When dealing with the pharmaceutical marketplace, why is keeping things simple so complex?

It began with a simple marketing idea. It was the perfect opportunity. The customer (the specialist physician) had an unmet need and the product (after years of development and testing) solved it. What could be simpler? This was going to be a terrific product to market. No competition on the horizon. The product would grow into a successful, market-leading, profitable brand. Nothing could go wrong.

Or so they thought.

Little did they know that the enemies of simple were lurking around every corner, ready and waiting to leap out and add a barrier here, a turn of phrase there, and an extra bit of explanation everywhere.

So a perfectly simple, easy-to-communicate idea, for a product that clearly granted an important unmet need, became buried under a clutter of complexity, from regulatory requirements, to corporate policies, to "helpful" additions from management—the residue of dozens of compromises.

The result? A so-so launch, a perplexed sales force ("There's got to be a benefit buried in here somewhere"), a confused prescriber, and a mediocre sales performance. What followed was predictable: Product messages were changed, the sales force retrained, the brand team switched, and finally the budget reduced and the brand marginalized.

How could this have happened to such a promising opportunity? To a clear winner? Unfortunately, it happens quite frequently. Keeping things simple can be a very complex business. Especially in the pharmaceutical marketplace.

Simple is an overperformer

Simplicity, in everything from marketing plans to creative campaigns, is always going to help you perform better than complexity. Here are some benefits of simple:

Simple delivers clarity. A product story needs to be explained quickly and easily because prescribers don't have the time to dig for data and decode the benefits. One staggeringly clear, instantly understandable claim always has the edge over 10 data points in terms of making it easy to see why your brand is better than the other guy's.

Simple is easier to sell. We all know that sales reps can find 40 seconds (if they are lucky) to talk with their physician customers. A clear message, a quick story, and the sales call is over. Clutter those precious moments with too much information and the opportunity is wasted.