Assignment task:
How and why did Lipitor's offensive marketing strategy failed? Using the excerpt below
In 1997 Warner-Lambert launched a cholesterol-lowering statin drug, Lipitor. It was the fifth pharmaceutical brand to enter the crowded and fast-growing product offering. Three of the existing brands were blockbusters, scoring more than $1 billion per year in sales. Doctors-important gatekeepers in the decision-making process for prescription drugs-were satisfied with existing options and didn't see a need for another statin. But Warner-Lambert plunged ahead, confident that its product was superior. To take on its powerful competitors, it teamed up with Pfizer, a marketing and sales powerhouse known for its successful stewardship of Zoloft and Viagra. Seeing doctors as a significant barrier, the team mobilized direct-to-consumer advertising, spending millions to urge patients to check their cholesterol levels in a bid to drive demand for statin drugs and to encourage people to ask their doctors for Lipitor. Spending $1 billion on 400 clinical tests with 80,000 patients, the companies also set out to convince doctors that Lipitor was a better drug. They priced Lipitor 10% below the market leader, Zocor, and blanketed doctors' offices with free samples, reaching 90,000 physicians (60% of the key decision makers) before the product's launch.12 Within three years, Lipitor became the top-selling statin. In its first 15 years, the product achieved over $125 billion in sales, becoming the world's best-selling drug. Using a mix of offense and defense throughout Lipitor's product life cycle, managers maneuvered the drug's ascension from market challenger to market leader. But by 2012, Lipitor faced a new competitive threat. Lower-priced, generic versions of the drug were entering the market. Within weeks, Lipitor's sales dropped 50%. It was time for Warner-Lambert to reevaluate its competitive strategy