Problem: Case Analysis: Pethritis
You have just been hired as the marketing director for Sting Communications Inc. (SC). It is a full-service agency that practices integrated marketing communications, with offices in London, Toronto in Calgary. SC provides communications council, strategic planning, advertising, promotion, and direct marketing to a diverse client base in the financial services, life science, agriculture, business to business, packaged goods, and retail sectors.
You have been approached by a key client, Pfizer animal health team. They are in the process of launching a new pharmaceutical product for the treatment of arthritis in cats and dogs. They're calling the product Pethritis. This is a specifically designed drug to help cats and dogs that are diagnosed with arthritis. Pethritis has been successfully launched in the US market in 2021 and now looking to have similar success in Canada.
The US campaign was a high budget, multilayered integrated communication plan. Media included television, magazines, direct mail, video production, in clinic trials, and veterinarian specific brochures. It is the job of Sting Communications to ensure similar success for Pfizer's first major launch of a pet product in Canada. Normally a campaign of this size would take six months to launch, but Pfizer has given a 90-day timeline to execute a strategy to communicate with its customers. The pressure is on!
You decided to ask two of your trusted employees for ideas. Scott, who is originally from the US, believes you should copy a similar strategy that was successful in the US. "We have access to all materials, the strategy, and the teams responsible for the US launch. There is no issue sourcing material. We can save a lot of time given the tight timelines in creating a communication strategy," exclaimed Scott. "We can even copy their 'pull' strategy whereby we communicate with the end customer through mostly advertising, sales promotions and direct marketing."
You turn to your other employee, Maria. "I agree with Scott that Canadians are very similar to Americans, but our recent study shows that Canadians value the opinion of their veterinarian and trade sources more when it comes to pet medicine." She replied. "I know we do not have a lot of time, but I believe we need to come up with a new strategy that is different from the US entirely."
You look at the research summary that was provided to you last week. A survey was completed on pet owners in Canada most willing to pay for additional medicine for their pets. You can see the results in table one below.
Table 1: Research Results for Survey to Pet Owners in Canada.
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Research on Pet Owners in Canada Most Willing to Pay for Additional Medicine for Pets.
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Demographic Variables
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18-24
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13%
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25-35
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39%
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36-49
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31%
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50+
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17%
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How do you commute to work?
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Car (As Driver)
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20%
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Car (As Passenger)
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18%
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Public Transit
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37%
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Walk
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6%
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Bicycle
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19%
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What is your favourite hobby?
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Eating Out
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32%
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Going to Movies
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9%
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Exercising
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15%
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Nature Walks
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20%
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Reading Magazines
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16%
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Visiting Museums
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8%
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What do you do the most when you are online?
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Social Media
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46%
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Read News Articles
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21%
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Read Pet Blogs
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20%
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Online Shopping
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13%
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What resources do you trust the most when it comes to health of your pet?
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My Veterinarian
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47%
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Animal Trade Magazines (Modern Dogs, Dogs Monthly, Catster)
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21%
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Brand Websites
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19%
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Pet Influencers
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13%
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A. Explain the importance of Personal Selling for a product like this arthritis pet medicine. Using specific examples and any data from the research, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this tactic for this Pethritis product.
B. What stage in the product life cycle would you categorize this product? Based on your answer discuss the objectives of the Integrated Marketing Communication Plan. What should be communicated to the customer? Be specific with examples in your answer.