Client Context
The manufacturer of an oncology treatment was barely a year out from launch when multiple competitors submitted data signaling their intention to compete in the space. As a result, this company needed to quickly assess how HCPs view these key competitors in relation to their pre-launch product.
The Business Challenge
While the team had previously done scenario planning, they had not anticipated a challenge to their position so quickly from these specific competitors. So, new insights and strategy work were needed to understand what the impact in the market would be and to structure our client’s response.
Capabilities Applied
- Global qualitative research
- Workshops
- Brand strategy
Approach
HawkPartners helped the global team quickly put together a plan of action, to signal to in-market affiliates that help was coming. We began with individual country working sessions to discuss objectives, refine hypotheses, and create team engagement ahead of the research and end of project workshops. Then, we conducted qualitative interviews with oncologists across 6 markets, exploring the potential impact of competitors on beliefs, behaviors and preferences.
We then used the learnings as one of several key inputs for a series of “Competitive Response workshops.” We held individual workshops per market (grouping together a few like markets in the EU), involving various stakeholders from market research to brand teams and medical affairs team members. In these sessions, team members anchored in an understanding of the competition, then worked to evaluate and refine strategic foundations and communications from the Brand Story to objection handling and salesforce scripts.
Impact
Through the findings we shared, the cross-functional and cross-market workshop discussions, and the workshop output, team members from across markets came away with the necessary tools to shape their brand’s response. This included a list of competitive countermeasures to own, specific asks of support for the global team, and a feeling of confidence. Our client told us, “We are now well-prepared to face what’s ahead.”
