Analyze: Uncover hidden opportunities through multifaceted assessment
This initial step involves a holistic audit of your portfolio, markets and operational realities. The goal is to surface untapped value by evaluating brands through multiple critical lenses:
- Brand performance. Understand the sales trajectory, profitability, brand equity, and promotional sensitivity of each established product.
- Market dynamics. Examine market-specific drivers such as regulatory pressures, competitive intensity and healthcare provider (HCP) influence.
- Channel and access analysis. Assess how each brand reaches the patient or consumer—via retail, tender, institutional, or hospital—and what gaps exist.
- Portfolio synergies and complexity. Identify redundancies, underperforming stock keeping units (SKUs) , or brands that add disproportionate operational burden.
Strategize: Align goals with realistic, prioritized actions
This includes segmentation of brands by lifecycle stage, growth potential and operational complexity to define tailored interventions. Strategizing should focus on:
- Selecting value levers. Choose from enhancing sales, simplifying complexity, improving gross to net (GTN) and optimizing promotional spend—based on feasibility and expected return.
- Defining operating models. Options include in-house management, outsourced promotion, co-promotion, or digital-only hubs. The right model will depend on regional constraints, brand maturity and internal resource availability.
- Establishing governance. Implement key performance indicators (KPIs), reporting protocols and clear ownership to ensure accountability and adaptability.
Execute: Operationalize strategy with precision and agility
Value is realized in the execution phase, which involves translating strategic priorities into targeted and measurable actions, while adjusting for evolving dynamics across processes and platforms. Execution activities typically include:
- Capability planning. Determine the optimal mix of sales, marketing, digital engagement and access roles based on chosen operating models.
- Initiative deployment. Launch brand enhancements, new access models, digital campaigns, or third-party commercial partnerships as appropriate.
- Performance monitoring and optimization. Track KPIs in real-time—such as HCP coverage, promotional return on investment and margin impact—to recalibrate the approach dynamically.
Execution should be both centralized and localized, leveraging global efficiencies while respecting regional regulations and HCP engagement norms.
IQVIA’s Established Brand Optimization enhances established brand portfolio value through a structured, actionable strategy. Its end-to-end full commercial outsourcing solution offers a modular suite of services, that can be tailored to geographic and operational needs.
