Helping UK pharma communicate

pharmafile | February 28, 2007 | Feature | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing |  HCA, assocation, public relations 

The Healthcare Communications Association (HCA), which aims to promote excellence and best practice within pharmaceutical industry communications, has reached its fifth anniversary.

Membership of the agency includes in-house marketing executives and PR and communications agencies, and its development has coincided with a sustained period of growth in spend on healthcare PR.  

This trend is expected to continue, and the HCA intends to play a greater role in the development of the sector focusing in the up-coming months on two challenges – driving up standards of behaviour and practice within the industry and demonstrating the value of good communications.

Julia Cook, chairman of the HCA says many pharma companies now accept that healthcare PR should play a key role in the overall marketing mix, rather than being tacked on as an afterthought as was often the case in the past.

"There is evidence of a growing recognition of the importance of PR among pharmaceutical companies and a willingness to invest in it, even when other elements of the mix are feeling the pinch,"said Julia Cook.

Factor-driven activity

This increased activity appears to be driven by a number of factors. Externally, the increased pressure to limit spending on new medications and the growing importance of the patient lobby has increased the necessity of communicating with a broader range of customer groups.

The growing role of NICE in the last few years, together with the restructuring of the NHS and shifts in prescribing and funding decision-making, has increased the number and importance of potential audiences to be communicated with. Increasing media interest in health-related issues has also presented a growing number of opportunities for public and media relations.

Cook added: "Within the pharmaceutical industry, there has been an important shift in attitude since the nineties as to the value of PR. We now have a generation of marketers who better understand its role and the need to communicate with audiences beyond healthcare professionals.

"The result is greater buy-in to both public relations and public affairs. And, as understanding is growing, many clients are increasingly more demanding and discerning, which further drives the quality of programmes being developed.

"It's a positive picture with elements of the communications process feeling like they have really come of age."

The latest annual industry and agency benchmarking survey carried out among members by the HCA, provides evidence that PR spend continues to rise, showing that the average growth in turnover of the agencies surveyed was up by 22% compared to the previous year.

This increase in revenue was attributed to new business being created rather than increased fees, which had remained relatively static over the previous year. Coupled with a growth in the number of agencies now operating, the trend appears to be for significant growth within the sector.

Demonstrating the effectiveness of PR

"The industry does appear to be more willing to invest in PR. However, marketing spend is under pressure across the board, so demonstrating the effectiveness of PR programmes continues to be a critical issue as communications programmes need to compete with other elements of the marketing mix for share of resource," commented Andrew Topen, head of communications at Pfizer.

"Over the last few years, some PR professionals have undoubtedly got much better at demonstrating impact and this has helped improve perception of the role and importance of PR; for example, within product plans.

"The HCA's Evaluation Toolkit, launched in 2003 was a catalyst for making systematic evaluation of healthcare communication common practice. However, while some companies have made important steps forward in this respect, the industry still needs to get a lot better."

Rob Wood, director of specialist care at AstraZeneca said: "Better evaluation of PR programmes by more people has certainly helped some marketers understand where and why PR works and has helped improve the image of PR.

However, systematic evaluation is still patchy and the quality is variable, so this still needs to be developed further."

Findings from the recent HCA survey support Wood's comments, with in-house respondents estimating that around 6.3% of budgets are spent on evaluating effectiveness of campaigns, while agencies suggest an even lower figure of just over 4%.  

Driven by the need to raise the standard further, the HCA plans to strengthen its evaluation offering in 2007 with the introduction of a web-based evaluation tool – the On-Line Evaluation Toolkit (OET) and development of a new cost-impact model.

Commenting on these, Matt de Gruchy, managing director of Shire Health PR and stand-in chairman of the HCA's return on investment (RoI) and evaluation sub-committee, said: "Both of these initiatives effectively share the same objective of helping to equip healthcare communications professionals with the thinking and tools to increase their ability to demonstrate the value of healthcare communications activity.

"The On-line Electronic Toolkit is an update to the established HCA Evaluation Toolkit, and in its new electronic format will help people navigate through an established project evaluation process while choosing how best to apply different elements of the communications mix in order to maximise effectiveness."

According to de Gruchy, the development of the new cost impact (RoI) model is nearly finished and it is due for launch in the early part of 2007. The HCA has been working with senior representatives from across industry and agencies to develop this new tool. The aim of the cost impact model is to take systematic evaluation of programmes to a new level. To support members who want to use the new model, the HCA is planning to hold workshops in 2007 which will focus on how to apply the package and how to integrate it into the On-Line Evaluation Toolkit. Initial feedback has been very positive for both these initiatives and the HCA hopes these will very quickly become a valuable resource to health communications practitioners.

"Providing tools which are easily accessible, practical and simple to use should be a boon to busy communications and brand teams," continued Pfizer's Topen. "My initial reaction to these new initiatives is that they are likely to be welcomed by in-house teams.

"As well as helping them to make resourcing decisions, it will also help them judge the performance and effectiveness of their agency partners. A lot of thought has gone into the cost-impact model already, and providing this sort of pooled, best-practice thinking can only help crank-up expertise and raise the bar," he added.

"Senior management will have far more confidence in the value of PR if they can see their teams and partner agencies undertaking regular, systematic evaluation of the programmes they are planning and undertaking," said AstraZeneca's Wood.

"Already, the agencies that really distinguish themselves in terms of marketing excellence tend to be the ones that have taken evaluation to their core."    

Public perception of the pharma industry

Another major focus for the HCA in the early part of 2007 is standards. "One of the big challenges we face is improving public perception of the pharma industry, and the HCA intends to play its full part in helping to address this,"commented GSK's head of UK pharmaceuticals corporate affairs, Neil McCrae, who also chairs the HCA's standards sub-committee.

He said: "The conduct of the industry is under increased scrutiny, so it is more important than ever that the HCA helps set the benchmark for good practice in healthcare communications."  

He said public relations and policy professionals have a duty to protect corporate reputation and believes that HCA members recognise the need to communicate in an ethical way with healthcare professionals, policy makers and, when appropriate, patients. "The association is well placed to help drive higher standards," McCrae concluded.

The HCA's standards sub-committee was established at the end of 2005 in the wake of the Common's Health Select Committee's review of industry influence, with the objectives of protecting and enhancing the reputation of pharmaceutical companies engaged in healthcare communications and to maintain confidence in self regulation.

Spreading good practice

Edel McCaffrey, media relations manager at AstraZeneca and member of the HCA's standards sub-committee says one of the first tasks was to ask HCA members if any grey areas remained following the launch of the updated ABPI Code of Practice.

"We soon established that practical guidance on working with the media was the most needed. Based on the feedback, we then developed the HCA's Good Practice Guide on Working with the Media to help our members address the questions and practical issues which arise during everyday media activities."

The new guide has been designed as a point of reference for HCA members and pulls together sections of relevant codes, while providing HCA advice on specific healthcare communications activities.

Edel McCaffrey added: "It is a user-friendly tool that provides links to communications-related rulings by the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMPCA). Initial reactions from people who have already seen the guide have been very encouraging."

The HCA Good Practice Guide on Working with the Media will be available to HCA members online (http://www.hca-uk.org/) in the early part of 2007 and will be supported by training modules throughout the year. The initial focus will be on working with the media, but more guidance will be added as and when required.

The HCA has also developed a set of principles for good health communications practice to be published in 2007 that are designed to concisely capture the ethical values of the association.

Commenting on these, GSK's Neil McCrae said: "These are not intended to be rules to govern the behaviour of pharmaceutical companies and their agencies, but to act as a decision-making compass for the organisation and all its members, while providing a clear statement to external stakeholders. We hope that member organisations will welcome this initiative.    

"We are getting the HCA's sixth year off to a flying start with the introduction of the new resource tools. A great deal of work has gone into these, and it is my belief that they will provide real value to the industry," commented Julia Cook.

"Looking to the future of PR, I think the trends we have seen for growth in the sector are likely to continue, but I have no doubt that in the very fluid environment we operate in, there will be plenty of challenges ahead."

Cook concluded by saying her personal goal is for even greater engagement with more pharma companies in the HCA.

"I firmly believe that with true collaboration between healthcare communicators from both in-house and agency teams, the discipline will become an even more important element in the pharmaceutical industry's success over the next five years."

Shifting attitudes but challenges remain

Julia Cook, chairman of the HCA: "There has been an important shift in attitude since the nineties as to the value of PR. We now have a generation of marketers who better understand its role and the need to communicate with audiences beyond healthcare professionals.

"The result is greater buy-in to both public relations and public affairs. And, as understanding is growing, many clients are increasingly more demanding and discerning, which further drives the quality of programmes being developed. It's a positive picture with elements of the communications process feeling like they have really come of age."

Edel McCaffrey, AstraZeneca and member of the HCAs standards sub-committee: "We established that practical guidance on working with the media was the most needed. We then developed the HCA Good Practice Guide on Working with the Media to help our members address the questions and practical issues which arise during everyday media activities.

"It is a user-friendly tool that provides links to communications-related rulings by the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority. Initial reactions from people who have already seen the guide have been very encouraging."

The Healthcare Communications Association (HCA) has a unique focus on the pharma industry and its associated communications companies and practitioners.

As an independent, not-for-profit organisation, its aim is the promotion of excellence and best practice in healthcare communications.

The HCA is now an influential player in the healthcare arena. The association has expanded rapidly since its founding in 2001, and a significant proportion of leading communications consultancies and pharma companies are members.

For more information visit: www.hca-uk.org