Pharmaceutical marketing return-on-investment: a European perspective

Purpose - A key objective of the 5th Annual Pharmaceutical Congress "Marketing ROI for Pharma" conference was to illustrate how in the midst of a very turbulent environment, and with higher demand for pharmaceutical marketers to deliver bigger profits from increasingly smaller promotional budgets, there are a few critical decision areas that, if addressed appropriately, can help to deliver better return on investment (ROI). This commentary paper aims to provide a summary of what was discussed. Design/methodology/approach - Given access to the conference presenters' original materials, the authors condensed the presentations into a summary article with reference to some recent academic work in the area. Findings - The article summarises the presentations of a number of European pharmaceutical industry practitioners, healthcare professionals and government policy personnel in their assessments of the turbulent European pharmaceutical industry environment and the challenges associated with optimising ROI from promotional spending. Practical implications - The entire paper summarises recent industry practice in Europe regarding how to optimise pharmaceutical ROI with respect to marketing activities and provides actual examples of how to do this. Originality/value - Primarily targeting pharmaceutical industry practitioners, this paper provides a timely and thorough resource for those industry personnel charged with the mission of maximizing pharmaceutical marketing ROI.