SERMO Collaborates With Wharton, Google And McKinsey and Company To Release Pharma 3D

Launch of eBook about the Future of Digital Marketing for Pharma

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SERMO, the leading global social media network exclusively for doctors and largest health care provider polling and survey company, announced today its contribution to Pharma 3D: Rewriting the Script for Marketing in the Digital Age, an eBook released on April 27 by the Wharton School, Google, and McKinsey & Company.

“Doctors have unique needs when it comes to engaging with pharma, patients and peers. I’m so pleased SERMO was able to voice physician preferences among such prestigious colleagues, and provide insights into how doctors are using technology and social networks.”

“We’re honored to contribute to Pharma 3D, collaborating with such prestigious companies,” said SERMO CEO Peter Kirk. “Today’s marketplace is digital, and the health care industry must stay in step with this transformation. Now more than ever, health care professionals are turning to new places like social networks for their information, as well as relying on a host of new tools like mobile applications and wearables. At SERMO, we understand that these channels provide valuable opportunities to garner insight and tailor marketing strategies accordingly. Pharma 3D provides pharma with unique insights into the future of digital marketing.”

Pharma 3D draws on conclusions from across industries to help pharmaceutical companies build a pragmatic, actionable strategy for engaging with the new digital reality. To support the best practices outlined in the text, SERMO—a featured partner in the book—contributed data and case studies on the online and social media behavior of doctors. A few SERMO findings highlighted in the book include:

• One in four US physicians use social media daily to seek out medical information; one in seven actually contribute to a social network;
• Close to two-thirds of doctors believe medical crowdsourcing on social platforms will become an important clinical decision support tool;
• More than half of doctors stick to physician-only networks to discuss the business and practice of medicine; and
• Close to 60 percent say social media improves the quality of care delivered to patients.

In celebration of the book’s launch, Osnat Benshoshan, Chief Marketing Officer at SERMO, joined representatives from Bayer, Google, Twitter and Patients Like Me on a panel to discuss how technology is changing the doctor-patient relationship, and how pharma can connect with these audiences to support better care and outcomes. Benshoshan remarked, “Doctors have unique needs when it comes to engaging with pharma, patients and peers. I’m so pleased SERMO was able to voice physician preferences among such prestigious colleagues, and provide insights into how doctors are using technology and social networks.”

In 2015, 56 percent of pharmaceutical companies saw declines in net revenues, and the industry as a whole grew just one percent. According to the book, to fuel growth, the pharmaceutical industry should “think in 3D”: innovate how they “Discover” the behaviors and decision-making influences of patients and health care professionals; “Design” experiences that engage patients and health care professionals in ways that truly add value; and “Deliver” experiences that fit with people’s lives and improve over time, based on feedback.

Pharma 3D is available for download here. For more information, follow #Pharma3D on social media. For additional information about how SERMO connects forward-thinking marketers to health care professionals, please write to intelligence@sermo.com or engagement@sermo.com.

About SERMO
SERMO is the leading social network for physicians – the world’s largest virtual doctors’ lounge where doctors talk real world medicine. SERMO’s mission is to revolutionize real world medicine by providing physicians a safe, private and trusted platform for free and open dialogue on an unprecedented global scale. SERMO has more than 550,000 fully verified and licensed members and is now available for doctors in 24 countries: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Guatemala, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the UK, the US and Venezuela. SERMO is also the world’s largest health care professional polling company with 1.8 million HCPs in both the social network and a digital research network, spanning 80 countries. SERMO conducts 700,000 surveys a year.

Learn more at www.SERMO.com.