I had written about one pharmaceutical marketing campaign taking disadvantage of goodwill of Harrison's Medicine textbook. Today they came up with another such campaign. Their representative showed me a visual about one of their products. There was a box shot of Martindale's pharmacopoeia, suggesting the entire book was devoted to this product of that company. This one was right next to the old one with Harrison's Medicine.
"You are still showing around box shots of famous books to promote your products?" I asked.
"Yes" she said in a low voice. Poor representative had to show what the bosses ordered.
"But Martindale would not help you" I said. "These young doctors sitting here in my outpatient clinic would not know what it was. If you put photos of Ranbeer and Deepika (two actors in Bollywood who are quite popular at present) and suggested they were using your medicine, you would have a great promotion of your products. Every youngster knows them."
She looked skeptical.
"I am willing to bet these young doctors won't know Martindale. If you will wait until I finish seeing these other medical sales representatives,we can ask the the doctors if they know Martindale."
She went away anyway and was nowhere to be seen soon after. I asked the doctors to write on a piece of paper who or what Martindale was. All House Officers, Registrars, one Assistant Professor (she gave a tentative correct answer after a while) and all but one Intern said they did not know who or what Martindale was. One intern wrote the name as Martin Dale. Another intern wrote it as Martin Dane and said he was a gynec researcher. I was aghast. The only Intern who answered it correctly looked quite bright.
"You are good" I told him. I don't remember seeing you during my lectures, but that does not matter."
"You would not have seen me" he said. "I am an extern."
""Ah!" I said. "Where are you from?"
"I am from B. J. Medical College, Pune."
"I have found guys from B.J. to be always good" I said. "Tell them I said so when you go back there. You will specialize in Internal Medicine, I suppose?"
He looked surprised for a moment and then said "I hope to."
I was not wrong about our crowd and I was not wrong about him either. Do I have a sixth sense or am I just experienced?"
"You are still showing around box shots of famous books to promote your products?" I asked.
"Yes" she said in a low voice. Poor representative had to show what the bosses ordered.
"But Martindale would not help you" I said. "These young doctors sitting here in my outpatient clinic would not know what it was. If you put photos of Ranbeer and Deepika (two actors in Bollywood who are quite popular at present) and suggested they were using your medicine, you would have a great promotion of your products. Every youngster knows them."
She looked skeptical.
"I am willing to bet these young doctors won't know Martindale. If you will wait until I finish seeing these other medical sales representatives,we can ask the the doctors if they know Martindale."
She went away anyway and was nowhere to be seen soon after. I asked the doctors to write on a piece of paper who or what Martindale was. All House Officers, Registrars, one Assistant Professor (she gave a tentative correct answer after a while) and all but one Intern said they did not know who or what Martindale was. One intern wrote the name as Martin Dale. Another intern wrote it as Martin Dane and said he was a gynec researcher. I was aghast. The only Intern who answered it correctly looked quite bright.
"You are good" I told him. I don't remember seeing you during my lectures, but that does not matter."
"You would not have seen me" he said. "I am an extern."
""Ah!" I said. "Where are you from?"
"I am from B. J. Medical College, Pune."
"I have found guys from B.J. to be always good" I said. "Tell them I said so when you go back there. You will specialize in Internal Medicine, I suppose?"
He looked surprised for a moment and then said "I hope to."
I was not wrong about our crowd and I was not wrong about him either. Do I have a sixth sense or am I just experienced?"
