How Conservative is Your Pharma Company?

I’ve worked with a lot of pharma companies over the years. Long before there was social media, there were discussions around how conservative or risk-averse each company viewed itself to be. I’ve heard clients joke that they must be the most conservative company that we’ve ever dealt with. In some cases, they’re right. Many, however, are far more forward thinking than they realize.

Others believe themselves to be enlightened and aggressive, but when it comes time to execute, the opposite may be the truth.

Working at a pharma marketing agency, it’s fun to have this unique viewpoint to be able to compare and contrast the comfort levels with seemingly “risky” behavior like revising product messaging, choosing provocative creative, allowing user-generated content, social media in general, or even – gasp – the open text box field !

In reality, it’s not fair to say a company is one thing or the other. Most often, it’s the individuals in control that drive the approach – not an official corporate mantra.

It matters, though, especially when it comes to looking at "new" media such as social and mobile. And it matters when a company labels itself as innovative. Innovative and conservative often can't go hand-in-hand. (More on that here).

What's your take? Are most pharma companies pretty self-aware of how conservative they are in comparison to others? Is this driven by corporate? By the C-suite? Or does each individuals' personal perspective and experiences drive the ultimate approach at the strategic and project level?