Brand Planning: Where Leaders Say It’s Falling Short, and How to Close the Gap

Brand planning is one of the most critical exercises a brand team undertakes. Unfortunately, it’s often also one of the most difficult. Worse yet, that’s probably a sign that it’s not as effective as it could be.  

You’re working to gather all the necessary information, then analyze it to get the most accurate, meaningful insights from that data to enable the best decisions with consensus across stakeholder groups.  

Done properly, brand planning results in a clear and current understanding of the market, accurate forecasts and budgets, an effective life cycle management strategy, insightful messaging, powerful tactics, meaningful KPIs and more. It can be the powerful engine at the heart of your brand.  

But that doesn’t always happen. And if that’s true for you, you’re not alone.  

A recent EVERSANA survey of 26 brand planning executives across biopharmaceuticals, diagnostics and medical devices found that one-third of respondents did not feel their brand plan successfully involved all relevant organizational functions (e.g., marketing, medical, market access, insights).  

Similarly, one-third of respondents did not feel external partners (e.g., agencies, market researchers, consultants) were collaborating effectively for the betterment of the brand plan.  

When asked how they’d like to see brand planning improve, respondents wished for: 

• Better and more focused data and inputs 
• Greater involvement of cross-functional teams and better coordination of their planning processes and outputs 
• More impactful collaboration and more effective communication with agency partners 

The pressure to do more with less is increasing. So is the pressure to integrate technological advancements such as generative AI to create efficiencies and become more effective. And somehow, amid those stressors, insight and creativity must flourish.  

Answering these needs is at the heart of EVERSANA INTOUCH’s brand planning services: a proprietary end-to-end framework powered by the global agency network’s 25 years of specialization in the life sciences, as well as EVERSANA’s extended commercialization power throughout Data & Analytics, MANAGEMENT CONSULTING, Market Access, HEOR Research, Medical Affairs and more.​ 

This makes it possible to answer seven key questions that drive the brand planning process:  

1. What is the market environment? 
2. What priority levers can unlock potential?  
3. Where should we invest to have the greatest impact?  
4. What data do we have, and what data do we need, to stand out?  
5. What will we say to convey brand value? 
6. How will we reach and delight our audience?  
7. What will it take for us to activate and deploy?  

Successful brand planning navigates regulatory, scientific, competitive and organizational challenges with deep expertise, data-driven insights, efficiency and an integrated strategy that drives success: integrating disconnected teams, streamlining complexity and making it possible to transform business imperatives into business impact.