24 month support program of Metabical which is longer than

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Alli’s . He/ She would start comparing which one makes you lose more weight and lets you keep

it off.

d) Purchase: After evaluating all the choices, the consumer would decide to buy

Metabical.

e) Post purchase evaluation: where the consumer might experience consumer dissonance,

or concerns over whether his/her choice was the best one.

Going through this decision making process would help marketers understand the satisfied

and unsatisfied needs of the consumers. The unsatisfied needs are: the need for a safe

effective weight loss product which was expressed by the focus groups in the case.

Since the decision making process also includes health care providers. Health care

providers have to perceive or recognize the need for Metabical too. From Exhibit 1, it is

shown that overweight and obesity percentages rise every year. Health care providers would like

to see their patients put off the weight for good and establish healthy eating lifestyles. To

address this need, the marketing plan put forth the 24 month support program which guarantees

patients long term effects, and helps them change their eating habits and behaviors to achieve a

healthy outcome. Then comes the Alternative search component: health care providers can

easily search information about metabical since they are well immersed in the medical field, and

they have medical representatives who pass by them to inform them of their products be it

monthly or weekly. As for the Alternative evaluation health care practitioners are aware of the

side effects of the other products in the market as compared to FDA approved Metabical.

However Metabical salespeople can provide them with the latest up to date research from the

journal of American Medical Association regarding the side effects of other products, and the

advantages of Metabical. As For Purchase, since health care provider would be the one

convincing the patient to take Metabical, he should be totally convinced from the medical sense

in terms of short term and long term benefits.

The important issue here is to build awareness of Metabical for the consumer, and then make

sure that the consumer knows enough information about it. The more the advantages of safety,

FDA approval and long term results due to the support program are advertised the easier it

becomes for the consumer to like Metabical, and prefer it over Alli, or others. Once it becomes

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in the consumers consideration set he/she might develop the conviction to buy it, and eventually

purchase it at the end. This hierarchy of effects model helps in knowing where to fit

advertising. Media and the TV ads would spread knowledge and awareness to consumers (Direct

to consumer advertising). Also the print ads in medical journals would help raise awareness

amongst medical practitioners. The promotions like the informational pamphlets and the two

high profile medical education events would also help in contributing to health care provider

preference. The viral marketing campaign: Metabical Challenge contest and the contestant blogs

in the social networking sites would greatly enhance consumer knowledge and preference as

well. To succeed; it’s important to understand this hierarchy of effects: THINK, FEEL, and DO

that the consumer goes through.

2. How should Printup think about the segmentation of potential Metabical consumers?

Who is the optimal target consumer?

Printup could segment them according to benefits: benefit segmentation (J.Paul Peter &

Donnelly, Ch5, p.69): the benefits they want like the looking good benefit versus the overall

health benefit. According to Exhibit 2, the marketing survey, we see the categories like:

- the 40% of respondents age 35+ and the 65% age 18-35 who want to lose weight to look

better.

- the other category might be the 35% of respondents aged 18-35 and the 60% of respondents

aged 35+ who want to lose weight for overall health.

Printup could also segment patients by the attitude they have towards weight loss. Are

they really enthusiastic about losing weight? From the Exhibit, only 35% of respondents were

actively trying to lose weight, although 70% were currently dissatisfied with their weight.

Consumers could also be segmented according to lifestyle; i.e Psychographic segmentation

( J.Paul Peter & Donnelly , Ch5, p.71). Printup could use VALSTM “values and lifestyles.

Surely the people who are educated, the ones who went to college and have high level income

would be the innovators in this category. The people with low incomes and less than high school

education are the survivors in VALS segmentation. To market to innovators you would need a

lucrative sophisticated advertisement as opposed to marketing to survivors.

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Another form of segmentation is by gender. Women are more interested in losing weight than

men. Also Printup can segment based on income and educational level for it is apparent from

exhibit 1 that the highly educated people with incomes of 60,000$ and more are more weight

conscious than their poor uneducated counterparts, although it is the poor ones that mostly need

to lose weight.

Not only must Printup segment the patients, she must also segment the health care

providers. You cannot go promoting metabical to an eye or ophthalmic doctor or an ear doctor,

for instance. It is preferable to promote it to heart surgeons, nutritionists, and endocrinologists.

This is segmentation according to medical specialty. She can also differentiate between the

doctors who need to a lot of convincing and those who don’t. After all, there are many doctors

who would advise patients to slim down just by abiding by a healthy eating program and some

sports. Such doctors don’t see the need for drug usage and they are the ones who mostly need

convincing. Printup can also segment these doctors by their accessibility to sales reps in the

region. Another form is to segment by their attitudes and eagerness to help overweight patients

steer towards healthier lifestyle options.

With respect to targeting, it’s best to target educated women in the upper middle class

income range. From Exhibit 3, the target would be the women who want to wear skinny jeans

aged 25 to 40, with a college education, and an income of 50,000- 80000$, as well as the 35 to

65 year old women who earn 80,000$+ who are ready to make the change. In this case the

benefits segmentation process would really help in identifying this optimal target group, for this

group is the most weight conscious one. These women have realistic expectations as opposed to

their younger counterparts aged 18, and who are still in high school. So mostly they will be

satisfied with the results and more prone to commit to the support program due to their age, and

maturity.

One could also think of targeting the overweight population as a whole, yet such

targeting would require addressing the wants of each needs group. It may overlook competitors

and may be too broad.

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3. How should CSP identify and employ the differential advantages that Metabical offers to

position itself in the marketplace?

One way of positioning strategy is to position it as a prestigious product only for those

high sophisticated educated women. Although that reduces the effect of competition it’s too

narrow a market.

Another way is to position it is that it is the optimal solution for all overweight patients

having BMI between 25-30. Positioning this way is broad and does not help in differentiating it

from alli or other competitors, so then one must be careful in advertizing and promoting to stress

these facts:

-Metabical as the first FDA approved prescription drug for the overweight segment i.e.:

BMI 25-30, as opposed to other OTC products which are not FDA approved.

- it has the least side effects as compared to OTCS and also FDA approved Alli which

produces liver problems if consumer s consume a lot of fatty food.

- its support program of 24 months support program is more comprehensive than

Alli’s since it has a personal support component as well as a detailed exercise plan which Alli’s

does not have. The price of Metabical 3$ should be examined. It should not be too high or too

low relative to Alli since patients are paying it out of their pocket. Also the functions of the

support program components should be stressed especially the personal support, and the exercise

plans because these are different from Alli’s. The Alli drug only has online support and not

personal support. Also since Metabical is a prescription drug you would know exactly what dose

to take as opposed to OTC drugs where you can take as many as you want. The FDA approval

would give it an edge over the herbal OTCs proving it to be the safest among them, with the least

side effects. For best positioning it is crucial to make it evident to the consumer that Metabical is

not a magic pill; it does not target obese or normal weight range patients. One should not expect

unrealistic results.

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However the problem with this kind of broad benefit positioning is that it does not target

the segments: high income vs low income segments, educated vs uneducated, etc… we talked

about in the answer to question 2. Therefore in order to target all segments it is best to develop

the integrated marketing communication strategy IMC to make all segments aware of

Metabical’s advantages, and place in the market.

4. Given the position strategy you chose, what would be your communications strategy to each

of your target audiences? Would you change the marketing budget or the IMC mix? If so

how? What would the timeline for your communications plan look like?

Since Metabical is a new product that needs to be launched the message should stress

realistic expectations with respect to patients. The fact that it is only effective for overweight

patients i.e. BMI 25-30 should also be clearly pointed out because credibility is important in

establishing a name in the market.

Printup started the correct way with her communication strategy with a plan focusing on

both the patient and the health care provider. For Direct to consumer ads, the best message I

would choose is: “Losing weight is tough; you don’t have to do it alone. Let your health care

provider help you on the road to a healthy weight and better life” because it is real and

positive message which highlights the importance of Metabical and the support program. As for

the other two messages: “look your best…” and “these extra pounds could be killing you’, the

first message resembles many of the fad messages we hear on T.V everyday; it also does not

highlight the health care provider’s role in the whole process. The second message resonates as

a negative one because it warns you of all the diseases you could get due to being overweight

without building awareness to the product’s support program. Print up’s message should look

like this in the end:

Losing weight is tough, you don’t have to do it alone. Let our safe Fda approved

Metabical and your health care provider help you on the road to a healthy weight and

better life.

It is important to stress Metabical’s safety and effectiveness for both the doctors and the patients

involved. The above message is enough to make the patient and doctor aware that the product

Metabical also comes with a support program.

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Printup’s integrated marketing plan already includes the advertising and sales promotion

so the consumer will have gone through the awareness part, the comprehension of product part,

and would be in the consideration stage. However it does not guarantee preference unless the

product is branded in some way. To brand Metabical she is in need of consistent advertising and

a brand personality. Her celebrity endorser would help in marketing her product too. Her viral

marketing idea and her pamphlet to doctors as well as the two high profile medical events are

great ideas for sales promotion and public relations.

Printup should bring an expert in social media to help her since she has little experience

with it. Also for “Pull” marketing she should add a page on facebook for metabical, and use

twitter for spreading the word about it. She should conduct more market research on competitors

like Alli, and get to know Alli’s weaknesses in its support program as well. How long is Ali’s

support program and if she extends hers would she have a more competitive advantage? What

exercises does Alli’s online program support? Also pricing of Ali has to be known. Sending a

mystery shopper to pharmacies would help.

Second, in her surveys only 12% of surveyors responded that they would immediately get

a prescription, and only 15 % said they would be comfortable with drugs to lose weight. She

should know why some people aren’t comfortable with drugs. Is it due to their physician’s

recommendation or to their prior use of an ineffective drug? If due to a physician’s

recommendations, she should make sure that her ads and medical journal articles as well as her

sales rep seminars and meetings are convincing the doctors. If this is due to prior ineffective use

of the drug, her ads should continuously stress safety, effectiveness and promising results. She

should also know whether her ads are really producing the desired effect on the consumer.

Regarding the budget:

- For the social media expert she is to bring: take out half a million from the 12 million

allocated for Pull advertising.

- For the expansion of the market research: She could take out 2 million dollars from the

advertising component (since the advertising component forms the highest allocation in

budget= 13, 000,000 /23, 146,000 * 100= 56 % of budget). Even though she is taking this

much money for research it will pay back in the end.

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Regarding the timeline:

- The communication strategy should be finished by the middle of July 2008.

- The support program components which are to be added after conducting some market

research should be finished by end of August 2008

- The sales rep should know everything about Metabical by end of September 2008

- Sales rep visits concerning Metabical should start in November 2008. Promotions too should

start in November 2008.

- The high profile medical events should occur one month before the launch date of January

2009.

- The ads or DTC should start three weeks before the launch date.

- Launch date should go hand in hand with the date of viral marketing, television, and

newspaper releases.

However before launching her product, Printup should conduct SWOT analysis

( J.Paul Peter & Donnelly , Section 2, pg 216) to analyze the situation Metabical would be facing

in order to conduct an effective communication strategy. Definitely, this SWOT analysis should

be finished by June 2008 before she finalizes her communication strategy in July 2008.

S for strength:

FDA approved, clinical trial results effective

Safe, less side effects than others: no stress on heart and no stress on liver.

First prescription drug for overweight.

Achieves 15 pounds weight loss in 12 weeks for BMI 25-28, and 28 pounds in 12 weeks

for BMI 28-30

Good comprehensive support program guarantees long term results

Prescription guarantees control over dosage patient takes.

W for weakness:

some side effects like gastrointestinal risks with fatty food

Needs prescription so you cannot buy it whenever you want- uncertainty over whether the

money exploited for R& D research and marketing budget will pay back in the end.

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O for opportunities:

Large market share 65% of Americans are overweight and they are increasing each year

Better back up from physicians due to support program which guarantees long term results

due to implemented healthy lifestyle

Potential of exclusivity among higher income- middle income educated women who might

persuade their overweight family and friends to try it

T for Threats

Alli product which is also FDA approved has support program and does not need

prescription

OTC products which need no prescription might be cheaper.

Doctors might not be convinced

Metabical might be seen as a fad if poorly positioned

Price not well studied in comparison to others.

Emergence of a new competitor

Five months after launching the product, Printup should assess the sales numbers

of Metabical to see which marketing communication strategy is more effective? Which is

most effective in getting sales: the ad, the sales promotion or public relations seminar?

What environmental factors recently changed? Did a new product or new competitor

emerge? Upon this evaluation, she could redo her SWOT analysis and reform her

marketing communication strategy to get higher sales and profits.

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References

Our book:

J.Paul Peter & Donnelly, Marketing Management Knowledge and skills, Mc Graw Hill tenth

Edition

Note:

I read Ch 3 for decision making process search, Ch 5 for segmentation, Ch 8 for IMC,

and Section 2 at the end of the book entitled Analyzing Marketing Problems & cases. It had

information about how to prepare case analysis and what SWOT analysis was on page 216-217.

For the hierarchy of effects model, I looked at the slides the Dr explained and provided us with

last time. I also read from the below website to understand more about what it was:

http://drypen.in/advertising/hierarchy-of-effects-model.html

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Yara Abboud