Blockbuster Brands Spend 37% of Budget on Advertising

Main Category: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Article Date: 11 May 2005 - 14:00 PDT

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The pharmaceutical industry's best- selling blockbuster brands require an unparalleled level of marketing and advertising support as they launch, notes a recent study by pharmaceutical business intelligence leader Cutting Edge Information.

The study examines the marketing investments of 16 brands, from blockbusters to niche drugs and concludes that blockbuster brands, more than other brands, depend on industry-leading marketing organizations to maximize sales. The more proficient marketing organizations - those with the greatest resources and the deepest experience in a given market or drug class - are best able to position products for high-level sales.

According to the study, smaller brands spend the biggest portions of their budgets on core brand activities, which provide for launch and market success.

Whereas, larger brands spend the smallest percentage of their budgets on these activities - with advertising occupying a far greater portion of their commercialization allocations. A brand's overall ability to reach its sales goal primarily depends on its capacity to quickly and thoroughly react to external obstacles faced during brand development and launch. Blockbuster brands observed in this report are slated to maintain peak sales levels of more than $1 billion annually.

"Maintaining success depends heavily on the brand's ability to first recognize - then address - key commercial challenges with targeted resources," says Eric Bolesh, senior analyst at Cutting Edge Information. "We examined a number of brands, far ranging in expected revenue, but this same principle held true across the board. Although each brand deals with its unique challenges, it is essential for all companies to provide adequate resources to promptly address any challenges that arise."

"Pharmaceutical Product Commercialization: Phase III to Post-Launch Resource Allocation," available at http://www.PharmaLaunch.com, includes 16 in-depth brand profiles and case studies - six blockbusters, five mid-level and five niche brands - that illustrate brand teams' spending habits during development and through post-launch product management. Cutting Edge Information examined companies, such as Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Wyeth among others, to understand spending decisions and the market forces that affect them.

To view a summary of this report, visit http://www.PharmaLaunch.com. For more information on this report or to learn about other research being conducted by Cutting Edge Information, contact Eric Bolesh at Eric_Bolesh@cuttingedgeinfo.com or 919-433-0209.

Cutting Edge Information
http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com
http://www.PharmaLaunch.com

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