(12) Let's try Insight Workshop

Insight based Brand Plan

1. Pts journey: Quantitative analysis
2. Pts journey Qualitative analysis
3. Pts journey : Qualitative research, dr interview
4. Pts journey: Qualitative research, patients
5. Pts journey : To-dos before quant research
6. Pts journey; Quant market research
7. Pts journey: Pts Quant Research
8. Quantify Pts Journey by Market Research Results
9. Pts Journey based Forecast Model
10. Insight for Pts Journey
11. Current/Desired Perception
12. Let's try Insight Workshop
13. Segmentation, Easy to Say, Difficult to Use
14. What is Brand Strategy? CSF?

 In the previous article, we considered the messages and actions to achieve the two high-priority moments of the pts journey: "current perception = true feelings of patients and doctors ≒ insight" and "desired perception = if customers think this way, they will take the desired action." This series of workshops, which involves all members of the brand team, helps brand team members to gain a deeper understanding of the market and customers, and is very effective in planning strategies and actions. We call this workshop the insight workshop.

A workshop cannot be held just by saying, "Let's have an insight workshop!" If a workshop is held without sufficient preparation, it can turn into a "brain storm" workshop, where ideas are just spam. That would be a waste of time, so it's important to prepare thoroughly, confirm the purpose of the workshop, and facilitate it.

Typical agenda, flow of insight workshop is as follows;

（1）Workshop objective

There will likely be some members of the brand team who are not familiar with Insight workshops, so be sure to clearly explain the purpose of the workshop. The explanation was something like, "You need to plan your strategies and actions after knowing your customers' true feelings at each moment, not just quantitatively but qualitatively, because..." However, I think it would be a good idea for participants to read my articles "Three Eras of Pharmaceutical Promotion and Marketing" and "The Limitations of SoV Supremacy" in advance. Running a workshop without a clear objective will result in failure. This explanation should best be given by the Brand team leader.

(2) Recap market understanding, pts journey

We will review the market in which Product X will enter (number of patients, number of doctors, medical specialties, competitive situation, etc.) and the pts journey. There are differences in knowledge of the market and Pharmaceutical X among the members of the Brand Team, so it is a good idea to review and confirm that knowledge. This is often done by a brand manager or market researcher.

The qualitative and quantitative research will likely be completed before the workshop, so the researchers should present the results to the participants. In a presentation, it is best to briefly summarize key information and the results of customer agreement on levels 1-7 for each moment. Rather than just quantitative information such as "how many patients there are," it is best to include many explanations of the levels of agreement on levels 1-7, such as "The level of agreement of doctors at this moment with this statement is..." This will make it easier to extract insights. The full market research results will be used as reference material in the next group work.

(3) insight of key moments（group work）

By reviewing the market and pts journey, the participants' understanding had improved considerably, and they were ready to visualize questions such as, "What are doctors' feelings and thoughts when it comes to brand choice?" This is where the real group work begins. It would be time-consuming to work through every moment and every key stakeholder in the Pts journey, so it is best to decide in advance "which customer at which moment will you provide insight for?" Participants' understanding will be deepened if you show them an idea of the output before starting the work. (This is a moment that is not covered in the workshop, but it is easier to understand if the customer makes it.)

Once the participants have an idea of the output, we ask them to share their honest thoughts and insights using post-it notes or other means. At this time, the results of the market research are printed out and left in each group as reference material so that they can refer to it, and the market researcher wanders around the venue to answer any questions from the participants at any time. Facilitators who are familiar with insight workshops will also go around to each group and help resolve any deviations or stalls in the discussion.

When there are many moments (treatment choice, brand choice, etc.) and many key stakeholders (doctors, patients, nurses, etc.), we often ask participants to think of insights for different key stakeholders for each group, such as group B for "brand choice, doctors" and group B for "seek treatment, patients."

We prepare a template like this in advance and have each group fill out their insights.

I'm sure you'll come up with a lot of different ideas, but it can be quite difficult to put them into words in a format that will fit into a speech bubble. Also, when putting it into writing, it can easily become stiff and important elements of insight such as the customer's feelings and true opinions can be lost, so it is recommended that you have them write it in "casual expressions" and "colloquial, spoken language". When I facilitate, I often give the advice, "Try starting with 'To be honest...'" Putting this into writing can be quite difficult, so the facilitator should provide appropriate advice. Once completed, present it to all participants.

(3) Desired perception （group work）

Once insight (current perception) is complete, the next step is desired perception. As I wrote in my previous article, when we think about desired perception, we tend to spread it around, but the facilitator or the leader of the brand team should always remind us to think about desired perception, which is the doctor's way of thinking and feelings, which is a necessary condition for a doctor to take action such as, for example, "How can I prescribe product X among antihistamines?"

(4) Action to fill the gap Current/Desired （group work）

Now that we have established current/desired perception, let's think as a group about actions, elements, and messages that can close the gap. At this point, I expect participants to come up with many ideas based on their understanding of the insight, but if you are not careful, the event may end up being just a list of means such as "lectures" or "information sessions." Of course, the "means to realize desired perception" are important, but what kind of message should be conveyed to the doctor using those means? This is a crucial point, so let's keep reminding ourselves as we proceed through the workshop.

Here, thinking about "what to communicate and how to change the doctor's perception" based on insight will change the brand team members' awareness of insight - the deep needs and way of thinking of customers. In particular, there are many people who are accustomed to the SoV supremacy of constantly being told to "make calls! give lectures!" and who have been imprinted with the idea that action means "visiting many events." This workshop is also effective in getting such people used to the way of thinking of the insight era.

I think that's pretty much the end of the day. The results of the workshop should be compiled in a concise format. The input from the brand team members obtained here will be very important information and will be extremely useful in formulating future brand and action plans.

We took our time to complete the pts journey, insight, and current/desired workshops. Although we said we were starting the process of creating a brand plan, it seems like the topic has become quite diffuse, so next time we will begin the process of turning the work we've done so far into a strategy, conducting market analysis, segmenting, targeting, and turning it into the brand plan that you envision, so stay tuned!