Company History

Novartis was created in 1996 through the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, two companies with a rich and diverse corporate history. Throughout the years, Novartis and its predecessor companies have discovered and developed many innovative products for patients and consumers worldwide.

Mission

We want to discover, develop and successfully market innovative products to prevent and cure diseases, to ease suffering and to enhance the quality of life.

We also want to provide a shareholder return that reflects outstanding performance and to adequately reward those who invest ideas and work in our company.

Businesses

Our complementary healthcare businesses address the changing needs of patients and societies worldwide. With innovative pharmaceuticals at the core, we are also a global leader in generics, vaccines and consumer health products.

We believe this targeted portfolio best meets the challenges and opportunities in a dynamically changing healthcare environment.

  

Pharmaceuticals ›

Innovative medicines with improved efficacy and fewer side effects.

  

Vaccines and Diagnostics ›

Products to fight vaccine-preventable viral and bacterial diseases, as well as diagnostic tools.

  

Sandoz ›

Affordable, high-quality generic treatment options following the expiry of patents.

  

Consumer Health ›

Empowering patients with various consumer products that enable healthy lifestyle choices.

People

Associates

With approximately 100 000 associates in 140 countries worldwide, Novartis associates share a vision of a better today and tomorrow for patients – a vision that drives our growth and success. The greatest job satisfaction for our associates is the knowledge that they improve the quality of life for patients with increasing precision and efficiency through breakthrough science and innovation.

Our performance-oriented culture and responsible approach attract top experts in all areas – research and development, marketing and sales, finance and administration. Our talented associates have made us a global leader in healthcare. Novartis is committed to rewarding the people who invest ideas and work in our company.

Board of Directors

The Novartis Board of Directors is responsible for the direction, strategy, organization and administration of the company. The Board is comprised of 13 members and chaired by Dr. Daniel Vasella.

Executive Committee

Under the leadership of Dr. Daniel Vasella, the Novartis Executive Committee (ECN) is responsible for overseeing the business operations of Group companies. The ECN, whose members are chosen by the Board of Directors, consists of these senior executives:

Locations

Basel headquarters ›

The Novartis global headquarters in Basel is being redesigned as a center for innovation and knowledge sharing.

  

Pharmaceutical research centers ›

Research into new pharmaceuticals at Novartis is conducted primarily through the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR). Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with locations worldwide, NIBR is committed to discovering innovative medicines to address unmet patient needs.

Theoretical Framework

Definition

A management concept that is designed to make all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and direct marketing work together as a unified force, rather than permitting each to work in isolation.

A Model for Integrated Marketing

Integrated Marketing Communication is more than the coordination of a company's outgoing message between different media and the consistency of the message throughout. It is an aggressive marketing plan that captures and uses an extensive amount of customer information in setting and tracking marketing strategy. Steps in an Integrated Marketing system are:

1. Customer DatabaseAn essential element to implementing Integrated Marketing that helps to segment and analyze customer buying habits.

2. StrategiesInsight from analysis of customer data is used to shape marketing, sales, and communications strategies.

3. TacticsOnce the basic strategy is determined the appropriate marketing tactics can be specified which best targets the specific markets.

4. Evaluate ResultsCustomer responses and new information about buying habits are collected and analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the strategy and tactics.

5. Complete the loop; start again at #1.

4 P's vs. 4 C's

Not PRODUCT, but CONSUMER

Understand what the consumer wants and needs. Times have changed and you can no longer sell whatever you can make. The product characteristics must now match what someone specifically wants to buy. And part of what the consumer is buying is the personal "buying experience."

Not PRICE, but COST

Understand the consumer's cost to satisfy the want or need. The product price may be only one part of the consumer's cost structure. Often it's the cost of time to drive somewhere, the cost of conscience of what you eat, and the cost of guilt for not treating the kids.

Not PLACE, but CONVENIENCE

As above, turn the standard logic around. Think convenience of the buying experience and then relate that to a delivery mechanism. Consider all possible definitions of "convenience" as it relates to satisfying the consumer's wants and needs. Convenience may include aspects of the physical or virtual location, access ease, transaction service time and hours of availability.

Not PROMOTION, but COMMUNICATION

Communicate, communicate, communicate. Many mediums working together to present a unified message with a feedback mechanism to make the communication two-way. And be sure to include an understanding of non-traditional mediums, such as word of mouth and how it can influence your position in the consumer's mind. How many ways can a customer hear (or see) the same message through the course of the day, each message reinforcing the earlier images?

Perception vs. Facts

In an age of increasing information overload, the consumer has developed a coping mechanism to deal with the amount of information being received. There is increasing evidence that customers and prospects are basing most of their purchasing decisions on what they perceive to be important or true (or what they think is right or correct) rather than on solid, rational, economically derived information. To the consumer, perception is truth. A perception may not be correct, but it is what they know, and what they know is all they need to know. This new "sound bite" approach to gathering marketing information demands that a marketer's statements about products or services must be clear, concise, consistent, and comprehensible through all forms of communication or the consumer will simply ignore them. Any minor inconsistency that does not match the existing "mind map" and will be ignored

Information Processing

Key to effective communication is understanding how consumers process the vast amount of information that comes their way each and every day. To cope, we select only that information that we perceive to be important and ignore the rest. Thus, we limit our span of perception as a way of coping. If the marketing message is to be selected and processed, it must:

1. consist of sensory and life experiences that can easily be identified and transformed into a unified concept,

2. have mental relationships to other categorized ideas, and 3. fit into the categories and mental linkages that people have already created

for themselves.

Marketing communication messages that are not recognizable, are not related to each other, conflict with what has already been stored, or are simply unrelated or unimportant to the person will simply not be processed, but ignored. Communication only occurs when the consumer accepts, transforms, and categorizes the message. The storage and retrieval system works on the basis of matching incoming information with what has already been stored in memory. If the information matches or enhances what is already there, then the new information will likely be added to the existing concepts and categories. If it doesn't match, the consumer has to make a choice, either the new information can replace what is already there or the new information can be rejected. If rejected, the consumer would continue to use existing concepts and categories and ignore the new. This is called a "judgment system" in that consumers match or test new information against what they already have and then make a judgment to add to, adapt, or reject the new material. When consumers reject the information or do not add or attach it to what they already have, there is a failure to communicate. In many cases, the failure to communicate is the result of the marketer being unable to match his or her messages or fields of experience with those of the prospect or customer. Consumers use the same information processing approach whether the new data comes from advertising, sales promotions, a salesperson, an article in a newspaper or magazine or from what their neighbor is telling them. The marketer who presents non-integrated messages risks not having any of his or her messages processed because of the conflict that occurs in the consumer's information processing system. If for no other reason that the risk of confusion, marketers must integrate their messages or consumers will simply ignore them.

Chunking and Networks

Concepts are not isolated units. They are networked together into what we call categories. These groups of concepts are not only made up of chunks of information, but then in turn are also networked together in conceptual relationships. Key to

understanding the relationships is understanding the cultural and life experiences that have created the existing network of information chunks that exist in the consumer's head.

 

Models of Information Processing

Two models of information processing have been proposed:

1. The replacement model assumes that it is possible for the marketer to "replace" previously stored information chunks with new ideas. What is said does not matter as much as how often and how loud the message has been transmitted. With enough exposure, the new will replace the old.

2. The accumulation model of information processing assumes that message consistency is critical since the consumer accepts, processes, and stores information about the product or service relative to what has already been mentally accepted. The judgment system (perceptual consistency) prevents consumers from having multiple concepts or categories for the same message. Information that does not fit is rejected and not filed. That being the case, the need for Integrated Marketing Communication is not only needed, but critical to marketing success.

Integrated Marketing Communication in Novartis Pharmaceutical Limited

Advertising

Practicing Advertising Excellence involves careful planning, strong project management and robust and collaborative agency partnerships. As our understanding of best practice increases we have documented our experience in a selection of handy How-to guides. These key learning’s are contained in the following resources covering a range of strategic and tactical elements essential to achieving Advertising Excellence.

The following guides provide an overview of the key elements of Advertising Excellence, step-by-step advice and top tips for your projects. Print these resources out as a handy reference and keep visiting the Advertising Excellence intranet for further updates.

By building and sharing our knowledge we can ensure our marketing teams are at the cutting-edge of Advertising Excellence.

1. Working together to achieve shared objectives and expectations

This guide provides an overview of how you can work with your agency partner from the outset to discuss, share and agree your objectives and expectations. These discussions lay the groundwork for effective partnerships based on clear communication. This resource provides recommendations to help shape and maximize working relationships with agencies and provides suggestions on benchmarking and the importance of doing this early.

2. Writing an excellent tactic brief to maximize results

Writing an excellent tactic brief involves providing your agency with several pieces of key information. Welcome to a new world of best-in-class briefs!

This guide shows you how your brief can:

clearly define the desired result have robust and measurable objectives supply appropriate background information describe your target audience document timelines and clearly explain required deliverables

3. Maximizing Feedback to Your Agency

Providing effective feedback to your agency partner is an excellent way to ensure your partnership delivers winning results and strives for Advertising Excellence.  

Feedback not only motivates your agency partner, but also lets them know what they are doing well, and where they can make improvements.  This step-by-step guide ensures you know how to effectively evaluate and feedback to ensure you and your agency partner continually deliver Advertising Excellence.

4. Building an Effective Partnership with Your Agency

Developing any relationship takes work and building a partnership with your agency is no exception. To create an effective partnership it takes time, investment and commitment, and the results are worth it. Read this guide to find out more about investing in your relationship with your agency partner so you can gain invaluable insights, enjoy the process of working with an agency and most importantly achieve AdvertisingExcellence.

5. Delivering a Project on Time and on Budget

Delivering a project on time and on budget may seem like the holy grail of project management, but rest assured it is possible. By following these key principles you can achieve winning project management.  Issue 5 builds on the previous guides, so ensure you are up to date with the How-To Guide series for maximum impact.

Evaluate Agencies

Evaluation is an integral element of Advertising Excellence as it allows our marketing teams and agency partners to measure success together and identify where and when change is required. Ongoing evaluation is an important process for marketers and agencies alike. Evaluation helps agency partners and marketing teams get the most out of the partnership and ensure that together we achieve success.

Below you will find guidance on bi-annual reviews as well as useful tips on how to maintain and continually build the relationship between you and your agency partner.

Bi-annual reviews - these structured reviews are a great tool to measure the agency partner and marketing team relationship drawing on the agreed expectations. These reviews are ideally conducted face-to-face and cover what has been working well, areas for improvement and provides everyone with an

opportunity to discuss the working partnership together. To complete these reviews both the marketing team & agency provide a rating of the partnership.

Agendas for the mid-year and year-end reviews

Year end agenda   Mid-Year agenda

o Review Shared Objectives o Expectations o What is working well

discussion o What are the areas for

improvement discussion o Revise Shared Objectives o Expectations if needed o Agree on Next steps o Assign rating to relationship

  o Review Shared Objectives & Expectations

o What is working well discussion

o What are the areas for improvement discussion

o Agree on Next steps

o Assign rating to relationship

Strong Brand Agency Relationships

Building and maintaining a strong partnership between our marketing teams and agency partners is integral to achieving AdvertisingExcellence. Here are some handy hints and tips to ensure we all realize and practice the importance of excellent partnerships.

Quarterly face to face meetings - these cross-agency meetings should take place at least once a quarter, face to face, to discuss the progress of the brand strategy and ensure the shared objectives and expectations are being achieved by the partnership.

Sharing of information - to create a truly successful and strong partnership we all have to practice good working relations and ensure the agency partner and marketing team work together harmoniously; continually sharing information between the teams is crucial to the success of excellent advertising practice.

Live feedback - this ongoing process allows for regular feedback which ensures good agency outputs are regularly praised and potential issues are identified and addressed early. It is valuable and appropriate to provide your

agency with positive and negative feedback as it happens to create the best possible working partnership.

Weekly status calls - this informal process assesses the ongoing progress of individual projects and provides an opportunity to offer feedback over the phone. Weekly status calls also provide a great opportunity to enhance and build your relationship with your agency.

Agency Compensation Overview

The new model comprises of four key elements: Working principles, functional rates, creative context and types of tactics.

1. Working Principles that provide a step-by-step work flow to improve quality, impact, and cost efficiencies

2. Functional rates to ensure that the agency partner is fairly compensated on the basis of experience, level, and function

3. Creative context defines the level of strategic involvement of a tactic, so that the agency can determine the best staffing mix to execute that tactic

4. Standard tactics and unique tactics. Standard tactics are the key tactics a brand needs to develop to be commercially viable in the market, e.g. visual aid, flash card, and Brand Book. Unique tactics address specific, key issues for the brand not addressed by a standard tactic

1. Working Principles

For Global tactics there are four working principles that apply to the different types of tactics. Working principles provide a step-by-step workflow for the marketing teams and agency partners to improve quality, impact and cost efficiencies. The principles were developed in conjunction with WWRA agency partners on the basis of industry best practices to ensure improved quality impact and cost efficiencies for all tactics.

2. Creative Context

The Creative Context is 1 of the 4 key elements of the new Advertising Excellence Compensation Model. It defines the tactic and its strategic involvement for agency partners, so that they can determine the best staffing mix to execute the tactic.

The Creative Context defines whether the tactic is created for the first time, is a progression, an update/refresh, local adaptation or local creation to allow the agency to determine the best staffing mix for the individual tactic.

Standard Tactic: the key tactics a brand needs to develop to be commercially viable in the market e.g. a visual aid, flashcard and brand book.

The costs and staffing mix for the standard tactics will be pre-set based on the working principles, functional rates and creative context.  The assumptions behind each Standard tactic for each creative context (where appropriate) are included in the tactic book specific to your brand.

Unique Tactic: tactics which are specifically designed to address specific key issues for the brand which cannot be met with a classic tactic.

Costs and staffing mix for unique tactics will be developed on as needed based on issue to be addressed, the agreed functional rates, creative context, working principles and required staffing level to effectively meet the brands specific need and to execute the tactic.

Creative Context Definitions:

Original creation - tactic is created for the first time

Progression - when an original tactic is progressed based on the brand lifecycle stage and the target audience adoption stage

Update/refresh - minor changes to either the original or progressed tactic Local adaptation - adaptation of a global deliverable based on local label,

regulations and access Local creation - creation of local tactics based on the global branding

guidelines