‘No Frills Drugs’ push Pharmaceutical companies to look for a cure

GSK, Bayer, AstraZeneca, Novartis and Mylan meet to discuss pharmaceutical futures.


The pharmaceutical industry is sharing the symptoms of the economic downturn. Counterfeit drug manufacturing and parallel trading is causing some serious side effects to the ailing industry and leaders from GSK, Bayer, AstraZeneca, Novartis and Pfizer met at this year’s illustrious NGP Summit to help come up with a cure.

The aims of the summit were to enable these business leaders to review their current manufacturing technologies and allow them to concentrate resources on their core competences - developing new drugs.

Visionaries such as Steve Dreamer, Head of global Pharmaceutical Engineering for Novartis, Rene Labatut, VP Global Manufacturing technology for Sanofi Pasteur and Gerald Orlik, VP EMEA / COO for Mylan met along with many others to discuss their plans to work with new technological advances to combat the problems faced and increase production while reducing waste. The Summit also heard from innovators such as Geodis Wilson, BP Labels & Payne Security, Nano Guardian and Hagen & Co who addressed the pharma elite on combating “impossible problems” by reducing costs at an entry level and minimizing waste, showing how Drug manufacturers could save millions.

“Anti Counterfeiting and brand protection is a massive concern. Companies are looking to introduce technologies to their products which are almost impossible to replicate. In order to do this they are focusing on the way in which they can package the product, while making sure it is distributed in a very secure way. Key technologies include nano protection, RFID and asset tracking.”
Benjamin Trevett - Executive Director, NG Pharmaceutical Group

With the pharmaceutical industry heading into the well documented “expiry cliff” competition is rife. Quicker more cost effective methods of manufacturing must be found for big pharma to remain competitive and a clearer means of communication such as that seen at the NG Pharma Summit is clearly vital.

Coca-Cola, Ogilvy, Unliver unveil their Online Strategy Secrets

Coca-Cola, Ogilvy, Unilever. Besides their massive success and brand name recognition in their respective industries, these three companies have something else in common. They are forward thinking, forward working, and have taken advantage of the digital revolution as well as anyone else, from Telco start-ups to large Financial Service organizations.
The lessons described, learned, and abided by, when it comes to these three companies, are not those of secrecy. Social media, viral marketing, email marketing, vodcasts – these are all terms and techniques that are being employed and used by the most successful companies right now. Monetizing and turning a profit off of an online presence is daunting and uncharted territory for many an organization. But at iStrategy 2009, the trained tactics of these behemoths are on display for those with a savvy mind, and the want and will to drive their businesses forward.
A two-day program featuring workshops and speeches from leaders of not only Coca-Cola, Ogilvy, and Unilever, but also Monster, Dell, and 02 (among others) is a treat and a special insiders’ gathering to teach the lessons learned and implemented by these media and brand giants. The goal of the program – to come away with an understanding of how any organization, with a solid understanding, tactile approach, and aggressive strategy can create massive revenue streams, brand awareness, and ultimately, a large profit from online and digital media and plans.
The €1750 conference will take place on October 27th – 29th at the InterContinental Berlin. Program speakers and workshops leaders include:
Rikke Wivel, VP Global Advertising and Media for Monster; Michael Donnelly, Group Director for The Coca-Cola Company; Michael Buck, Global Head SMB Online for Dell; Sarah Evans, Head of Mobile Advertising for O2; and Thomas Marzano, Creative Director for Phillips among many others.

http://www.istrategy2009.com/

Stop Recieving Cold Calls - Join a Call Centre’s LinkedIn group Instead

Recent studies have shown that the use of social networking sites are now being seen as an opportunity for business, online data can be shared with ease and contacts made. More than one in five users (21.7%) now use twitter for work purposes according to recent research carried out by the conference board and TNS. Parallel to this are figures which show that call centre’s and data sharers are using social networking to gather information. With many businesses now using networking sites to forge new business contacts, who is protecting our data?
We are now entering an era where we must opt out from call center bombardment, do we really want to be hit from the web too. With LinkedIn seeing massive growth over the last year and being celebrated for its B2C marketing capabilities it has not gone unnoticed that those companies seeing the biggest profitability from the new networking craze are data sharers and research bodies we can even “Join the UK Call Centre’s LinkedIn group. The Who's Who of UK call centre’s “!
While at work many executives spend their day fielding calls from sales representatives now only to be bombarded with email campaigns from companies who have gathered data from our social networking profiles. But still we cannot ignore the future of web based business and networking.

With the introduction of Web 2.0 it is impossible to disregard the endless opportunities it holds for business. It increases the speed and ease of connecting with employees, customers, and partners while potentially cutting costs. While platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook and twitter can be used to connect with business piers it does not, as it suggests, offer a viable platform for conducting ‘business networking’.

New and emerging business networking sites such as Ryze, Ecademy and MeettheBoss all offer a high quality visual experience while also providing security for its users. Having spoken to a senior executive member of www.MeettheBoss.com he explains;

“Each member is vetted and their company position checked before being allowed onto the website. This ensures that you have control of who receives your data. There is no need to opt out because you were never opted in! It allows you to contact business professionals from across leading industry sectors, organize meetings, and discuss industry news and events without being contacted by Joe blogs with the latest in recruitment solutions.”

Surely within an era where looking after our personal details is of utmost importance we should be aware of just who we added while accepting those ever so tempting contact requests!?

Retail Giants join forces to capitalize on the rise of E-Commerce

Unilever, Coca-Cola, Dell, 02 and Phillips share their thought leadership to the celebrated iStrategy program.

Online sales showed a significant increase this year capitalizing on the return of consumer confidence across Europe. European shoppers spent £11.2 billion online in July, 15.7% more than was spent in June and 16.8% more than July 2008. The driving force for the increase appeared to be the clothing, footwear and accessories sector, which showed growth of 18% month on month and 17% year on year, the latest IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index said. Retailers across Europe are predicted to sell $97 billion in goods and services online in 2010, up 37% from last year. Retail Giants will join forces at the iStrat program this October to capitalize on the growth of the Online Dollar.

Visionaries such as Babs Rangaiah, Global Director Communications Planning Unilever, Rikke Wivel, VP Global Advertising and Media Monster, Michael Donnelly, Group Director The Coca-Cola Company, Michael Buck, Global Head SMB Online Dell, Sarah Evans, Head of Mobile Advertising O2, Thomas Marzano, Creative Director Phillips will be sharing the innovative steps they have all taken to drive value through online investments.

This meeting further illustrates the migration to new media for retail giants. The growth of Web 2.0 has lead to far greater opportunities for such retail giants outside to the obvious sales growth. With more of us sharing personal information online through sites like Facebook, Linkedin, MeettheBoss and Xing, companies can monetize online investment through analyzing consumption patterns, behavioral targeting, cost effective online product testing and having direct contact with the consumer.

Online is still the key growth market and in the midst of a Global recession it seems to be the main focus for European retailers.