One of the issues facing pharmaceutical companies recently is the amount of rules and regulations that the FDA and industry regulatory committees have enacted. Giving aways pens and promotional gear depending on the circumstances can run afoul of these rules.

One of our favorite, strong response generators for our experiential marketing campaigns has been the use of simple combinations of data capture in return for the opportunity to win a prize. People are more than willing to share their email address and even answer a survey question in return for the opportunity to participate in a prize give away and/or contest. We’ve created more variations of these contests tying into brand messaging with super results.

So how do you generate similar result generating marketing activations for pharma companies when the rules have become so restrictive in this area?

This issue came up this week in a brainstorming session for an agency partner and here’s a few thoughts from our perspective on to create compelling experiential engagement strategies for pharmaceutical brands:

1. Brand Purpose -It’s always good to go back to the basics and define what is the purpose of the brand.

Marketers tend to focus on the pushing the brand as the most important thing to promote. However, it’s been shown time and time again that focusing on the purpose of the brand can be more important in generating an authentic connection with an audience. For example, a brand’s promise to help empower patients to face their disease and challenges, can help generate a conversation about what’s important and can help the patient. This is different than promoting the brand’s products.

2. Engaging Audiences -Starting conversations is an art. Just like striking up a conversation at a social gathering. It doesn’t have to be over the top, it can be a subtle, simple and fun. Our years of experience in digital interactive continues to come back to simple attractions as an ice-breaker to a conversation. Simple branded games, photo activations or interactive motion and touch experiences catches audience’s attentions and gets people involved. Customizing an experience to blend brand experience with brand promise will also help reinforce brand positioning in the minds of the participants. Subtle, authentic and relevant.

3. Emerging Technology -With the ability to blend new technology with brand messaging, marketer’s have many more tools available to them, than in the past. These tools continue to show great promise for experiential marketing. New technology continues to provide cool ways to deliver complicated messaging, and information to targeted audiences. For conferences and tradeshows, content can be tailored to be as deep as the participant wants and the information can be packaged in the ways that best tell the story of the product or brand. Blending video, pictures, 3D animations and augmented reality are all now possible using touch screens and mobile apps. Audiences want information that’s relevant, accessible and interesting.