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Understand Hierarchy

Before beginning the designing process, it’s a good idea to outline your key message points. Understanding what you want your audience to hear or see first will guide content placement, size, color, etc.

Reflect your Prospects’ and Company’s Personal

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

ity

It’s important to know your target market in the minutest detail… their wants, problems, needs, and interests. Your communication pieces, therefore, should reflect your understanding of your prospects’ personalities.

This can be accomplished in many ways such as choos

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

ing the right paper (size, weight, color), fonts (for example formal fonts for wedding invitations; ‘childlike’ fonts for a day care center sign), size, and language (apt buzzwords). Traditionally, more upscale offers have uncluttered designs with plenty of white space whi

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

le discount offers are just the opposite… you can fill them up with graphics and words.

Color

While excellent marketers understand that effective use of color is elusive, they follow a few fundamental rules.

As you probably expect, there is plenty of scientific research

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

on all aspects of color… that is which ones are considered most attractive or eye-catching; what feelings certain colors inspire; or which colors are easiest to see. After sifting through the mounds of information the following tips were echoed repeatedly:

These four colo

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

rs were symbols for the following:

• Red: action, emphasis, recall, excitement
• Yellow: happiness, sunshine, attention-getting
• Green: reassurance, security, stability
• Blue: order, tranquility, coolness, relaxation

Use these findings to guide your cho

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

ices… for instance, dentists should consider painting their walls a lovely shade of blue! Also, test your own color instincts, and those of friends and family, to find out what works best for you

A “quick printer” conducted a recent study in Cleveland, Ohio. He tested di

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

fferent color reply cards (identical wording and offers) for his in-house mailers. Surprisingly, the pink postcards resulted in the highest response rates!

Artwork and Graphics

Visual images are simple, yet widely effective ways to communicate a lot. Trite phrases such as

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

“a picture is worth a thousand words” are certainly overused because they continue to “ring true”.

Your artwork will help you:

• Tell a compelling and appealing story
• Symbolize your company’s values and culture
• Evoke important feelings
• Explain your p

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

roduct/service
• Itemize key points

Thus, visually pleasing communication is important and can increase your chances of capturing your prospects’ attention. Here are some tips for ensuring that it does:

1.Take your time while creating or choosing your artwork. If i

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

’s rushed… it shows. Great photography and graphics are affordable and easy to find on the internet. Check out these three: www.indextock.com; www.corbis.com, and www.fotosearch.com.

2.Make sure your artwork is compatible with your company’s and target market’s personalit

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

y

3.Do not create an ad where your artwork overpowers your content, headline, product, etc. Yes, it should be noticeable and “tell your story”… not be “the story”

4.Your artwork should increase the odds that your message will be notices, even to casual readers or viewers.

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

5.Don’t waste money investing in unnecessary, and often distracting, “pizzazz” – you know, graphics that flash, move around, dance, etc. They increase costs substantially and result in negligible or negative reactions.

6.Find ways to reuse photos, illustrations, testimo

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

nials, and blowups again. This will save you money and if they continue to work, why change?

Fonts and Typefaces

What exactly is a “font”? Simply put it is the specific traits (size, intensity, and typeface) for letters, numbers and symbols (that is, characters). “Typef

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

ace” is a subset of font and refers only to a character’s design (e.g. Times New Roman, Helvetica, Verdana). The right font will make your copy easier to read, create harmony with your artwork and graphics, and be reflect your company’s and target market’s personalities.

C

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

hoosing the right font can be daunting… particularly given the sheer number of choices. However, let the following general tips guide you:

1.“Sans Serif” fonts are easier to read because they leave more “white space”.

Tip:

Serif: little decorative “doolollies” (adornme

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

nts, flourishes) on the ends of the characters

Sans: Means “without”

Some popular “sans serif” typefaces are: Gautami, Microsoft Sans Serif, and Arial. I also like Verdana.

2.For a more traditional look you’ll want to consider using “serif” typefaces such as Times New R

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

oman, Century Schoolbook, and Garamond.

3.While it’s okay to vary font styles within a piece, try not to use more than two. Also, if you decide to try different fonts mix choose one of each – sans serif and serif. The contrast will result in an “eye pop”.

4.When choosing

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

size, italics, and bolds keep readability in mind. This doesn’t have to be a major pain in the neck! Look in your own magazines, newspapers, and direct mail… copy styles that you find appealing, easy-to-read and in keeping with your company’s tone and feel.

AVOID:

- Reve

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

rse Type… while it works well for eye-catching headlines, it’s harder to read and tough on the eyes. Use sparingly…

- Overdoing italics, underlining and capitalization… it looks unprofessional.

- Fonts that look typeset (making them fuzzy). They should be clean and crisp

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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