FIELDWORK AND THE BRAND MANAGER

Getting on the eld will provide the Brand Manager clarity about the ground reality of the brand and also help her develop empathy towards the MR.

Importance of Fieldwork

The most important objective of feldwork for a brand manager is to collect market data and ultimately use his/her critical thinking and analytical skills for building his/her brand. This can help his/her during brand audit to as- sess the health of her brand. Regular feldwork gives her a better understanding and clarity of the market place.

Fieldwork provides the pharma brand manager a means of contextualizing his/her learning and contributing to the brand building process. It gives his/her the opportunity to experience "real" research which is often as important as the data received from market research agencies.

Data from Fieldwork to Build Competitive Advantage

The brand manager can amass important information, facts and gures related to his/her brand during feldwork. Organizing and analyzing this data, interpreting it, and then blending it with data from retail and prescription audit research organizations can give his/her a deep insight into the brand. This insight can be converted into a strategy. He will then be able to establish realistic and rational goals for her brand both on a short and long- term horizon.

Real data gathered from fieldwork will enable her to know upfront, the levels of strategy execution. He will know if there is a gap between intended strategy and what is attained in the field. Effective execution of strategies necessarily needs the genuine involvement and commitment of the First-line Leaders.

He can also learn first-hand the strategies, tactics and the activities of competitors. She will be able to gauge the perception of her brand in the doctor's mind and also of competitors.

She can use all this data to build a strong competitive advantage. (See Fig. 1)

A pharma brand manager must be out in the eld at least 60% of her time - although I would quickly say 75%. Field work should involve not only joint fieldwork with the field sales personnel, but also independent work. Working independently will help the brand manager to connect with markets, it involves direct face-to-face contact with the customers - both doctors and retail chemists. Independent fieldwork helps a brand manager to empower himself. It can help her know the characteristics and the needs of the customers.

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