(Egypt OTC Marketing)17th Cairo Marketing Club by Dr. Mahmoud Hhamed

OTC Marketing in Egypt
Dr.Mahmoud Hamed
Nerhadou International
SProduct manager OTC Line
Marketing Club Instructor

Dr.Mahmoud Bahgat
Founder of the Marketing Club

OTC Marketing
in Egypt
By: Mahmoud M. Hamed
Senior Product Manager

Mahmoud Hamed
Pharmacist (Cairo Uni, 2005)
Senior Product manager OTC Line
*MBA, Cambridge KIPP-UK 2017
*Certified Professional Marketer, Cambridge KIPP
*Certified Professional Trainer
Past Experience: 16 years experience in Egypt & Gulf
(Otsuka, SAJA, Bayer, NCH, GSK, Delta, Adwia, Nerhadou)
Email: mahmoudhamed832@gmail.com
GSM: 002 010 2998 5958

WHICH IS EASIER?
ETHICAL PRODUCT
OR
OTC PRODUCT?

OTC Marketing isn’t magic…
Its science >>>
on top of Hard work

OTC in brief
• OTC: Over the counter products (without Rx) sold directly to consumer from healthcare
professional.
• OTC drugs selected by a regulatory Agencies to ensure that they are that are safe and effective
without physician’s care.
• Benefits for switching from RX to OTC:
• Increase access.
• Low frequency of visits to physicians.
• Increase autonomy of patients
• Improved education for consumers.
• Possible Risks:
• Inaccurate dosing
• Suboptimal therapy
• Drug resistance.
• Increase costs to patients.
• Failure to follow label instructions.

OTC Vs. FMCG
OTC
• Pharmaceutical is the field of science that
links the health sciences with the chemical
sciences and it is charged with ensuring
supply of the safe and effective medicinal
products to the patient.
• Pharmaceutical market deals with the
supply or availability of drug or medicinal
products used for diagnosis, prevention or
treatment of specific medical conditions.
• Pharmaceutical market is highly regulated
market.
FMCG
• FMCG is (Fast Moving Consumer
Goods) the term used for the fast
moving consumer products those are
used by consumers in day to day
routine. e.g. Toothpastes, Personnel
care products, Hair care products.
• FMCG market deals with the supply or
availability of consumer products of
the routine use.
• FMCG market is not regulated market.

OTC Vs. FMCG
OTC
• Pharmaceutical goods are available
on the retail drug stores and must
be sold by qualified registered
pharmacist.
• Patient is customer as there is no
prescription of doctor is required to
purchase OTC drugs.
• Advertisements of Pharmaceutical
Products are regulated by regulatory
authority.
• OTC products can be advertised on
social media.
FMCG
• FMCG are available on the every
general stores and shops and can be
sold and purchased by any consumer
without any interference of any
authority or law.
• the buyer has freedom to purchase
and consume the product.
• There is no regulation of
advertisement of FMCG that of
pharmaceutical goods.
• some basic guidelines need to be
followed as per national
advertisement act.

OTC Classes
• We have many classes of OTC, As:
1. Cough & cold.
2. Gastrointestinals.
3. Analgesics
4. Dermatologicals.
5. Vitamins & Minerals.
6. Men’s healthcare products (e.g.: Condoms).
7. FMCG Items (e.g.: Shampoos, Diapers, teeth health).
8. Cosmo-ceuticals.

Planning
• Analysis is very crucial.
• OTC is about one main issue (PLANS)
• Annual, Quarter, Monthly plans.

Perception
• OTC marketing is all about perception.
• Positioning statement and slogan
is one of the most important steps in OTC marketing.
• Surveys are needed every meanwhile.
• It must be like a story for the customers and consumers

1. What positioning is all about
• To be successful today, you must touch base with reality. And the reality
that really counts is what’s already in the prospect’s mind.
• The basic approach of positioning is not to create something new and
different. But to manipulate what’s already there in the mind. To retie
the connections that already exists.
• In our over communicated society, to talk about advertising is to
seriously overstate the potential effectiveness of your message.
(e.g. US per capita consumption of advt. $200/-)
• In the communication jungle out there, the only hope to score big is to
be selective, concentrate on narrow targets, to practice segmentation. –
Positioning

1. What positioning is all about
• In general,
the mind accepts only that which matches prior knowledge or experience.
• The average person cannot tolerate being told they are wrong.
Mind changing is the road to advertising disaster.
• Oversimplified message –
• The best approach in in our over communicated society is the
oversimplified message.
• LESS IS MORE – sharpen your message, jettison the ambiguities, simplify
the message and simplify it some more.
• You look for the solution to your problem inside the prospects mind.
• You concentrate on the perceptions of the prospect.
Not the reality of the product. Perception is the reality.

Restructure perceptions
• Truth is irrelevant. What matters are the perceptions that exist in
the mind.
• The essence of positioning thinking is to accept
the perceptions as reality and then restructure those perceptions to
create the position you desire.
Process is called “outside-in thinking”.
• Advertising is psychology in practice.

2. The Assault on the mind
• The Transmission Traffic Jam – Extravagant use of communication
has so jammed our channels that only a tiny fraction of all
messages actually get through. Huge explosion in internet, TV,
radio, magazines, books and papers. Even packaging.
• There’s some question on whether the average person can digest
all the information. E.g. The NY Times – 500,000 words will take
28 hours to read if one reads 300 words per minute.

2. The Assault on the mind - 2
• Better not to communicate unless you are able to position for the long
term. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
• Chevrolet was the most heavily advertised product in the world. US
$130 million to promote. However one did not know much about it.
• To cut through the traffic jam in the prospect’s mental highway, one
must use an oversimplified approach.
• The Media Explosion – Excessive media makes the prospect loose the
message. Even the human body has become a walking billboard.

2. The Assault on the mind - 3
• In USA advertisement spend has increased 8 times but does one
know 8 times more for the product? Though advertisers can
spend there is only that much which a consumer can absorb.
However the mind is the battleground.
• The Product Explosion – Another reason for messages getting lost
is because of the increase in number of products.
• Scientists have discovered that person is capable of receiving
limited sensation. After a point the brain goes blank.

3. Getting into the Mind
• Positioning is an organized system for finding windows in the
mind. It is based on the concept that communication can only
take place at the right time and under the right circumstances.
• The easy way to get into a person’s mind is to be first.
• What is true in business is true in nature too.
• “Imprinting” is the term biologist use to describe the first
encounter between a newborn animal and its natural mother.

3. Getting into the Mind - 2
• For brand loyalty you get in the mind first and be careful not to
give a reason to switch. People don’t remember the 2nd.
• Find something to be first in. It’s better to be a big fish in a small
pond (then increase the size of the pond) than to be a small fish in
a big pond.
• Advertising lessons - The chaos in the market place is a reflection
of the fact that advertising just doesn’t work the way it used to.
• Messages prepared in the old, traditional ways have no hope of
being successful in today’s over communicated society.

3. Getting into the Mind - 3
• Product Era – USP has become very difficult to establish. Also
with the avalanche of “me-too” products the Era came to an
end. Same happened with The Image Era.
• The Positioning Era – To succeed in our over communicated
society, a company must create a position in the prospect’s
mind. This should not only cover both the companies strength
& weakness but also those of the competitors.

4. Those Little Ladders in Your Head
• Due to large volume of communications,
(a) the mind rejects information that it does not compute.
(b) (b) Accepts new information which matches its current state of mind.
(c) (c) Filters out anything else.
• To put a new brand into the mind, you have to delete or reposition the old
brand that already occupies the category.
• You taste what you expect to taste.
E.g. New Coke, a major marketing disaster.
Folly by company to improve on the taste of the real thing.

4. Those Little Ladders in YourHead - 2
• Consumers are emotional. If consumers are rational one does not
require advertising.
• Dr. George A. Miller – The average human mind cannot deal with more
then seven units at a time.
• Human minds cannot keep track of all the brand names which are
multiplying like rabbits.
• The Product Ladder – To cope with product expansion, people have
learned to rank products and brands in the mind.

4. Those Little Ladders in Your Head – 3
• Many companies embark on advt. programmers in a vacuum as if
competitors position did not exist. Such advt. messages disappoint
as they do not get through.
• The mind has no room for what’s new and different unless it’s
related to the old.
• The “Against” Position – Sometimes the competitors position is
more important then your own. E.g. Avis v/s. Hertz. Avis was
successful because it related itself to Hertz.

4. Those Little Ladders in Your Head – 4
• The “Uncola” Position – E.g. Coke v/s 7-Up.
By linking the product to what was already in the mind of the
prospect, the “uncola” position established 7-Up as an alternative to a
cola drink.
You don’t find an “uncola” idea inside a 7-Up can.
You find it inside the cola drinker’s mind.
• Forget what made them successful –
• If you want to be successful today, you can’t ignore the competitors
position. Nor can you walk away from your own.
Both Avis and 7-Up moved away from what made them successful and
paid a price for it.

5. You Can’t Get There from Here
• The “Can Do” Spirit Refuses to Die – Some situations are very hard and
no matter how hard one tries or how much money they pour in the
problem could not be solved.
• A company can have a great product, a great sales force, a
great advt. campaign and still fail if it happens to be in a
position in which you can’t get there from here”.
• Don’t find perceptions with facts. Perceptions will always win.
• RCA v/s IBM
• The old cliché “fight fir with fire”. But Howard Gossage said “That’s silly.
Fight fire with water”

6. Positioning of a Leader
• History shows that the first brand into the brain, on the average
gets twice the long –term market share of the No. 2 brand and
twice again as much as the no. 3 brand. And the relationships are
not easily changed. E.g. Coke v/s Pepsi in cola
• However if a marketing leader isn't first in a new category, same
applies.
• Almost all the material advantages accrue to the leader. In the
absence of any strong reasons to the contrary, consumers will
probably select the same brand for their next purchase as they
selected for the last purchase.

6. Positioning of a Leader - 2
• If two brands are equal and neither side has a clear-cut superiority,
winning the battle for sales leadership in a single year will often clinch
victory for decades to come.
• Leaders should use their short-term flexibility to assure themselves of
a stable long-term future. As a matter of fact, the marketing leader is
the one who moves the ladder into the mind with his or her brand
nailed to the one and only rung.
• It is very important that leadership is not defined in your own terms
but the prospects terms.

• The position the product owns in the prospects mind leads to the
power of the product which leads to the power of the
organization and not vice versa.
• Reacting Rapidly – As long as the leader covers a competitive
move, he or she will always be out in front.
• Multibrands – Each brand is uniquely positioned to occupy a
certain location in the mind of the prospect. With time and newer
products being introduced, no efforts are made to change the
position. Rather a new product is introduced to reflect changing
technologies and changing tastes

• Sometimes it is difficult to move an established position.
It may be cheaper and more effective to introduce a new product.
Even if you have to eventually have to kill off an old, established
name.
• E.g. P&G introduced Tide though Ivory was old established brand.
Toyota introduced Lexus.
• The leader, the company with the highest market share, is also
likely to enjoy the highest profit margin of any company serving
that market. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

• The ultimate objective of a positioning program should be to
achieve leadership in a given category. Once that leadership has
been obtained, the company can count on enjoying the fruits of
leadership for many years to come.
• When you try to be everything you wind up being nothing.

7. Positioning of a Follower
• What works for a leader doesn’t necessarily work for a follower.
• Most Me-Too products fail because the ascent is on “better” rather
than “speed”. It is not to be better than the competitor. You must
attack while the situation is fluid and before the leader can establish
leadership.
• Cherchez le Creneau: means look for the hole. In the prospects
mind is one of the best strategies in the field of marketing.
Creneau’s don’t have to be exciting or dramatic or even have much
of a customer benefit to be effective.

7. Positioning of a Follower -2
• To find a creneau, you must have the ability to think in reverse, to go
against the grain.
1) The Size Creneau – Large Detroit automakers v/s Volkswagen Beetle.
2) The High-Price Creneau –US $ 30,000 Mercedes Benz and BMW 633CSi,
Mobil 1 synthetic engine lubricant.
• Greed must not get confused with high-price. High-price is charged to
(1) to establish high-price position.
(2) with a valid product story.
(3) in a category where consumers are receptive to high-priced brand.
• The place to establish High-price is in ads, not stores.

7. Positioning of a Follower – 3
3. The Low-Price Creneau: Exxon office system with Qwip.
4. Other Effective Creanu’s – Sex: Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Charlie
perfume. Age is another Creneau: Geritol tonic, Aim toothpaste for
children. Time of the day is another good Creneau: Nyquil the first
night time cold remedy.
Distribution another Creneau: L’eggs was first hosiery brand to be
distributed in super market.
5. The Factory Creneau: One common mistake is to look for creneaus
is filling the hole in the factory rather than the one in the mind. E.g.
Ford’s Edsel or the National Observer by Dow Jones of WSJ.

7. Positioning of a Follower – 4
6. The Technology Trap: Brown Forman Distillers launched Frost 8/80
first dry white whisky. Don’t tamper with colours deeply entrenched
in the mind. ADVERTISING IS NOT A DEBATE. IT’S A SEDUCTION.
7. The Everybody Trap: You can’t win by not making enemies, by
being everything to everybody. Company must define “Who should
not use their brand”?

8. Repositioning the Competition
• When you cant find a Creneau one needs to create there own
Creneau. The basic underlying strategy has got to be reposition
the competition.
• To move a new idea or product into the mind, you must first move
an old one out. E.g. Christopher Columbus. Once an old idea is
overturned, selling a new idea is often ludicrously simple.
• Repositioning Aspirin by Tylenol.

8. Repositioning the Competition - 2
• Repositioning American Vodkas by Stolichnaya. People like to see the high
and mighty exposed. They like to see the bubbles burst.
• Repositioning Pringle by Borden’s wise who kept labels simple. In politics
or packaged goods, the rule is once a loser, always a loser.
• Repositioning Listerine.
• Listerine dominated the mouthwash market when Scope was first
introduced.
• Scope focused not on the consumer problem which its product cured, but
on the consumer problem its competitor caused. Listerine's one
vulnerable spot was the antiseptic smell it left on the user's breath.

8. Repositioning the Competition - 3
• Scope skewered Listerine with the slogan "medicine breath."
Scope took millions of dollars away from Listerine with those
two words, and positioned itself in the minds of consumers as
the "sweet breath" mouthwash.
• Lesson: Look for a problem, no matter how small, which your
competitor's product or service causes as it solves the buyer's
primary problem. Attack and exploit that weakness.

9. The Power of the Name
• Single most important decision is what to name the product.
• Shakespeare wrong. One not only see what they want to see but
also smell what they want to smell.
• What worked in the past wont necessarily work now or in the
future.
• The name begins the positioning process.
• You have to choose names that are almost, but not quite, generic.
• A good name is the best insurance for long-term success.

9. The Power of the Name - 2
• A good name is the best insurance for long-term success.
• In the magazine field, due to barriers to entry, a generic name is
not a liability as it would be in the package food field.
• With marginal differences in many product categories, a better
name can mean millions of dollars of difference in sales.
• The first company into the mind with a new product or new idea is
going to become famous.
• A persona’s name plays a significant role in the game of life.

9. The Power of the Name - 3
• One see’s what one expects to see. A bad or inappropriate name sets up a
chain reaction that only serves to confirm your initial unfavorable opinion.
• The name is the first point of contact between the message and the mind.
• A bad name doesn’t get any better no matter how many years you have
been using it.
• People think it is the actual product, service, the price which is the issue.
That is not true but it is the perception of product, service, the price. Along
with bad name comes a bad perception.
• If names for low-calorie and low-cost products become too blatant, they
drive the prospect away.

10. The No-Name trap
• Customer refer to companies phonetically. However companies look at
themselves in a visually oriented way. Mistake is to make sure a name
looks good without considering how it sounds.
• Business people commit the above mistake by using their initials. If the
individual reaches the top and uses initials then fine like JFK.
• Even in the list of Fortune 500 companies the companies with name are
more familiar then the companies using initials. A company must be
well known before it can use initials. E.g. GE triggers General Electric.

10. The No-Name trap - 2
• However many companies which do not think through the process of
positioning themselves fall victim to the fad of the day – use initials.
• POSITIONING IS LIKE THE GAME OF LIFE. A LONG TERM PROPOSITION.
Name decisions bear fruit not today but many years in the future.
• The Mind Works by the Ear. We learn to speak before reading. Therefore
we can visualize in the mind we have to verbalize it.
• The confusion between cause and effect. IBM became famous before
initials were used.

11. The Free-Ride Trap
• To establish a new position in the mind one needs a new name
and should not take a free ride on the existing name. E.g. Xerox
got into the mind first & established the premier position in
copiers. Subsequently few companies like IBM, Kodak & 3M
jumped into the copier field. None of the latter companies
succeeded.
• Companies grow by 2 different strategies. 1. Internal development
2. External acquisition. There are also 2 different name strategies
evolving. Corporate ego dictate the strategies.
• The important point is when should a company use the house
name and when should they select a new name.

11. The Free-Ride Trap - 2
• If you get into the mind first any name is going to work. If not
then you are flirting with disaster if you don’t select an
appropriate name.
• Colgate Palmolive uses house name v/s Procter & Gamble which
carefully positions each product so that it occupies a unique
niche in the mind. P&G with lesser brand does a much larger
revenue then Colgate.

11. The Free-Ride Trap - 3
• A New product needs a new name, a new ladder. The overwhelming
thinking is to use well known name for new products. E.g. Xerox
foray in computers using Xerox name destroyed billions of $. Xerox
represents a position of enormous long-term value. This was being
destroyed by the company themselves.
• In the prospects mind one name cannot stand for 2 distinctly
different products.
• The reason companies look for free ride is that they underestimate
the value of anonymity. An unknown company with an unknown
product has more to gain from publicity than a well-known company
with an established product.

12. The Line-Extension Trap
• Line extension trap – The free ride trap carried to its ultimate
conclusion. However logic is on the side of line extension. Truth,
unfortunately, is not.
• E.g. Dial soap having the largest share of the bar-soap market
branded deodorant as Dial deodorant. Dial has a very small share
of the deodorant market. Similarly Bayer having “invented”
aspirin makes Bayer non-aspirin which has a very low market
share.
• However from a prospects mind owning a position means the
brand name becomes a surrogate or substitute for the generic
name.

12. The Line-ExtensionTrap - 2
• What actually gets driven into the mind is not the product at all but
the “name” of the product which the prospect uses as a hook to
hang attributes on. E.g. JC Penny branded car batteries under their
own name. However the mind of the prospect is organized
differently as he thinks in terms of products.
• However JC Penny does sell many batteries but everyone knows
that products with wrong name are sold, “in spite of” rather than
“because of”.

12. The Line-Extension Trap - 3
• It is better to establish a position in the prospects mind first and then
worry how to establish retail connection.
• In positioning, the shortest distance between 2 points is not necessarily
the best strategy. The obvious name isn’t always the best name. Inside-out
thinking is the biggest barrier to success. Outside-in thinking is the biggest
aid.
• E.g. The famous Coca-Cola slogan, “The real thing”. To the cola drinker,
Coca-Cola is the stuff inside the can. Bayer is an aspirin and cant be a
nonaspirin. Leadership alone is the most powerful position in marketing.

12. The Line-Extension Trap - 4
• Another line extension failure was Life Savers which was associated with
candy and did not work when they named their bubble gum with the
same name. However when they branded it as bubble yum it was a
runaway success.
• Falling in love with one’s own brand name is common occurrence.
Positioning is making your brand name stand for the generic. Yet line
extension seems intuitively right & the only way to resist the temptation
is to study the classic line-extension mistakes of marketing history.

13. When Line Extension can Work
• One of the keys to understanding line extension is to separate
short term effects from long term effects. Business looks great
the first 6 months as you fill the pipelines. But when reorders
don’t come in, all of a sudden things turn dark.
• Line extension names are forgettable because they have no
independent position in the mind. Their only contribution is to
blur the position occupied by the original name. Often with
catastrophic results.

13. When Line Extension can Work - 2
• The confusion caused when one name stands for more than one
product saps the strength of brands. E.g. Kraft, means everything
and nothing as they use their name for multiple products. Line
extension is a weakness, not strength. Another E.g. Auto
companies – Cadillac, Chevrolet, VW etc.
• The truth is many products are sold, few are positioned.

13. When Line Extension can Work - 3
• Rules when to use the house name:
1. Expected Volume – Small volume products but not potential winners.
2. Competition – In a vacuum, should not bear house name but in a
crowded field.
3. Advertising support – Big budget brands should not bear house name
but small budget brands should bear.
4. Significance – Break through products should not bear house name but
commodity products should bear.
5. Distribution – Off the shelf items should not bear house name but items
sold by sales reps should.

Six Steps to Success
• Outlines the six questions one needs to ask to implement positioning
strategy
1. What Position Do You Own?
2. What Position Do You Want to Own?
3. Whom Must you Outgun?
4. Do You Have Enough Money?
5. Can You Stick It Out?
6. Do You Match Your Position?
• Playing the Positioning Game – This chapter talks of the right mental
attitude, patience, courage, strength of character and above all
Outside-in thinker.

Campaigns
• Preparing the Annual campaigns is very important for all selected
customers.
• Ex: In EREC 2020, I had in Q1 the campaign
(Hammers for workers, with name of the campaign ‫عشان‬
‫تدق‬ ‫تعرف‬ )
• In Q2, The campaign for car lifters 2 tons for pharmacists,
with the name of the campaign (
‫ترفع‬ ‫تعرف‬ ‫عشان‬
• In Q3, The campaign for Car compressors for pharmacists,
‫تنفخ‬ ‫تعرف‬ ‫عشان‬
• In Q4, The campaign for Play stations for Big accounts,
‫تلعب‬ ‫تعرف‬ ‫عشان‬
Examples from
real life

Advertisement OTC Products
• Unlike Rx (Ethical Products), OTC has the facility to Advertise to
Consumers directly through (ATL, TTL, BTL).
• Health Authorities publish a list periodically for the list of
products which are able to go Above the line.
• It also prohibits misleading advertisement which give false
impressions regarding the true character of the product.

ATL
• ATL…..How?
• High budget>>>>High Impact.
• When we really need it?

TTL (Digital Media)
• Budget and plan
• Strategy
• Do We need it really?

Social Media
CPM: Cost-Per-Thousand Impressions based on total spend and
impressions across all publisher's campaigns. Includes all campaign
objectives.
CPC: Cost-Per-Click based on total spend and total clicks across all
publisher's campaigns. Includes all campaign objectives.
CTR: Click-Through Rate based on total impressions and clicks across
all publisher's campaigns. Includes all campaign objectives.
Total Spend QoQ: Change in publisher's social advertising spend in
4C from Q3 2017 to Q2 2017.

Social Media
Total Spend YoY: Change in publisher's social advertising spend in 4C from
Q3 2017 to Q3 2016.
CPM QoQ: Change in publisher's CPM from Q3 2017 to Q2 2017.
CPC QoQ: Change in publisher's CPC from Q3 2017 to Q2 2017.
CTR QoQ: Change in publisher's CTR from Q3 2017 to Q2 2017.
CPSU: Cost Per Swipe-Up based on total spend and total Swipe-ups across
all Snapchat campaigns. Includes all campaign objectives.
SUR: Swipe-Up Rate based on total impressions and Swipe-Ups across all
Snapchat campaigns.
Includes All objectives.

BTL (Health days)
• Health days in Pharmacies is a very efficient way to advertise,
communicate & Sell also.
• Making a special offer for end consumer helps in both better
movement & good direct communication with end users.
• Booths can be kept in pharmacies for a time as per the contract with
the pharmacy.

BTL (in Hypers or clubs)
• Booths with Ushers in Hypers
• Direct contact with end users is very useful as you can give him the
message with no one in between.
• Selling to end users isn’t allowed for OTC items
(Away from pharmacies).

OTC Restrictions
• An ill-defined third category of substances comprises those
products having OTC status from the FDA, while being
simultaneously subject to other restrictions on sale.
• For example, many U.S. drugstores have moved products
containing pseudoephedrine, an OTC product, into locations
where customers must ask a pharmacist for them.

Black Markets
• Always no one in Pharma Industry likes to take about Black Markets.
• In Egypt, it became a fact and…Legalized in majority.
• Indeed it isn’t the most profitable way to deal in pharma industry,
yet it became a solution
to reach more than 60,000 clients allover Egypt.
• In some cases it serves the brand overseas also.

Black Markets
• Knowing the feedback and updating this knowledge is crucial as
the market dynamics is changing always and it may put you in
different situations that may vary the negotiating process
(Knowledge is Power).
• Sometimes, the % of discount in the market of your own product
and may vary in the same day depending on the market
dynamics.
• Controlling this dynamics is crucial, as this situation may reflect
directly on your sales and situation day by day.

Black Markets
• Controlling the offer and % is one of the most important.
• This needs the product manager to have strong relations and the
ability to know the key customers in the market and to have a team
skillful and knowledgeable.
• Even though, you will find yourself in front of different situations
that you will have tough times with much strong hit.
• So, be ready that you will get hard times and tough situations as
you are not existing alone in the market.

Black Markets (Examples)
• Sometimes, your competitor will compete with your offer,
exceeding your limit of having a profit……don’t follow him as
loosing is not existing in the agenda of a marketer.
• Ex: Your offer 100 pieces + 100 pieces FOC, your competitor offered an
AC extra above your offer.
• In that moment, direct your offer in another shape…you must revise
with your finance dept. and do your homework well.
• Next slide is having a sheet that every OTC PM should have.

Packaging
• Packaging is very crucial in FMCG.
• Some products can catch great opportunity
through packaging and color choice.
• Who can say that he didn’t buy a product just
because he loved the packaging???

Team (Personnel)
• Sales team or Medical team?
• Actually you need both, going with an OTC Item to Drs. Very
Important, having Rx is giving a good back bone to your
product.
• Sales team: they have the strong sales ability with
pharmacists, but they can’t detail to Drs.
• So, you have the choice depending your product and its
complexity.

Distribution
• Being available everywhere is always a real challenge.
• This depends in which step in Product Life cycle.
• Distribution strategies are different and many (Push-Pull- Shelf block).
• Example: NCH was dealing with customers to get the maximum capacity
with contracts offering better offers, bonus and Activities through a
special person delegated for this mission only (Activation manager).

Distributors
• Having a sole distributor or multi distributors is something not easy.
• The sole distributor is giving you the chance of very good support
from this distributor, But in the same side it is risky as many
customers may not having dealing with this distributor.
• Also, being with the strongest distributor like (UCP) doesn’t mean
that you have the access with all customers as UCP is serving all
companies and can’t easily give you the absolute facilities.

WHYOTCMARKETINGTODOCTORSMAKESSENSE?

WhyOTCMarketingto DoctorsMakesSense?
1. Doctors’ word matters –A study found that OTC drugs
recommended by doctors were purchased more by patients
than non-recommended ones. Prescribers thus are gatekeepers
of both Rx and non-Rx purchases. In some cases, patients prefer
seeking doctor’s advice instead of self-medicating.
2. Boosts brand loyalty – Marketing to doctors can pique
awareness about specific brands and lead to patient trials.
Patients are more likely to choose the brand suggested by their
doctor and continue choosing it for future use too.

WhyOTCMarketingto DoctorsMakesSense?
3. Improves competitiveness – OTC category is witnessing stiff
competition with both pharma and FMCG players eyeing a
chunk of the booming market. Doctors now have more than one
brand to recommend for a particular condition which means
marketers have to step up their medico-marketing efforts. Also,
competition is stiff where both OTC and Rx drugs are viable
treatment options. Most doctors perceive Rx medicines as more
trustworthy than OTC ones. Marketers should, therefore, build
a case for their non-Rx products through regular and detailed
communication with HCPs.

OTCMarketingto DoctorsMakesSense?
1. Product positioning – OTC drugs may be recommended by doctors as
a preventive, remedial or supplementary therapy. It is necessary that
treating physicians are made aware of where the product fits in the
overall treatment plan.
2. Consumer insights – Doctors can offer pharma critical insights into
patient behavior that can be used to formulate products that actually
solve consumer pain points (instead of simply launching ‘me too’
versions and product extensions). It will also help marketers align their
product communications to consumers’ needs.
• OTC marketers need to work on a strategy to engage doctors
effectively.

Best Waysto Market OTCDrugs to Doctors
1. Offer product samples – Doctors try their best to get patients to begin treatment
and an initial push often leads to long term stickiness to a product.
2. Revisit OTC detailing – The same OTC product should be marketed differently to
consumers and doctors. OTC detailing for doctors cannot have a “consumer
advertising” tone. Where possible, pharma reps must be able to back all efficacy &
safety claims with clinical trial results and proof of evidence, so doctors can make
an informed choice. There should be solid reasoning for why a brand is better than
its competitors. Rather than talking about one product, marketers should position
their companies as experts of the whole therapy area.

3. Tap a supporting need – Doctors may add OTC medicine to the prescription as a part
of a broader treatment plan where the OTC drug treats those problems.
4. Be innovative – For most OTC products, there is little room to make scientific
evidence the highlight of communication, so marketers must adopt an innovative
approach. Think: Can your product be aligned to an environmental/social situation,
say air pollution for cough syrup or malnourishment for nutrition therapy? Perhaps
you could build a dialogue around food sensitivity/allergies in children.
5. Understand mindsets – Pharma must find out reasons why doctors choose to not
recommend certain OTC drugs by conducting mindset analysis studies like the one
above. Marketers can then tweak the narrative to plug these gaps. Our survey
suggests that doctors need more information on OTC product safety and associated
complications. Marketers must ensure that the information provided by them fully
suffices doctors’ needs.

6. Solve pain points – Doctors are more likely to recommend OTC products when they know
that patients are aware of how to use the drug, in what dosage, under which conditions, etc.
Most doctors need assistance to educate patients on safe ways of self-medication. Pharma
can introduce programs and workshops specially designed to help doctors in this area.
7. Leverage digital media – Online media that enjoy doctors’ trust can instantly bridge the
communication gap between pharma and physicians. Marketers should tap neutral online
spaces where doctors can freely discuss any apprehensions about OTC products and gain a
fresh perspective from fellow professionals. Pharma marketers can share OTC product-
specific content on such spaces and open a channel of two-way communication with
prescribers. Such online connect can prove valuable for bonding with doctors and gaining
the latest insights into their mindset.

(Egypt OTC Marketing)17th Cairo Marketing Club by Dr. Mahmoud Hhamed

(Egypt OTC Marketing)17th Cairo Marketing Club by Dr. Mahmoud Hhamed

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