The industry continues to find its way in the mobile space, figuring out how to utilize and create relevant apps. Five key players offer their thoughts on the future

1. How much of the cost savings from sales force cuts will companies reinvest in digital media and where?

2. Will consumer adoption of smartphones catch up with HCP use this year, and how will that impact the media equation?

3. Will the proliferation of formats (iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry) hinder app development, or will it further drive the patient education movement?

Elizabeth Gray
SVP, media strategy, inVentiv Communications

Approximately $1 of every $4 will be “repurposed” to digital as pharmas look to drive business more efficiently. The most likely recipients of the redeployment will be activities that closely mirror the value of a personal sales call. Online interactions are the only connection points where we can map marketing activity in a measurable way. The challenge will lie in our ability to help clients deploy their intellectual property with appropriate timing, tonality and content to provide value to our customers.

The low cost of entry vs. home computers has allowed segments of the population previously under-wired to access data and information in a new and personal way. This will enable the growth of a mobile health universe poised to affect major changes to the current media landscape in the form of additional audience fragmentation as well as refined targeting. Doctors and patients will self-select desired environments thus making it easier to find them and easier to tailor messaging.

The mobile health ecosystem will be fueled by the increase of hardware and software on platforms to drive connectivity between audiences. We will see the integration of doctor and patient learning and communication.Physicians and patients will experience everything from administrative communications to non-traditional communications: remote monitoring of conditions, adherence, and integration of EMR/PHRs. Effective tools, no matter the platform, will stimulate the development of more effective tools.

Paul Ivans
President and founder, EVOLUTIONroad

Companies will invest slowly at first, and then ramp up quickly as two factors are addressed: (1) since digital marketing is relatively new for most marketers, they are uncertain how best to leverage this new discipline to drive impact, and (2) non-personal promotion programs have limited scale when it comes to engagement, so driving $100 million in topline sales via digital is extremely difficult, for now.

Perhaps by the end of this year, as new carriers offer the iPhone and as less expensive Android and iPhone options become available.One would expect the media equation to shift to mobile with the increasing consumer adoption, however regulatory concerns will continue to hamper pharma’s adoption of mobile advertising.

Over the long-term, the proliferation of formats will dramatically help pharma provide valuable education and support to patients.But over the short-term, regulatory complexities and difficulties in reaching scale will slow progress.

Rick Keefer
President and CEO, Publicis Touchpoint Solutions

Companies have been bringing their sales force numbers down from the “share of voice arms war” of several years ago. Much of those cost savings are going to the bottom line, but certainly a portion is being diverted to other channels. Within the sales arena, digital innovation is enabling some of these newer message delivery channels. We are also seeing significant interest in the use of iPads in the field that serve as a platform for sales force automation systems and signature capture for samples.

It’s really just a matter of time before consumer smartphone use becomes ubiquitous.Something as seemingly simple as the iPhone becoming available beyond just AT&T will have a huge impact on adoption rates. As smartphones become increasingly more prevalent, mobile communications will become an essential component of the marketing mix.

The variety of mobile formats is certainly a distraction as it takes greater resources to develop apps across each platform. That said, however, the explosion of the mobile market provides a very real opportunity for our industry to communicate with customers on a completely different level. The potential to provide mobile apps that give healthcare professionals what they want, how they want it and when they want it, is huge. The possibilities that mobile applications have to impact health outcomes in patients are very exciting.

Martin Laiks
EVP, managing director, dDFCB

There are three areas where we are seeing significant investment in digital media and marketing: mobile, physician relationship marketing and next-generation tablets (such as iPad and Xoom). Smart brands understand their consumers are now mobile, so they must be, too. The transformation of sales aids into truly interactive and engaging experiences that reinvent the ways brands tell their stories, while capturing behavioral data, is also keeping us incredibly busy.

The shift of media dollars into mobile will continue from print and other traditional media, although we are seeing more experimentation and testing than significant reallocations.Some of these mobile tactics are transitional as platforms, customer behaviors and preferences evolve, but there is also an explosion of real creativity and ingenuity in the space.Once results are measured, brands are sure to race in to engage customers and make their media dollars work harder than ever.

The land grab is on, and the competition among formats will lead to a proliferation of app development. It’s part of the natural cycle, which will benefit consumers and drive the success of the channel. Patients will have no shortage of valuable apps from innovative marketers to engage them around their health and help them make informed choices. There is little question that digital experiences from web to social to mobile to tablet and beyond will continue to drive patient empowerment and lead to better outcomes.

Alfred O’Neill
Group VP, Razorfish Health

Digital expenditures are increasing, as they have to in a period of massive transformation/ experimentation. So far, creating more digital tools has brought mixed success into the sales/influence process. Companies have rushed to create self-service portals, which were often scrapped as soon as all parties realized what a bad user experience it offered.As much as doctors like the self-service model digital provides, the human element cannot be abandoned.

The “adoption race” will continue for years to come as people test, use, embrace and abandon different digital tools and devices.Smartphones, because of screen size have limitations, thus each audience will adopt and tailor smartphones to best suit the immediate need. In the end, audiences may find unique needs through apps, but the best answer would be for biopharma to create to create a suite of mobile tools and service the patient and doctor through their customization.

The single reason for accelerated development of platforms is human nature: we don’t want fewer choices, we want more. So, yes, patient education will increase, but it will be self-education. We may use our iPhone to check out WebMD for side effects, but at night, surf brand sites on your iPad to doublecheck your doctors’ recommendation. Sad to say, the dearth of brand sites offering mobile services is a missed opportunity to stay relevant. We will soon see.