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Case Studies - Competitive TV Conquesting: Pharmaceutical Industry
Pharmaceutical companies target doctors, low CPA, patients during their treatment cycles, and engage in competitive conquesting (through search-based targeting); a local pharmacy was able to increase foot traffic through a combination of geofencing and conquest advertising. These are just some applications of competitive television conquesting as an advertising tactic.
CASE STUDIES — COMPETITIVE TV CONQUESTING: PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
CASE STUDY #1: PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES TARGET DOCTORS AND LOW CPA
- Geofencing, as a competitive conquest strategy, allows users to target their competitors based on under-performing rates or practices. Geofencing systems serve ads to individuals that walk within the geofence's perimeter; the geofence system uses these ads to track and measure foot traffic. Propellant Media, an online advertising agency, is one of the companies that tracks and measures geofencing data related to healthcare and pharmaceutical companies (among the other sectors it serves).
- Halfway through a four-month campaign, Propellant Media reported delivering a cost-per-action (CPA) of $12.68, significantly exceeding their original goal of $100. Additionally, Propellant reported a click-through-rate (CTR) of 0.18%, double the industry average of 0.08%-0.1%, for the cross-device matched geofencing desktop ads.
- A successful example of the technique is that of a pharmaceutical company promoting a treatment for a common eye condition. The company targeted optometrists and ophthalmologists and achieved a CPA of $100 using Propellant Media’s geofencing. In this case, Propellant Media designated the geofences around doctors’ offices; the company was able to use its multivariate algorithms to perform mid-flight optimizations (e.g., fine-tuning keywords and shifting budgets to higher performing keywords and tactics) during the product's launch.
CASE STUDY #2: Targeting PATIENTS DURING THEIR TREATMENT CYCLES
- Silverlight Digital leverages the appropriate targeting methods combined with competitive conquesting to reach advertising targets in critical micro-economies.
- Silverlight reports that competitor brand-name searches accounted for ~12% of all search impressions; most searches occurred on desktop devices instead of mobile devices. Though mobile devices accounted for 29% of searches, double CTR meant mobile devices created search volumes similar to desktops.
- Silverlight’s work in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry accounts for 70% of its total business. A successful example of their technique is that of Dymista, which was able to reach Flonase patients with an offer to try Dymista at the height of allergy season.
CASE STUDY #3: COMPETITIVE CONQUESTING using SEARCH-BASED TARGETING
- Conquest advertising (or conquesting) is the practice of targeting competitors with your advertisements. Paid Search Ads in Apple’s App Store allow marketers to promote their apps at the top of the App Store’s search results. These have proven successful for major companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Yahoo; Apple’s search-based targeting is a perfect fit for conquesting.
- Apple also uses a bidding model and a system where it calculates the advertising’s relevance to provide better results.
- Amazon is currently competing with CVS’s pharmacy refill app and Sam’s Club’s Boxed app. Singular reports that the cost-per-install (CPI) of Apple Search Ads averages $1.31 compared to $8.63 for Google and Bing. Additionally, the CPI for social platforms averages $5.84 for app-install ads and $2.99 for display ads.
- A successful example of the technique is Apple’s hands-on approach to conquesting, which determines the factors (e.g., descriptors or categories) that will give marketers the biggest boost.
CASE STUDY #4: LOCAL PHARMACY INCREASES FOOT TRAFFIC WITH GEOFENCING Combined with CONQUESTING
- Geofencing combined with conquesting would allow a pharmacy to track foot traffic and target those customers that were unable to find a vendor. The pharmacy could then use conquesting to reach that audience and measure the number of conversions.
- According to Propellant, geofencing combined with conquesting reached an average CTR of 0.18%, a significant improvement over the industry average of 0.1%. In real terms, Propellant managed to drive over 10 visitors to their client with this technique.
- A successful example of the technique involved the client’s selection of geofences that included competitor pharmacies and grocery stores. These were used to measure the number of conversions achieved through the campaign; the geofences were also used to determine which locations delivered the best engagement and visibility.
Research Strategy:
We began our investigation with industry reports, blogs, and agency sites like Adweek, eMarketer, Adage, Silverlight Digital, Propellant Media, Leo Burnett, 72andSunny, and others. We then collected the details on pharmaceutical companies and details on why these companies use competitive television conquesting from these sources. Using this data, we were able to assemble information concerning metrics of efficacy (including cost-per-action, cost-per-view, click-through-rate, and cost-per-install) and the results of advertising campaigns. However, one of the references we include is outside our time frame for timely sources. We include this reference because we were unable to find more recent alternatives after a thorough search.