When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Humalog for prescription sale in July 1996 - after four years of clinical trials - pharmaceutical Eli Lilly had only four weeks to promote the new insulin drug before it became available.
Yet once its marketing efforts were put in motion, Indianapolis-based Lilly and its Louisville, Ky., marketing agency, DeLor Group Inc., realized dividends on its $2 million campaign almost immediately.
Within one month of the August 1996 introduction of Humalog, sales exceeded Lilly's projections for the first five months. The company said it would not divulge Humolog's sales figures until the year end.
"We didn't leave a stone unturned," said Martha Bowman, DeLor's executive vice president. "We looked at every audience that could have an influence on the sale. It was like launching a new company. This project focused on one drug and the benefits of bringing it to market."
One of the goals in coming up with a total promotional package was to include messages that would help patients understand the disease and how Humalog could improve lifestyles, she said. "It was more of the big picture."
Humalog, the first human insulin product to be introduced in the United States in 14 years. The drug reduces the time by more than 75 percent, that diabetic patients must wait between receiving insulin injections and eating.
Laura Stallman, a marketing communications associate at Lilly would not discuss related projects carried out by the DeLor staff or the total amount Lilly spent to develop and introduce the new medicine.
Stallman said changes in staffing boosted marketing efforts. For example, in the past, Lilly's scientific, marketing, and manufacturing employees had split their time among different drugs. Recently however, it has created cross-disciplinary "heavyweight teams" of about 150 people dedicated solely to one drug. The new system helped shorten Humalog's development and marketing time by 18 months. Moreover, when the FDA asked for more data on the drug, the team gathered it in one week rather than Lilly's usual three months.
The Lilly Humalog team worked along with about a half dozen DeLor personnel. They spent more than a year developing a marketing campaign aimed at physicians, drugstore chains, HMOs, pharmaceutical distributors and diabetics.
"People with diabetes live with major inconveniences - they monitor blood glucose levels daily, take medications or sometimes inject insulin several times a day to help their bodies process food," said Bowman. "Our campaign showed them that Humalog is the first medication to closely parallel the way the body's natural insulin works."
Market Research Yields Results
Market studies done by DeLor as part of the process included focus groups involving adults and children with diabetes and their families.
Its 1995 survey of 453 U.S. insulin-using patients with Type I and Type II diabetes showed that 43 percent injected insulin right before a meal rather than waiting the recommended 30 to 60 minutes before eating.
This behavior was dangerous to patients because it can increase a patient's risk for hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) or hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Marketers found that Humalog would offer people more flexibility. People with diabetes who participated in the clinical trials only injected Humalog up to 15 minutes before a meal instead of injecting regular human insulin between 30 and 60 minutes before.
But because diabetes is a complex disease, the challenge was to create a message that was simple to understand.
Materials designed and produced by DeLor were used in patient starter kits, direct mail pieces, consumer advertising in publications with audiences primarily of diabetics and their families, brochures, point-of-purchase displays, videos, package inserts, sales kits and multimedia presentations.
Eli Lilly even launched a Web site (http://www.eli_lilly.com) dedicated to extensive information about diabetes and its new drug.
A Natural Ad Campaign
Green leaves were used as a repeated graphic element to reinforce a natural image. A tagline pointing out the drug's compatibility with the body's normal production of insulin appears throughout the materials. (See HPRMN's Advertising Abstract 12/12/96)
The ads and corresponding direct mail packages, education guides, brochures and videos all use a natural, artistic imagery of softly drawn green leaves with the slogan "the first insulin analog to more closely parallel the way the body's natural insulin works."
The ads are very different from other pharmaceutical ads that usually have a "technological" feel to them.
"We had to create a message that was as simple as possible for all audiences to understand," said Bowman. "We found the ads give a naturalitic feel instead of the usual clinical feel. We wanted to present the message in a conceptual but consumer-friendly mannner." Delor has been instrumental in the marketing efforts for Lilly's flagship drug, Prozac.
(The DeLor Group, 502/584-5500, Eli Lilly, 317/276-2000)
Promotional Checklist
DeLore's information campaign appeared in Eli Lilly's:
- Patient starter kits
- Direct mail pieces
- Donsumer advertiing
- Brochures
- Point-of-purchase displays
- Videos
- Package inserts
- Sales kits
- Multimedia presentations
- Web site