Metabical: Positioning and Communications Strategy for a New Weight-Loss Drug - Case Study Example

? Metabical College: Metabical Metabical is a prescription drug for individuals that are suffering from metabolic disorder. This drug were researched on and produced by the Cambridge Sciences Pharmaceuticals (CSP). The main reason that led to production of Metabical drugs was and is to help overweight people lose weight to live longer. As such, it is the first and only drug that has obtained Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for weight loss drugs in the overweight category. To achieve this, Cambridge Sciences Pharmaceuticals carried out an elaborate market research program that is used for identification of the target segment and positioning of the product in the market1. However, Metabical has faced competition ever since the FDA approved an OTC drug known as Alli. Therefore, Cambridge Sciences Pharmaceuticals had to come up with new marketing strategies, such as advertisements on TV, radio, celebrity endorsement and printed advertisements in medical publications. Its top priority was to ensure that patients gain knowledge and awareness of the drug. A Metabical potential customer is, therefore, required to make a well informed decision before settling for Metabical drug2. First, an overweight patient should be willing to lose weight either to be healthy or to avoid discrimination from others. Secondly, after an overweight patient is aware of their condition, they are required to start an exercising program and ask health care providers for assistance when they need it. Thirdly, after consulting healthcare providers, the consumers are required to consider and engage a different method that could be easier in achieving their goal of losing weight. Lastly, if all the other methods fail, the health care providers can recommend the use of the Metabical drug under observation. This way, patients can observe their progress in weight loss as well as evaluate the effectiveness of Metabical. Consumers and health care providers are the parties involved in the decision making process. This is because they are the target market for the Metabical drug. As such, it is also important to note that Metabical is a prescription drug that can only be acquired through a prescription. However, CPS should place into consideration the concerns raised over new weight loss drugs and focus on providing solutions to solve any problems that may arise. In addition, CSP should make up marketing communication strategies that attract consumer awareness, elicit their interest and arouse their desire hence purchasing the Metabical weight loss drug. However, these marketing communication strategies must be tailor-made to suit the interests of different targets3. It is important to note that the consumer decision making process goes through some stages. The first stage entails recognition of the need for the Metabical drug. Many overweight people lack self esteem and consider themselves as outcasts. For instance, given an American case, more than sixty five percent of Americans are overweight. Here, the Metabical drug share needs with the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs that include the need for belongingness and love for companionship since no one likes to be excluded4. The next stage is alternative search, where the prospective consumer collects information from marketing sources such as advertisements, public sources such as newspapers and magazines. Some consumers opt to ask friends who have tried diet drugs before, family and health care experts for suggestions on recommendable overweight drugs. So far, the prospective consumers have been exposed to adequate information on diet drugs. The next step involves evaluation of available alternatives rather than Metabical drug. In this case, the consumer compares the Metabical drug to other products such as OTC products, the Alli drug, ephedrine and many others5. The consumer is also able to evaluate the ingredients of the drugs and rule out those that they may be allergic to. In this step the consumers’ objectives are to discover the side effects and the effectiveness of such drugs. Most consumers are known to settle for drugs with less extreme side effects and high effectiveness. According to…… the consumer settles on one of the choices and proceeds to seek medical counsel so as to acquire a prescription and understand the guidelines for their use. Segmentation of potential Metabical consumers is necessary. In marketing management, market segmentation refers to the process of division of the market into groups of similar consumers and selection of the most appropriate to serve. These groups are eventually referred to as target markets. In this situation, Printup must make decisions on the parameters according to which the segmentation process should occur. Use of psychographic segmentation on the basis of the consumer’s lifestyle can be a good method6. This is done by asking the consumer about: their interests, activities and opinions and use that to group them accordingly through their responses. Another method is by use of demographics such as age, education level, gender or income. These sets up a good framework on the decisions made and use the information with the answers from the Marketing survey that assesses the opinions and the behavior of individual patient with regard to body image and weight loss. In addition, a decision can be made by assessing the segments that will be most receptive to the Metabical product, and match its needs with the solutions offered by Metabical. This criterion makes the segmented market meaningful, marketable and measurable. This, in turn, makes it a viable segment7. Gladly, this information is given in the case and can be put into use. The optimal target market for the Metabical drug shapes out as follows: healthcare providers since Metabical is a prescription drug and physicians are constantly seeking help for their patients to help them lose weight and keep it off for the long term in order to minimize the dangers of heart disease and diabetes, and the end users who are the patients. The highest prospective customers are females who have gone through their college education level since they are known to care most about their appearance than the men. Even so, women with college education can afford and sustain a regular prescription of overweight pills. However, Cambridge Sciences Pharmaceuticals should have the ability to identify and implement the differential advantages that Metabical drug has to offer so as to position itself strategically in the market8. Metabical has many advantages as well as strengths. First, Metabical functions well in a low dose formulation. Secondly, Metabical has fewer negative side effects as compared to others. Thirdly, Metabical is cheap, relatively affordable and is a short course of treatment. Lastly, CSP has the advantage that it offers a comprehensive support program. Based on these advantages, CSP can position Metabical at income level of between 25000 and 40000 since it is suitable for overweigh patients whose BMI that lies in the 25-30 bracket. Consumers in this bracket, consists of many individuals who want to live longer. However, the key concern is that consumers do not gain weight after they finish the prescription of pills. A positioning strategy is the choice of target market segment that describes the customers a business seeks to serve and the choice of differential advantage that defines how it will compete with rivals in the field. In the year 2008, CSP needed a marketing and positioning strategy for Metabical that was a new drug at that time9. The CSP’s senior director in the marketing department, Barbara Printup, gathered information from the research and development department, as well as, study results about the product. Without the massive market and product research, customer’s decision making process would be difficult. Research indicated that unlike other weight loss drugs side effects would be fewer with Metabical. Other products induced side effects such as abdominal pain, increased defecation, loose stools, and others. CSP intended to base their new product Metabical in comparison to Alli but later decided that it could be priced at a premium rate due to the need for a prescription in order to acquire the drug. Since pricing was a major concern, some scenarios were run so as to try and forecast the position at which the price could be best placed to bring returns on investment10. CSP also introduced a four week packaging that did not require the consumer to spend much in buying it. However, this was meant to make the consumer get interested in the product such that they would buy the product for a second and third portion. According to a market research carried out soon after, most healthcare providers were positive on the prospects of the weight loss drugs. In conclusion, Metabical biggest advantage is that it is approved by the FDA and the clinical results that prove that indeed, Metabical results in weight loss. Also, the fact that other solutions present in the market; categorized as herbal, are not regulated by the FDA. As such, their safety is not warranted as compared to Metabical. In addition, Metabical has less severe negative side effects that are associated with excess fats and calories in the diet controllable with behavioral modification as well as healthier eating habits. Reference John, Quelch, and Heather, Beckham, “Harvard Business School Brief Cases”. Metabical: Positioning and Communications Strategy for a New Weight-Loss Drug. 22, no 6 (2010): 1-11. Read More