The PM Society commissioned an independent market research company to conduct a survey of professional memberships amongst pharmaceutical marketers. The main aim of the survey was to gauge levels of membership of professional organisations relevant to pharmaceutical marketers, understand the benefits derived from their membership, as well as identify other activities that would encourage involvement and add value
The sample was constructed from a combination of sources to ensure representation from members as well as non-members, and included a broad range of pharmaceutical marketers including client side marketing directors, brand and product managers, and representation from agencies covering all key areas of the marketing mix.
The survey was conducted online in August 2009 and over 2000 pharmaceutical marketers were invited by email to take part. Entry into a prize draw was offered as an incentive to take part, and in order to minimise any potential bias in the responses, the survey was conducted without revealing who had commissioned it. On average, the questionnaire took just over 20 minutes to complete and there were 239 responses in total – well over 10%. This was an excellent response rate given the survey was conducted during peak holiday time.
Respondents
Of the 239 respondents, 58% (138) were from pharmaceutical companies and 42% (101) were suppliers. Amongst the suppliers, 32% were from Advertising agencies, 15% from Medical Education agencies, 9% from Market Research agencies, 8% from Publishers, 7% from Marketing Consultancies, 5% each from Management Consultancies and Digital Media Companies, and 4 % each from PR Companies and Contract Sales Organisations.
The average number of years worked within the Healthcare/Pharmaceutical industry is 14 years and the average number of years worked within Healthcare/Pharmaceutical Marketing is 9 years. Geographic responsibility mostly fell in the UK (68%) followed by Europe (19%), and then Global (12%).
Respondents have a mixture of roles and responsibilities. Marketing/Product/Brand Management roles account for 61% and Business Development roles 51%. Amongst pharmaceutical company respondents the main focus of roles/responsibilities is Marketing/Product/Brand Management (71%) whereas amongst suppliers the main focus is far more diverse with 26% saying Account Management/Development and 25% saying Business Development.
Professional memberships
Of all the organisations surveyed, the PM Society enjoys the highest membership (64%) followed by the ABPI (59%), the CIM (26%), then the BHBIA (21%). The PM Society has the highest personal membership with a 60/40 pharmaceutical company/supplier split, whereas the ABPI has the highest company membership with an 80/20 pharmaceutical company/supplier split. Membership of the PM Society is perceived to provide the most benefits to the individual personally (followed by the CIM) whereas membership to the ABPI is perceived to provide the most benefits to the organisation (followed by the PM Society).
Awareness of the PM Society is extremely high with 92% of non-members saying they were aware of it. There is strong evidence of a growing new membership.
The main personal benefits of the PM Society are seen as networking with colleagues and keeping up to date with the latest marketing skills. Similarly the main perceived benefit of the PM Society to the company or organisation is providing a networking opportunity, as well as providing and supplementing training.
Overall the PM Society is highly valued, as illustrated by this respondent comment: "Generally I think the PM Society is a well recognised and respected organisation that supports the needs of the Pharmaceutical marketing segment of the industry. It is well established and one of the backbones of Pharma marketing in the UK"
Industry awards
The major annual industry awards were assessed for awareness, attendance, perceived value, and the single ‘must attend' event of the year.
The findings confirm that the PM Society Advertising Awards continue to be the healthcare industry's most popular awards ceremony. The PM Society Advertising Awards have the highest awareness (97%), followed by Marketeer of the Year (89%) and then Communique (88%). The PM Society Advertising Awards also have the highest attendance (64%), followed by Communique (50%) and the PMEA (32%), and is perceived to deliver by far the most value to organizations, as well as considered to be the ‘must attend' event of the year.
Here are a few respondent comments that summarise why the PM Society Advertising Awards are the single ‘must attend' awards of the year
"Most of the company agencies will attend so networking opportunities are ideal"
"Biggest, longest established, most prestige, most networking opportunity"
"Good opportunity to network with industry experts, get to share ideas and get new contacts. A way of sharing innovation"
"A chance to see really good work win, catch up with old colleagues, but not be worried about letting your hair down in front of clients"
Marketing training and PriMe
In the last 12 months, the mean number of training courses attended was 1.5. However only 38% attended more than one training course and a third didn't attend any. Over 70% of the training courses were delivered by external organisations, and around half of these are held in-house.
Factors that most influence attendance at training courses are topic relevance, reputation of provider, and cost. Beyond these, additional factors that influence attendance are timing, workload, and availability of budget.
Around two thirds of the respondents were aware of the PM Society's marketing training programme PriMe. Awareness is higher amongst pharmaceutical company employees and PM Society members.
There is a strong, positive association between the PM Society and training. Of the respondents who said they are likely to attend a training course in the next 12 months, a third said it would be provided by the PM Society. Apart from the ABPI, more respondents said they would attend a training course organised by the PM Society than any of the other organisations surveyed. Furthermore, of all the external organisations that provide marketing training, the PM Society is perceived to offer the best.
Educational Events
Within the last 12 months approximately three quarters of the respondents had attended an educational event (e.g. seminar, workshop, briefing, lecture, conference etc), and just over 70% of these were delivered by an external organisation.
Workshops are the most popular format for an educational event (73%), followed by seminars (45%), conferences (33%), lectures (30%), and finally webcasts/online learning (24%). Topic relevance/interest influences the decision to attend an educational event the most, followed by reputation of organiser/provider, cost, and lastly location.
Asked about attendance at workshops and seminars over the next 12 months, the majority of respondents (54%) said they are most likely to attend those run by the ABPI followed by the PM Society (39%). Similarly, for conferences and lectures they are likely to attend over the next 12 months, the majority of respondents said the ABPI is the most likely organisation (47%), followed by the PM Society (35%).
Social Events
The majority of respondents (around 60%) said they attended social events organised by external organisations (e.g. speaker lunches/dinners, wine tasting, boat trips, golf events, sailing events, etc) within the last 12 months, and on average they are likely to attend two per year. There was a broad range of answers when asked about preferences for types of social events. Whilst speaker lunches and dinners, sailing, golf, wine tasting, and other corporate hospitality events were frequently mentioned, a significant number of respondents said they would generally be too busy to attend these. A few respondents would also have a preference for smaller groups: ‘the smaller the better in a lot of instances so that you can build stronger links'.