Earlier this month, Hoechst Marion Rousell, the Kansas City, Mo.-based manufacturer of the antihistamine Seldane faced the threat of the Food & Drug Administration pulling its drug and instead came way as a winner by using the crisis to tout its new drug Allegra.
It was a crisis communications plan that allowed Hoechst to turn the proverbial tables - what experts and analysts agree is pivotal to effective crisis management.
"We wanted to get our message into the marketplace and this gave us an opportunity to talk about Allegra (the replacement drug) and to deal with the FDA's concerns (Seldane can be fatal when combined with the antibiotic Erythromycin or the antifungal drug Ketoconazole)," said Hoechst Marion Rousell's Director of Communications Charles Rouse III.
Part of Hoechst's crisis communications strategy included releasing, the same day the FDA released its plan to push for the removal of Seldane, a press release to trade journalists and PR Newswire revealing its "aggressive new promotional campaign to switch patients from Seldane to Allegra."
It was a tactic designed to show that the company wasn't trying to smokescreen health concerns over Seldane. And it was also created to give Hoechst control over what information was going out to journalists worldwide, so that it had a part in how the story would be played out in the press.
Rouse said the company had been working for weeks on how it would respond to press, medical and consumer questions after being tipped off that the FDA was considering such a move.
"We wanted to have a strategic plan that would be a simultaneous or counter approach," added Rouse. "But we didn't want to be reactive."
Although Hoechst has received criticism for not pulling Seldane off the market, its crisis plan probably won't net the same kind of scathing reviews.
Hoechst's plan centered around the company knowing what its key message would be and who would relay it, and Rouse said every one of the approximate 100 press calls the company received was returned promptly. During the crisis, Rouse was the primary spokesperson, but about 16 other communications staffers fielded calls and faxed requested press releases; monitored in-house televisions ith bulletin-board postings; and disseminated information via the company's intranet.
"Our crisis plan, which we began preparing several weeks ago, was to avert a crisis," said Rouse. "We decided to promote Allegra as an alternative drug product. That was our news peg -- making sure that our position, not just the FDA's, was reported by the media."
Rouse said the company began working weeks ago on how it would respond if the FDA decided to promote pulling the drug from the market with a crisis plan that didn't only acknowledge concerns about Seldane but offered a solution. Other portions of the crisis plan included:
The Marketing Of Allegra
Because of the negative publicity concerning Seldane and the growth of competitor drugs such as Claritin and Zyrtec, PR specialists created a new campaign for Allegra before the crisis hit.
Richard Norman, creative director at Medicus, the New York ad agency in charge of Allegra, put it this way: "We needed a change of venue for Allegra. Not only so we wouldn't be seen solely as `Son of Seldane' but also to do the product justice," he said. "It is a new product and it has a lot going for it. Getting the audience's attention and involvement is crucial."
The marketing team looked at recent advertising for antihistamines to physicians and saw an opportunity.
"It's mostly conventional allergy icons - smiling patients, pills, flowers, fields, allergens, clear skies for clear breathing, sunrises for day-long effects," says Norman. "We decided we could work against this background to create a strong Allegra brand identity. Allegra is a brand with a mind of its own."
Interestingly, Allegra (fexofenadine HCI) is the principal active metabolite of Seldane (terfenadine). Accordingly, Allegra goes into the bloodstream already pharmacologically active and does not depend on the liver to break it down into a therapeutic agent.
Such scientific information could well have become the basis for Allegra's launch, explaining its safety relevant to Seldane, but the Allegra marketing team felt this approach would emphasize past problems to Allegra's detriment.
What was needed was a new look and, together with the product's advertising agency, Medicus Communications, that new look became central in developing the introductory campaign professional and consumer.
And what is that brand identity -the product's personality? Lorraine Pastore, executive vice president, management director, said a collage layout using allergy symbolism (flowers and pollen) with 19th Century engravings of medical anatomy and Victorian figures scored best in M.D. focus groups.
The consumer advertising for Allegra, which began in print in August, takes an entirely different creative direction from the professional promotion. The unifying element, Pastore explained, is the brand's "spirit of freedom" personality. While the M.D. is presented with "prescribing freedom," the consuer is offered stimulating personal experience unimpaired by allergy, thanks to Allegra.
The print ad shows a young woman speeding over a broad field of wheat on a wind surfer as if the field were the surface of a lake.
Working with Porter Novelli
To develop its Seldane crisis plan, Hoechst turned to Porter Novelli, New York, which it has been working with since 1989, to seek guidance on how to deal with the FDA/Seldane controversy.
"The company got wind that the FDA was getting ready to do something and turned to us to help it decide how it would respond in the immediate future," said Suzanne Gabriel, Porter Novelli senior vice president.
"We provided them with counsel on various scenarios which could evolve and went over possible standby statements. We were involved not as spokespeople - because that is handled in-house - but to brainstorm possible outcomes, provide them (Hoehcststaffers) with suggestions on how they could respond and to give them input on contingency plans."
Porter Novelli's crisis planning with Hoechst included faxing the company press accounts concerning the Seldane health dilemma; providing guidance through in-depth telephone conferences; poring over question-and-answer documents covering possible responses; and analyzing tactics the company was considering as well as materials that might be released.
But Porter Novelli also provided guidance during the crisis. Assistance included a team of about eight people following media accounts the weekend before the FDA announcement and looking for what key messages were driving the coverage.
It also involved media tracking on the day that the FDA announcement hit, as well as during the several days that followed, with Porter Novelli preparing an in-depth, daily analysis of the press accounts.
By mid-week, Rouse said Hoechst's plan had worked: Most of the stories being done by broadcasters, radio reporters and newspaper journalists included mention of Allegra as well as Hoechst's recognition of the problems surrounding Seldane.
But Rouse pointed to one "missing link - a vulnerability" in its crisis communications plan. The company, which doesn't have a Web site, wasn't able to set up an online information resource for its key audiences: consumers, physicians, pharmacists and reporters. It's a crisis component the company is working on in the future, he added.
(Hoechst Marion Roussel, 816/966-5000; The Lukaszewski Group, James Lukaszewski, 914/681-0000; Porter Novelli, Suzanne Gabriel, 212/872-8000, Medicus, 202/234-6500)