When bad things happen to good marketers of pharma products or devices, it can be devastating: immediate loss of sales, potential lawsuits, confusion in the marketplace and loss of market share.

Similarly, when bad things happen to the competitors of good marketers of pharma products, hesitation can mean lost opportunity.

Time and again, marketers who react quickly weather setbacks — or exploit sudden opportunity — better than those who don't.

When a Sudden Marketing Event affects a single product, early intervention can prevent the crisis from spreading to other products in the class. When an entire class of products is at risk, a rapid but insightful campaign can limit harm, or maximize opportunity for competitive products.

It takes insight, decisiveness, creativity and flawless execution under pressure.

Crisis management usually relies primarily on public relations. PR has its place, to be sure (we always include a PR component in our programs) but PR requires the cooperation of the press, who may not be very cooperative when you need them to be.

Advertising and promotion should parallel public relations efforts, allowing you to control your message, as quickly as possible, without relying on the press.

A great man once said, "Advertising is freedom of the press one page at a time." With advertising, your message can be heard exactly as you intended, and delivered to exactly the audience to which you need to reach.

A study of pharmaceutical crisis management shows that most Sudden Marketing Events unfold over a period of 10 days. A marketer who acts within that window can often control the progress of events with

SOV (Share of voice) Capture

Debate Recast and

Unique Response Vehicles (URV's)

—SOV Capture: Increase SOV at the very outset of a Sudden Marketing Event to offset subjective impressions. Winning the battle later will be difficult. Make your voice heard early and often.

—Debate recast: Introducing new information in a new context can change impressions based on old information.

—URV's: By employing high-impact execution, create a buzz of excitement that shakes preconceptions and magnifies results.

But you have to do it all within 10 days.