The pharmaceutical industry is actively engaging in various brand marketing efforts to enhance corporate value despite the stringent marketing regulations. Pharmaceuticals can only be sold inside pharmacies, and advertisements for prescription drugs are strictly regulated, with general media advertising prohibited except in professional medical journals. Promotional activities such as offering gifts or additional giveaways upon purchase are also restricted, making marketing activities considerably limited compared to general consumer goods companies.
To overcome these regulatory challenges, pharmaceutical companies are expanding consumer touchpoints in diverse ways. Recently, Dong-A Pharmaceutical opened a flagship store for the imported premium vitamin brand 'Osmol' at the Lotte Department Store’s Sogong-dong main branch and continues to operate a pop-up store for its flagship product, Bacchus. Johnson & Johnson Korea also joined this trend by opening a Tylenol pop-up store in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, last October.
In particular, Daewoong Pharmaceutical has attracted attention with unique marketing leveraging the meaning of its company name, "big bear," and the characteristics of its liver medicine "Urusa." They collaborated with a fashion company to produce oversized clothing featuring the Urusa logo, adopting a strategy that transfers sales revenue to the collaborating fashion company and focuses solely on enhancing brand image through complete sell-out.
Pharmaceutical companies are also actively conducting brand marketing in digital environments. Yuhan Corporation expanded its decades-old company magazine "Health’s Friend" into digital channels, securing 450,000 Facebook subscribers and 230,000 YouTube subscribers, creating a successful case of new media marketing.
Hanmi Pharmaceutical strengthened communication with the MZ generation by collaborating with employment information YouTuber "Catch TV" to produce a vlog depicting a day in the life of a female sales representative. This content garnered hundreds of thousands of views and became essential viewing among new sales representative applicants. This is regarded as a representative case where corporate brand marketing leads to a virtuous cycle of attracting excellent talent.
Traditional media-based brand marketing remains active as well. Companies such as Guju Pharmaceutical, Yuyu Pharmaceutical, Johwa Pharmaceutical, Hwanin Pharmaceutical, and Geonil Pharmaceutical consistently raise corporate brand awareness through radio advertisements. A particularly notable case is Myungin Pharmaceutical, which, despite specializing in neuropsychiatric prescription drugs, actively promotes its gum disease adjunct treatment "Igatan." Igatan, with annual sales in the 20 billion KRW range, invests marketing costs comparable to its sales and employs top stars like Song Hae, Baek Il-seob, and Kang Ho-dong as advertising models to enhance corporate recognition.
These brand marketing efforts by pharmaceutical companies serve multiple purposes. The most important is to enhance trust in prescription drugs. Industry analysis indicates that when patients check the manufacturer of prescribed medicines, knowing that the drug is from a well-known pharmaceutical company positively influences trust in the physician’s prescription.
Additionally, these efforts help prevent brand and product obsolescence. Dong-A Pharmaceutical’s "Bacchus National March" campaign is a representative example of successfully renewing the brand image from one primarily associated with middle-aged and older adults to an energy drink appealing to younger generations. The campaign succeeded in building a youthful brand image by showing college students walking across the country to regain vitality.
Above all, there is a tangible effect in securing excellent talent. Corporate recognition significantly impacts both the quality and quantity of applicants, especially for sales positions. Given that sales representatives constitute a large portion of total employees in pharmaceutical companies, this is considered a crucial factor for sustainable corporate growth.
Industry insiders explain that these brand marketing activities focus more on long-term corporate value enhancement rather than short-term sales increases. Investors also evaluate pharmaceutical and bio companies’ brand marketing activities as supplementary indicators when assessing corporate value. This demonstrates that in the pharmaceutical industry, brand marketing has evolved beyond mere promotion to become an important investment determining the future value of companies.
Editor's Note
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