MBC and CBI Research Find Discrepancy in Marketers' Personal and Professional Use of the Internet May Cause Missed Online Opportunities

PHILADELPHIA – March 14, 2007 – A new marketing survey by Medical Broadcasting Company (MBC) and CBI Research, Inc. found that pharmaceutical marketers often leave their own online behaviors at the office door, leaving them in danger of missing online consumer and physician demand for their product.  The survey results were presented at the CBI 6th Annual eMarketing for the Pharmaceutical Industry Conference last week.

The survey found a "relevance gap" between how most marketers in the pharmaceutical industry use the Internet in their own lives, versus how they market to consumers and healthcare practitioners.  While most reported that they personally utilize social media, two-way communication, personalized content and product comparison, fewer than half are offering those options to their customers.  In the case of personalized content, 72 percent of respondents report using this personally, while only 42 percent have made it a part of their marketing plans.  The gap is even wider in the case of advanced technologies, showing that 82 percent of marketers surveyed report using interactive tools personally, compared with 20 percent who offer it to customers.

"There is a ray of hope here," said Bruce Grant, senior vice president of business strategy at MBC, who led the survey and presented its findings. "We are now seeing our clients opening up their minds and budgets to these new, user-centric marketing tactics and the early results are encouraging. Clients who make use of the Internet to distribute information that is easy to find, easy to understand, easy to act on, and easy to share with others are driving new levels of engagement and trust with their audiences, both consumer and professional."

Perhaps the most far-reaching shift revealed by the survey in terms of its implications for marketing strategies is that 71 percent of the marketers surveyed now regard the Internet as a channel for providing information and services on demand, rather than the kind of awareness-generation typified by mass-media direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising.   Rather than drumming up demand for their product, marketers can succeed by focusing on meeting customer demand that already exists online.

Of those surveyed, 37 percent plan to increase spending on direct-to-consumer campaigns, and 47 percent plan to increase spending to target healthcare professionals in 2007.

Editor Note: To obtain a copy of the survey results or for an interview with Bruce Grant, please contact Carly Kuper, Manager, Communications at MBC, 215.399.3357 or ckuper@mbcnet.com.

About Medical Broadcasting Company
We are the healthcare demand experts.  We are experts in using the Internet to connect our clients' knowledge, advice, and experience to people's problems, conditions, and questions.  We help our clients help doctors, patients, and all the people who care for them have better-informed conversations that lead to better treatments and better results.  Because of our expertise and our clients' success, we are the interactive agency of record for many of the world's leading pharmaceutical, bioscience, and medical device companies.  MBC is an agency of the Digitas family, a member of the Paris-based Publicis Groupe S.A. (Euronext Paris: FR0000130577, NYSE: PUB), the world's fourth largest communications group and second largest media counsel and buying group.  For more information please visit www.mbcnet.com.

About CBI Research, Inc.
CBI is a privately held, world-class conference company that focuses on producing high-level programs for executive decision-makers who face strategic issues in domestic and international markets. CBI has provided information and networking opportunities for thousands of senior- level executives in various industries for nearly ten years. More information is available at www.cbinet.com.

CONTACTS:
Media -
Carly Kuper
Medical Broadcasting Company
215.399.3357
ckuper@mbcnet.com

S. Bruce Hickman
The Center for Business Intelligence
800.817.8601
cbireg@cbinet.com