Harnessing Interactive DTC to Drive Demand in Product Launch

Executive Summary

Given the importance of a rapid launch of new products, many pharmaceutical firms are turning to consumer marketing tools to create consumer demand. To date, much of the consumer marketing effort has focused on direct-to-consumer advertising, but more and more drug companies are learning to harness the power of the Internet to push out their product message.Far more than simply establishing a web site, interactive DTC--or iDTC--marketing is a two-way approach whereby companies and consumers exchange information through feedback loops, the end result of which is to develop and deepen customer relationships. To be effective, however, iDTC campaigns must have a clear sense of the bottlenecks to product adoption, establish reasonable goals and expectations, and coordinate with and complement much more traditional launch strategies.