Advice You - Business

It seems like whenever when we turn on the radio or television, we see or hear another story about the sad state of affairs for domestic auto manufacturers. Sales continue to slide and quality continues to lag behind Asian imports.

Ford Motor Company has certainly seen its share of th

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

is kind of “bad news.” In fact, a recent American Customer Satisfaction Index study ranked Ford last in customer satisfaction amid a continued decrease in sales numbers despite having a majority of new or recently refreshed models. Ford has told the press and its dealers that the reas

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

on why perceived quality remains low and dealer and corporate margins continue to shrink is that there are simply too many dealerships.

The rationale, if you can call it that, is that the dealers are not making enough money because there is too much competition between Ford dealers. D

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

ealer profits are down 10% in 2006 alone. The shrinking pool of Ford buyers is being spread too thinly. If dealers are not making money then they cannot take care of the customers as they should and they cannot spend money promoting the brand. Let me repeat that, Ford believes that be

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

cause dealers are not making money they cannot spend money promoting the brand.

I assure you, I am not making this up. In fact, at Ford’s recent dealer meeting in Las Vegas, there was a roundtable where dealers were invited to come listen to Ford talk about the current state of public

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

relations within the company. As I am sure you can imagine the news was not good. However, Ford representatives actually told the dealers that they needed help on the PR front from the dealers. Not only does Ford believe that it is the responsibility of the dealers to promote the br

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

and, it is also, according to Ford, the responsibility of the dealers to actively engage in PR. Even without marketing expertise and an MBA this sounds like a really bad idea.

One of the fundamental problems with any brand is uniformity of message. Some brands, with incredible founda

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

tions bolstered by propriety market and consumer insights, fall flat on their face because they do not make sure all of the brand messages are uniform and meet the standards set by the promise of the brand. On this single criterion alone, Ford fails miserably. Instead of one cohesive

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

brand-driving message where Ford has total control of content, Ford is advocating 3,800 tattered, poorly produced, and ineffective messages. However, Ford’s problems, and those for the other domestic auto manufactures, for that matter, go much deeper than that.

There is a marketing te

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

rm: single-minded proposition. This can be defined as the key differentiation of your product from the perspective of the customer. Usually, it is a short statement of only a couple of words that says who your product is for and why. This single-minded proposition is most effective i

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

it locked in with the name or logo of a given company. This statement in this context is called a themeline, because, as the name suggests, it is a textural representation of the “theme” or promise of the company.

For example, Citi uses “Live Richly” as their themeline. “Live Richly

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

” goes well beyond a clever ad slogan. In fact, the idea of “live richly” has permeated throughout the organization and Citi now uses “live richly” as the context for the decisions they make within the company. Meaning, whenever a new ad, corporate communication, or a new product or s

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

ervice is introduced, it is judged against the idea of “live richly.” If the new item does not help to further the idea of “live richly” then it is scrapped as it is deemed as not living up to the promise of the brand.

Why does “live richly” work? It comes from the perspective of the

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

consumer they wish to influence. The promise is to help Citi’s clients live more richly, however the client wishes to define “living richly,” be it saving for college, retirement, traveling when you want, or buying a house. With Ford, their current corporate themeline, if you can cal

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

l it that, is “Bold Moves.” Their ad group has decided to reinforce that by using Taylor Hicks in a new commercial sing a song about “possibilities.” Again, there is no uniformity of message, even from Ford corporate. Ford is telling us to be “Bold” but then reverses course with thi

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

s incredible non-promise of “possibilities.” Nonsensical.

What should Ford or any of the other domestic manufactures do then? Research. Sure, they probably are spending a fortune on research now and can segment their market any which way to Friday. However, I propose that their res

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

earch is bollocks. Clearly the focus of their research to this point has been solely on usage, attitudes, and market segmentation. While that provides Ford with invaluable market data, it tells them nothing about their customers, prospective or current.

The DNA of any brand resides i

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

n the precepts, or germinal beliefs, of the customers the brand wishes to influence. “Live richly” was born out of these precepts and has become the single-minded proposition for Citi. Uncovering these precepts can only be accomplished through research designed to dig deeper than the

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

normal usage and attitude study that most companies pass as “good research.” Research designed to understand the underlying precepts of those very consumers the brand wishes to influence, helps position the brand not only today, but insures that the brand will be relevant 5 years from

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

now. It keeps your brand ahead of the curve and allows the company and the brand to better predict product life cycles and usage patterns. In short, precepts enable the brand to actually mean something to those it wishes to influence and meaning is what Ford has been lacking for years

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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Creating good business requirements not only assures that the proposed project will address all of the organization's needs, but it helps to guarantee that the project is delivered on time and on budget.

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