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The Internet is firmly and permanently entrenched in today’s mainstream culture, allowing consumers to be increasingly interactive. For example, "Google" is now a ve

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

rb as well as a search engine. Also, user-driven sites (such as MySpace and YouTube) regularly make headline news. Marketers must recognize that people are willing a

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

Examples of combination products may in

d technologically able to contribute to the creation and marketing of items they consume and include this phenomenon in the marketing plan.

As marketers and busines

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

managers, we should be thinking about how to get consumers involved with our products, services and ideas through the Internet. As you read the following ideas, thi

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

k about how you can incorporate the core idea of each into your own marketing plan.

Video-Based Contests

Several advertisers have recently held commercial c

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

Combination pro

ontests where contestants display their original commercials on one of the video sharing Websites. Online viewers then vote for their favorites.

Super Bowl XLI is a

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

example. Frito-Lay is inviting people to submit commercials for a chance to have their’s used in the Doritos 2007 Super Bowl ad. The entries are uploaded to Yahoo!

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

ideo, where visitors will chose the winner from five finalists. Other advertisers -- including the NFL itself and Chevrolet -- are holding commercial contests as wel

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

.

You don’t have to have a Super Bowl sized budget to hold a video-based contest and the entries do not have to be commercials. Coca-Cola and Mentos sponsored a con

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

test where entrants created a volcano using the companies’ products then submitted a clip of the result in action.

Customized Product Variations

At Dell you

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

can configure and order your own computer online. It is then assembled to order and shipped to your home. In the music industry, some bands give away freeware that a

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

Following aspects would a

low users to remix the band’s songs. In essence, each listener creates his/her unique version of the song. For your own products, think of ways the Internet can help

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

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

customers customize your products to make them uniquely their own.

Viral Videos

Viral online marketing and advertising -- the sharing of various entertainin

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

g or interesting content by consumers -- have been around since at least the mid-90’s. Video sharing increases a company’s potential to make an impact when product-r

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

lated videos go viral.

For example, Yahoo’s "Current Buzz" recently featured a series of consumer-created videos of Tickle Me Elmo Extreme laughing himself off the

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

helves. A YouTube.com search for "TMX Elmo" returned about 250 videos.

Elmo’s 250 doesn’t hold a candle to Mentos’ 9800+ videos. These are mostly result of the prev

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

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

ously mentioned Mentos/Coke geyser video contest in conjunction with YouTube. 150 entered, plus the contest set off a viral frenzy as countless people shared the vid

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

eos.

In addition to consumer attention, these videos are attracting media attention. Besides the previously mentioned Current Buzz spot, Mythbusters, Money/CNN and

.

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

avid Letterman have featured stories as a result of videos.

While most brands don’t have the pull of a Tickle Me Elmo or Coke to gain worldwide attention, all produ

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

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

ts have fans. No matter what your size (1) reaching your fans, (2) involving them with your product and (3) encouraging interaction can build profit and brand equity

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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