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Twitter for Rx Brands: An Experiment

A conversation with Kevin Kruse, President of Kru Research, presenting the results of a Twitter experiment in which a fictitious insomnia brand drug Twitter account was set up to determine the value of Twitter to reach a qualified audience of patients.

• Guest: Kevin Kruse, President, Kru Research (bio)
• Live Streaming Audio Date: Friday, July 31, 2009, 10:30 AM Eastern US time.
• Live Streaming Audio Duration: 15 minutes
  
  
• Go to this Pharma Marketing Talk Segment Page at the time indicated above to listen to the LIVE show via streaming audio on the Web. You will also be able to participate in an online chat with the host and speakers to ask questions!

Background
In June, 2009, Novo Nordisk sent out the first ever Rx branded Tweet and stumbled, according to some experts (see "Novo Nordisk's Branded (Levemir) Tweet is Sleazy Twitter Spam!"). As a result, many pharmaceutical marketers began to question if Twitter was an appropriate channel for the delivery of Rx branded information.

One bad experience, however, is not enough to answer the question: Is Twitter an appropriate channel for getting Rx brand messages to a qualified patient/consumer audience?

To answer that question, Kru Research decided to perform an experiment by creating a Twitter account for a fictitious insomnia drug. Different profiles and different profile pictures were created to follow people who were tweeting about insomnia. Follow-back response rates were tracked to see how a pharma brand manager can best maximize followers and convert them to new patient starts.

"I think the experiment will generate a lot of chatter," said Kevin Kruse, President, Kru Research.

Some Questions/Topics to be Discussed

• Please describe your research project, its objectives, and give us a summary of the results.
• Do the reserach results suggest that Twitter is an effective channel for Rx brand messaging?

• You may call +1 (347) 996-5894 during the show to aks a question (or listen if you are not at a computer with Internet access)

Guest Bio

Kevin Kruse is an analyst, researcher and author in the areas of innovative health education, instructional design and behavior change. He leads Krū Research and the e-Patient Consortium. PharmaVoice magazine named Kevin as one of the "Top 100 Most Inspiring People in the Life Science Industry."

In the last twenty years he has founded, led and sold several businesses that designed and built e-learning for patients, doctors and pharmaceutical professionals. He has keynoted conferences throughout North America and Europe and he has written for or been interviewed by Fortune, Pharmaceutical Executive, PharmaVoice, CLO, HR, T&D, and Training.

Additionally, Kevin serves on the boards of The Library Project, Senior Adults for Greater Education, and Team Capital Bank. As a member of Delaware Crossing Investor Group he invests capital into a variety of emerging biotech companies.

Additional Resources

• On Twitter, A Patient Photo is Worth a Thousand Characters!
• Pharma Twitter Best Practices
• Whither Twitter for Pharma? (pdf)
• Pharma Marketers Dive Deeper Into Social Media: The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly Case Studies

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e-Patient Connections 2009 Conference, Oct 26-27, Philadelphia

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