See a photo of Kristiaan, his bio, and Part 1 of this Q&A.

Q&A with Kristiaan Van Woensel, Question 2:

Q: You noted in an e-mail to me that your “biggest challenge is to persuade pharma brand managers to wrap up their scientific data in a context and emotions, rather than do data mining solely.” How do you address that challenge? How do you get buy-in for storytelling with your clients? Also, why did you choose to target the pharmaceutical industry?

A: A controversial phenomenon that I acknowledge in pharma business for several years now is that its marketing and brand managers tend to ignore the uniqueness of their business targets: physicians (the ones that prescribe the drugs for patients)! The profession of physician, being a general practitioner or a specialist, is quite complex since his/her daily life balances between science (data and ratio) and people (emotion) in every aspect of his/her acts. However, the majority of pharma marketeers emphasize mainly on one side of their brand communications: scientific data from clinical trials that support the excellence of the brands they work for. Odd but true … the human side of the doctor, his/her ability to listen to patient stories, short and long, his/her empathic ability to live together with patients emotions, being it happiness, sadness, defeat or loss, has been neglected by pharma industry. “Speak human” to “human” physicians, through “brand stories” is what we preach marketeers to do!

Scientific data give physicians the intellectual permission to prescribe drugs, but it is an emotional reason that make them actually do it.

So, I use three arguments to create the buy-in for “brand storytelling” in my discussions with pharma brand leaders.

People remember stories, not data: I illustrate the power of brand storytelling through examples from outside pharma industry. What’s important is that you need to focus on recent ‘best practices’ that can open managers’ eyes and change their paradigm. The rescue team in Chile, relying on Oakley eyewear to protect the miners’ eyes when they were brought back to the surface is a great and successful brand story to tell. The features of the Oakley Radar® sunglasses were inferior to the rescue itself. The world cared about the 33 Chilean miners when they left the belly of the earth after 69 days of captivity. We wanted to do everything to get these heroes back with their families, healthy and well. Protecting their eyes against UV light was on everyone’s mind. The world will never forget those images of the return of the miners with flashy eyewear … it is an unforgettable (brand) story. Alas, the story data will vanish with time: 33 Chilean miners; 630 meters depth; 69 days of captivity; number “33” is a magical number says Chile’s president! (rescue was on 13-10-10 → 13+10+10=33) along with the Radar® ‘s features. (see brand story case - ‘“How the Radar made the globe care”)

“Speak human” to physicians because they’re humans, too! The graphs we present in our corporate presentation focus on the physician’s balance between the scientific part of his/her job and the human aspect.

Showing the visuals helps us a to win the managers’ confidence to use a more balanced brand communication. We show them all different means that can support them when shaping a pharma brand message into a pharma brand story (see green table*).

Stories are made to share: Unlike scientific data, good stories are made to share from physician to patient, and from patient to patient. Scientific data do resonate for physicians, but they hardly do for patients. However, data that are wrapped up in a compelling context, could resonate with the patient’s worldview!

I’ve never targeted pharmaceutical industry consciously. How I ended up in pharma business is a story that stands on its own. Being a former physical education teacher, now almost 25 years ago(and at that time 20 kilos lighter), I was formed to become a coach of sportsmen or a physical education teacher, just like many of my family members before me. However, I was looking for a bigger challenge in my professional life, that would combine multiple skills and aspects from my educational background: medical science, social skills, management skills. My first assignment in a major pharmaceutical industry fulfilled my expectations completely : interaction with doctors, scientific talks, organizing meetings, etc. I loved my business environment right away and stayed! Over the last 20 years I have worked for 3 major pharma companies in different sales and marketing assignments until I started in 2009 with The Story House.

• Use story elements
• Use founder stories
• Use GM stories
• Use R&D stories
• Use marketing and sales stories
• Use literature stories
• Use HCP stories
• Use patient stories
• Use family/patient relative stories
• Use PAG stories
• Use visuals
• Use metaphors
• Use sequels