The Rutgers Professional Science Master’s program strives to provide our students with job-relevant instruction. Our curriculum is shaped by expert instructors, industry advisors, and insight into real-world workforce needs.
On Thursday, December 1st, Professor Mark Burgess hosted an esteemed guest speaker for his course Market Assessment and Analysis for Business and Science. This course is a core part of the Master of Business and Science (MBS) degree, in which students assess, analyze, and critique marketing strategies relevant to the IT/Digital and Life Science sectors.
Guest speaker Andrew Purcell specializes in marketing and sales, building successful business branding, and fostering powerful corporate social responsibility. He is a commercial operations leader with expertise overseeing marketing, sales, managed markets strategy, business development, communications, and public relations.
Purcell gave a lecture entitled “Leading for Launch Success.” Drawing from his own experience leading pharmaceutical product launches, Purcell outlined critical steps to ensure a successful launch.
Here are some of the key takeaways from his presentation:
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Communicate clearly
Clear communication is necessary for any product launch. Purcell recommended using recent market insights and research to define a measure of success. A clear definition of success will create--or manage--expectations for the launch.
It is also essential to align with key stakeholders and understand their knowledge and expectations. It’s more important to have a team following the same strategy, said Purcell, than to create a perfect strategy.
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Be perceptive
To successfully facilitate a product launch, a leader must be perceptive of a larger context. This can include investing in pre-launch tactics, said Purcell, to prepare the market for the product launch. During this stage, a product launch team must perceive any barriers and address them early on.
Additionally, it is essential to receive commercially relevant insights from the product development plan, said Purcell. Phases 2 and 3 of the drug development process should be designed to support the commercial strategy.
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Think of the patient
Teams must consider the patient, taking into consideration factors such as the out-of-pocket cost of a drug. It is important to pay early attention to drug access and affordability, said Purcell. Therefore, the financial aspects of the launch must address affordability.
Additionally, patient journey work is crucial to a successful launch, said Purcell. Teams must understand the consumer’s feelings, motivations, and interactions with the drug. This will allow any barriers to be addressed early on.
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Teamwork is key
Launches need to have the right team in place, said Purcell. A launch team is cross-functional and requires clear focus from all team members involved. It is important to build team morale and motivation.
Launch teams must also share efforts, focus, and energy. It is important to find opportunities to create emotional engagement in a company for a new product launch, helping employees find value in their work.
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Remain flexible
Along with anticipating problems, it is important to create backup plans and remain flexible. In a situation such as submitting material to the FDA, noted Purcell, consider tactics such as data depiction and word choice to ensure the best possible outcome for the product.
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Act after launch
To ensure success, assessment needs to continue after a product is launched, said Purcell. Companies may consider building new mechanisms to ensure quick feedback, allowing them to address any problems early on. Additionally, stay positive and celebrate success!
Ultimately, said Purcell, effective leaders must not only fulfill the necessary steps to complete a project, but they must also examine the larger context. Successful launches require cross-functional leadership, engagement, and strategy alignment.
If you would like to learn more about Professor Mark Burgess and his course Marketing Analytics and Assessment, check out our recent blog post about his class field trip to study experiential marketing at IKEA.
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