This question is often posed to participants in the training sessions organized by the Pharmaceutical Marketing Academy.
Contrary to what one might expect, the answer is not always a resounding “of course” or “how could it be otherwise?”. Numerous interactions with Brand Managers suggest to me that many feel their work does not meet their expectations or, more importantly, their ambitions.
Why is this the case? Is the job of a Brand Manager “pointless”? Or is the potential of Brand Managers not being utilized properly? Or perhaps Brand Managers are no longer needed in pharmaceutical companies today?
Is a Brand Manager’s Job “Pointless”?
David Graeber, in his book “Bullshit Jobs,” defines such work as employment whose sheer pointlessness, redundancy, or harm is so glaring that even the employee cannot justify its existence. The term “bullshit job” primarily applies to professions without which society could continue to function normally. According to Graeber, this includes many marketing roles in various industries, mainly because they lack any positive impact on the environment and are often seen as manipulative.
In my opinion, the work of pharmaceutical marketing is certainly not pointless. The pharmaceutical industry fundamentally provides society with solutions, knowledge, and information aimed at protecting health. This places it in the category of industries essential to society, provided it is done correctly and in accordance with not only pharmaceutical laws and regulatory requirements but also with ethics and broad respect for others.
Is the Potential of Brand Managers Being Utilized Properly?
So, is the daily work of a Brand Manager truly the work that should be done by someone in a managerial role? What do brand/product managers in pharmaceutical companies actually do? Unfortunately, from my experiences, observations, and most importantly, the information I receive from marketers, not much has changed over the past several years. The work of a Brand Manager has little to do with managerial tasks.
What does it involve then? Managers in pharmaceutical companies often perform tasks typical of project or even assistant roles. They handle the technical aspects of organizing scientific conferences and symposia, produce promotional materials and gadgets, prepare dozens of often insignificant presentations for their superiors, fill out hundreds of documents to satisfy corporate procedures, attend countless internal meetings, and deal with the technical aspects of organizing scientific symposia. They handle urgent internal tasks that are gladly delegated to them as the ones most knowledgeable about the ongoing business.
What do they do daily? They “put out fires” and try to “catch up with yesterday.” This does not mean that the mentioned tasks are unnecessary or unimportant. They are usually daily implementations, essential processes, the lifeblood circulating to and from the heart. But does the heart know how and where it should pump the blood? Does the Brand Manager spend enough time on tasks they should be responsible for? In my opinion, definitely not.
What Should the True Role of a Brand Manager Be?
Let’s look at the “job description” for a Brand Manager. I have had the opportunity to prepare many such descriptions in my career, so I will use one as an example.
A Brand Manager (Product Manager) prepares and ensures the implementation of the marketing plan for assigned products according to company goals within the approved budget, contributing to the maximization of their sales.
Key words: “Prepares” and “ensures implementation.” There is no mention here of the tasks listed in the earlier paragraph. So what should a Brand Manager be responsible for?
First…
A Brand Manager, often in collaboration with others in the organization, is responsible for PREPARING the marketing plan. The key element of the marketing plan is conducting analysis and formulating strategy.
The key element of the marketing plan is thus creating the appropriate strategy. This strategy is the key to successfully implementing the marketing plan and achieving the intended goals.
Referring to the definition formulated by Philip Kotler, strategy is the selection of goals and the types of policies or rules that will guide marketing actions over a given period. Detailed analysis of all market elements leads us to formulating the appropriate strategy. Consequently, this strategy results in an action plan and methods for its implementation and control. The Brand Manager’s role is to determine the best possible strategy based on often hard-won and analyzed data, hundreds, thousands of data points. The appropriate strategy is key to achieving the intended goals and the success of the work and effort of many people in the organization. It is the heart that knows where and at what frequency to pump the blood.
Second…
A Brand Manager ENSURES THE IMPLEMENTATION of the marketing plan, which means they are responsible for implementing and monitoring the execution of the marketing plan. Certainly, some tasks must be performed personally, but do they need to handle all the tasks they currently do? The process of analysis and strategy formulation, ensuring implementation, and monitoring the effectiveness of actions is work that requires a lot of time, commitment, and focus. It cannot be done in a rush, a few days before an upcoming presentation or the deadline for submitting plans for the next year. The work of a Brand Manager is therefore creative work; it is a process, hundreds of meetings with clients, research companies, field visits, and work with field representatives.
Do Brand Managers and their superiors distinguish between what is strategy and what is tactics, and what differentiates one from the other? We distinguish two types of marketing plans. The strategic marketing plan and the tactical (operational) marketing plan. The first is a plan that defines the strategy and actions for the next 3-5 years of a product’s life. The second is an action plan for the coming months, a year, detailing most activities that the organization will implement soon. It is usually tactical plans that superiors demand from their Brand Managers during the so-called marketing plan preparation and submission period. Such plans often have little analysis and, most importantly, do not allow for understanding WHY something is planned. They only answer the questions WHAT and HOW is planned (I recommend reading Simon Sinek’s book “Start with Why”).
In Summary…
A Brand Manager is the author of the strategy and the person responsible for its implementation. The Brand Manager is the person in the organization who knows everything about the product and all the activities currently underway. This person is accountable to other individuals in the organization related to the product, starting from representatives and ending with the general manager if their support is necessary.
If we treat the role of a Brand Manager in the organization in this way, it is a crucial role.
To be completely truthful, I admit that I do indeed meet many “true” Brand Managers. Unfortunately, too few compared to my expectations and the expectations I had when working within the pharmaceutical industry and now, collaborating with the marketing departments of many companies. However, I must optimistically admit that the vast majority of Brand Managers would like to become such managers.
That is why I enjoy training so much… because there is nothing more satisfying than seeing an engaged Brand Manager who understands how important and strategic their work is for the company and the society in which they live. This group will never describe their work as “pointless.”
In this article I refer to: