RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharmaceutical companies spend as much as 13% less on advertising in Europe, according to a new report from Cutting Edge Information.

The study found that brand teams spend, on average, 12.4% less to advertise blockbuster drugs -- those achieving more than one billion euro in global peak annual sales -- in Europe than they do on a global scale from pre-clinical development through the first 12 to 18 months on the market. Similarly, mid-level brands (with global peak sales between 500 million and one billion euro) receive European advertising budgets that are 13.2% smaller than the global average. The advertising spending gap is less pronounced for niche drugs (with global peak sales below 500 million euro), which received just 5.6% less than the global average for European marketing.

"One core marketing strategy that brand teams approach differently in Europe than in the US and other major global markets is advertising," says Jon Hess of Cutting Edge. "The absence of direct-to-consumer advertising in Europe is one of the main reasons drugs have smaller advertising budgets there. But, DTC isn't the only factor."

"Nevertheless," Hess says, "the absence of DTC means brand teams must shift their marketing strategies to compensate for the DTC void and be able to promote key product platforms effectively. In Europe, pharmaceutical marketers rely more on advertising, thought leader relationships, and other techniques to target influencer and prescriber networks."

Not only do European product launches require smaller advertising budgets. But, according to Hess, the report also finds that brand teams do not allocate advertising funding in Europe as early as they do on a global scale. For example, of the 16 main brands analyzed, only three had advertising budgets before Phase III. By contrast, half of 16 brands analyzed in a similar global study had dedicated advertising budgets by the end of Phase II.

For more the pharmacutical advertising market in general, see Med Ad News. See also Pricing & Reimbursement of Medicines in the United Kingdom.

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