Branding of Prescription Medicines to Australian Consumers

Brand development and brand management is complex in the pharmaceutical sector due to the specific nature of pharmaceutical products and their life-cycles, as well as the regulation of promotional activity. The building of strong brands is becoming increasingly important for the industry, and consideration is being given to developing more expressive or emotional values of brands over traditional functional values and attributes. In Australia, brand-building activity for prescription pharmaceuticals primarily targets the medical profession in an effort to achieve brand recognition, brand preference and brand loyalty and, in turn, increase prescriptions. Despite direct-to-consumer-advertising of prescription pharmaceuticals not being allowed in Australia, there have been cases of unnamed product advertisements and disease awareness campaigns that serve to increase consumer awareness of brands within a category. This paper provides a review of issues influencing brand building in the pharmaceutical sector as well as recent examples of brand-building activities that target Australian consumers.