NEW JERSEY, May 6, 2002: BMW revolutionized relationship management with the highly successful BMW Films project. Brilliantly conveying the brand value of "Ultimate driving machine" the movies drew in millions, helped build and strengthen relationships with BMW afficionados, and helped sell a lot of cars. Implied product claims, if you recall the series, included fast acceleration, super-quick braking, nimble handling, and best of all, super cool status.

If you hadn't already beleived these claims, here were five movies which proved it. In the story lines. In the camera angles. In the mini-sub stories. In the music. The actors. The directors. Thevery medium. It all added up to a spectacular BMW experience.

Visitors were also given the option of viewing Flash-enabled, highly detailed presentations of the specs on all the featured cars. Plus they could sign up for email updates about new films, trailers for the new films, and information about the upcoming models.

A major homerun in CRM, right?

Right. But we wonder: Shouldn't CRM require a dialogue with customers that goes beyond "Do you wantmore information?" Feedback should be a two way street. Isn't that inherent in the word"relationship?" Did the BMW Films project use feedback mechanisms? To a limited degree, yes. Did they expand and evolve the BMW brand experience? Absolutely.

Now can we apply the same thinking to an Rx brand? Imagine: Could Vioxx expand on the spot that included former Olympic star Dorothy Hamil and run a series of "movies" about successful brand experiences?

Sure, Merck could evolve the spot into a web-based "Vioxx Victories" movie series that profiles former athletes and brings viewers up to date about them. See how Vioxx is helping these aging heroes who appeared on Wheaties boxes -- where they are now, and how they're doing well, thanks to the Vioxx brand.

But (sarcastically) you'd have to make each movie a "double feature" -- due to the inclusion of the fair balance. And your ability to interact, build a dialogue, and collect feedback would be limited by adverse event reporting, a particularly hot issue in the news these days.

Again we ask: is CRM truly possible in pharmaceutical marketing?

Frankly, we'd love to hear from you about your own success in Rx CRM. In fact, we'll buy a cup o Starbucks for the first 3 pharmaceutical marketers who send us case histories demonstrating success in Rx CRM.

Stay tuned...

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