Oncologist message strategy engagement

How can we pull apart the rational and emotional motivators that drive oncologists’ prescribing decisions to help a pharma company capitalize on their brand equity?

The Challenge

In an increasingly competitive category, a global pharma company needed to define the most impactful messaging strategy for an established brand. It was critical to deeply understand medical oncologists’ prescribing behavior, especially the implicit why of their decision making, and then leverage those insights to develop a clearly defined brand identity.

Our Perspective

We know from experience that getting beneath the surface with oncologists can be challenging. In other words, oncologists do not easily dive deep into their feelings. We leverage behavioral sciences and anthropology techniques (such as projective tasking and tension-mapping) to move beyond the rational and tap into emotional drivers.

We know physicians, like all people, have increasing demands on their cognitive resources, and so they rely on mental shortcuts/heuristics when making decisions. We uncover the biases and heuristics at play in the current state of oncologists’ behaviors, and identify principles to understand and, if necessary, overcome these barriers.

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Our Approach

In-depth Ethnographic Video Interviews with Chart Audits (market research)

Conducted with medical oncologists to explore the emotional drivers and barriers that shape their treatment practices. Chart audits brought to life how they make decisions in practice and the tensions between what they say and do.

Alignment Session and Honing Interviews

Co-creative session to align on key hypotheses and test these hypotheses in the second round of research.

Activation Session

Delivered key drivers of decision-making and analogous positioning platforms rooted in the most salient emotional drivers of treatment.

Our Impact

Based on this deep understanding of emotional and social mindsets, the client was able to develop strategies to inform and power their communication strategy and overarching marketing strategy across key EU markets.